Kent Emanuel kept Clemson’s bats in check despite some control issues, and the No. 1 North Carolina baseball team beat the Tigers 10-3 in Saturday night’s series opener.
A crowd of almost 4,000 — by far Boshamer Stadium’s biggest of the season — saw the Tar Heels (24-1, 8-1 ACC) jump out to an 8-1 lead by the third inning. The Tar Heels put up four runs in the first and four in the third, with the biggest blow a two-out, three-run homer by catcher Matt Roberts in the third inning.
But Clemson had a chance to get right back into it.
The UNC ace, who had held opponents scoreless in three of his first six starts, was shaky at times. He gave up hits in the first five innings and lost his command between the end of the third inning and the beginning of the fifth.
In the fifth, Emanuel gave up two hits and a walk to load the bases with no outs and the middle of the Clemson order coming up. But pitching coach Scott Forbes went to the mount to give Emanuel a breather, and Emanuel quickly buckled down.
He went almost exclusively to his off-speed pitches, striking out three-hitter Steve Wilkerson on three changeups and popping up Garrett Boulware to short right field for the first two outs.
Then, after getting two strikes on Shane Kennedy with more slow stuff, Emanuel rang up Kennedy on a perfect fastball on the inside corner.
No runs came across in the frame, and Emanuel pitched a one-two-three sixth — his first hitless frame of the night. After loading the bases, he retired 10 straight Clemson batters and got through the eighth inning despite throwing 117 pitches.
When all was said and done, Emanuel’s stat line was strong as usual — eight innings, one run, one walk and five strikeouts. And Clemson’s only run of the game came on a strikeout — a changeup in the dirt that could’ve ended the inning but went to the backstop.
The second game of the series will start tomorrow at 7 p.m. at Boshamer Stadium.
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