So far this season, UNC’s offense and starting pitching has dealt the most damage to opponents. But in spurts against Virginia this past weekend, that wasn’t the case.
Through the first two games of the series, the Tar Heels burned through seven pitchers – four in the first game and three in the second.
Despite recording 18 strikeouts in the first game of the series on Friday night, North Carolina fell 7-3. In the first game on Saturday, the Diamond Heels’ pitching staff only mustered four strikeouts in an 8-4 loss.
But after surrendering 15 runs in the first two games of the series against the Cavaliers, the Diamond Heels' pitching staff demonstrated a complete performance in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader — a 6-0 win that helped the team avoid being swept.
The Tar Heels only used two pitchers to earn the win and record their second shutout of the season. The one-two punch of juniors Jake Knapp and Matt Poston gave up just five hits against the Cavaliers.
Depth in the bullpen has been a struggle for the Tar Heels, who have mainly relied on their offense to win them games. Teams typically have to dig deep into their bullpen in the third game of a series, but a steady performance from Poston helped ease that concern.
“I felt good that our bullpen was rested and we had some options. I didn’t think we’d do it [win] with two pitchers. I thought it’d be like five or six [pitchers], but Poston was hot and we just rode him,” head coach Scott Forbes said.
After dropping the first two games, and the offense struggling to find its typical form, the pitching stepped up and helped relieve some of the pressure the offense was facing.
“When they’re throwing that like that (allowing no runs), it just takes off so much pressure because you feel like you don’t need to score a ton when they’re throwing like that. We needed that,” redshirt first-year right fielder Casey Cook said.
