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UNC baseball gains valuable experience for first-years in weekend sweep of Kentucky

The North Carolina baseball team swept Kentucky this weekend.
The North Carolina baseball team swept Kentucky this weekend.

While UNC (3-0) came through, sweeping Kentucky (0-3) over the weekend, it wasn’t without some ups and downs. But for head coach Mike Fox, opening weekend jitters are to be expected — and could act as a beneficial part of getting the younger players accustomed to the college game.

“(It) doesn’t matter whether you’re a freshman or a junior, you’re a little bit amped up ...” Fox said.

“Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want ... So we had some young guys get some experience.”

Redshirt first-year Josh Hiatt got more than experience this weekend. After earning a save in his college debut Friday, he returned with encore performances Saturday and Sunday. After UNC tallied just four saves all of last season, Hiatt notched three on the weekend, cementing himself as an early favorite for the closer role.

“I felt good tonight,” Hiatt said on Saturday. “I had a lot of emotion running at the end.”

From speaking with the coaches, it was clear Hiatt worked hard throughout the offseason. But he still knew it would take a certain type of focus to succeed at the college level.

“You can’t expect anything here ...” he said. “In the preseason, they put me in those situations, late innings ... Not saying I was expecting it, but you just have to be ready when your time comes.”

Guidance from some of the tenured Tar Heels helped guide younger members of the team on how to prepare for these high-pressure scenarios.

Junior ace J.B. Bukauskas is no stranger to performing in big spots, and he uses his past experience to help out younger players.

“I’ve had a couple good guys to learn from the past couple years on how to kinda go about being a Friday guy, so you just kinda try to carry what they taught you over to this year ...” Bukauskas said.

“Just kinda lead by example — or try to, at least.”

Bukauskas did just that this weekend for first-year pitcher and Sunday starter Luca Dalatri, who settled down after a rough start to throw seven strong innings.

“I spoke to (Bukauskas and junior Jason Morgan) yesterday and I asked them a few questions,” Dalatri said. “They helped me a lot.”

Dalatri also got a nice surprise Sunday: His high school teammate and fellow first-year Brandon Martorano — who started at DH on Friday and Saturday — got the nod behind the plate.

“I didn’t really know he was starting until I was in the bullpen ...” Dalatri said. “It was a dream come true for both of us having our first starts together. I couldn’t have pictured it any better than that.”

Dalatri earned his first career win Sunday, justifying some of that hype that has come with the 2017 Tar Heels. Sweeping an opponent with Kentucky’s caliber is also a nice momentum boost moving forward.

“This series will prove to be a really good one for us,” Fox said. “That’s like an ACC weekend series, so it was good for all our young guys ...”

“It’s good. Lot of bright spots, lot of good things to look at and build on.”

@WBOD3  

sports@dailytarheel.com

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