The No. 8 North Carolina baseball team (33-10, 15-9 ACC) defeated Pitt (20-21, 6-15 ACC), 6-0, on Sunday afternoon at Charles L. Cost Field to win their sixth straight ACC series.
After being held scoreless and only recording one hit through the first five innings, the Diamond Heels tallied five runs in the sixth and seventh innings to push them past the Panthers. Sophomore starting pitcher Jason DeCaro led UNC’s defensive efforts, pitching seven innings and allowing no earned runs.
Offensive struggles continued early for UNC, tallying only one hit through the first five innings. The lone hit came on a two out ground-rule double from junior center fielder Kane Kepley in the third inning, but a pop out by senior second baseman Jackson Van De Brake ended the inning with no offense to show.
Stout pitching from DeCaro and well-timed defensive plays kept the game scoreless after three innings.
Pitt’s Julian Irizarry made an outstretched catch against the wall on a deep fly ball by sophomore third baseman Gavin Gallaher in the top of the fourth to keep North Carolina’s bats at bay.
The pitching duel continued, with DeCaro recording his second strikeout of the game to end the fourth.
An errant throw by DeCaro on a bunt from AJ Nessler gave the Panthers an early base runner in the bottom of the fifth and an ensuing walk gave Pitt two runners on with no outs.
A sacrifice bunt down the third base line from Irizarry advanced both runners to second and third and an intentional walk loaded the bases for the Panthers with one out.
But after catching a shallow pop fly, graduate right fielder Tyson Bass lasered the ball to home to throw out Nessler at the plate to get UNC out of the jam.
