The No. 4 North Carolina baseball team defeated Richmond, 6-2, on Tuesday night to win its ninth consecutive game as closer Josh Hiatt returned to the mound from his indefinite suspension.
What happened?
The Tar Heels (33-13, 18-6 ACC) got off to a quick start, scoring the first run of the game in the opening inning. Left fielder Dallas Tessar led off with a four-pitch walk and two batters later, third baseman Kyle Datres singled to put runners on first and second. After center fielder Brandon Riley walked to make it bases loaded, designated hitter Ashton McGee connected on a single to bring Tessar home, making it a 1-0 game.
But the Spiders were not going down without a fight. Richmond tied the game in the third inning and took the lead in the fifth on an RBI double from second baseman Daniel Brumbaugh.
UNC countered, scoring four times between the sixth and seventh innings, all thanks to fielding errors. Second baseman Zack Gahagan and catcher Brandon Martorano touched home plate in the sixth inning after a throwing error from the third baseman to give UNC a 3-2 lead.
In the seventh, right fielder Cody Roberts and Martorano scored thanks to another fielding error from the Spider third baseman, widening the Tar Heel lead to three runs.
Pinch hitter Jackson Hesterlee put a stamp on the win in the eighth inning, smacking the ball through the right side of the infield to score Riley and give UNC the 6-2 lead.
The Tar Heel bullpen combined to throw 4.1 scoreless innings, including a scoreless eighth inning from Hiatt in his return to the team. In the ninth, senior Brett Daniels shut the door, striking out two batters and inducing a lineout to shortstop Ike Freeman to end the game at 6-2.
