UNC Power Surge Continues in Win

To prevent his players from looking past the Tigers, UNC coach Mike Fox sent his players an e-mail.

"I had a couple of other things I wanted to say to them," he said. "I don't do that very often. But sometimes it's better that way becuase each player can read it on their own."

Unfortunately for Towson, the Tar Heels must have paid close attention to whatever Fox wrote.

The Tar Heel bats were lively and the pitchers cruised as UNC rolled to an 18-2 victory at Boshamer Stadium.

Led by third baseman Chris Maples, who was 3-for-4 with two home runs and a career-high seven RBIs, the North Carolina offense knocked three Towson pitchers from the mound.

None of the Towson (9-9-1) pitchers lasted more than 3 1/3 innings against the Tar Heel onslaught.

Starter Rafe Bridges (1-1) gave up nine runs on seven hits, and his control was erratic from the start. He walked the first two UNC batters, throwing seven straight balls at one point. Bridges issued five walks overall.

Bridges was relieved in the fourth by Ray Sauser, who was hit hardest of the bunch. Sauser gave up a home run to Maples and a double to Chris Iannetta before allowing another four-bagger to Ron Braun. His line for the game: four earned runs on four hits in 2/3 of an inning.

Bridges was replaced by Steve Swiech in the fifth. Swiech fared only a little better, allowing five earned runs in two innings before he was bumped.

Freshman pitcher Justin Baker was finally able to stop the bleeding, throwing two scoreless frames to finish up the game after both teams had cleared their benches.

Freshman righthander Carter Harrell (4-3) started for the Tar Heels (16-8) and was perfect through four before allowing three singles in the fifth. He escaped the jam unscathed and reverted to form in the sixth, retiring the Tigers in order in his final frame.

"I felt good today," Harrell said. "I just had good command of my pitches and I was hitting my spots well. It's hard to hit any pitcher who's hitting his spots."

The Tar Heels jumped to an early lead as four of the first five UNC batters came around to score.

Center fielder Adam Greenberg and shortstop Russ Adams led off the UNC first with walks, which were followed up by left fielder Sean Farrell's RBI single and a two-run double from Maples. Maples then came around on Chad Prosser's ground out to cap off the flurry.

After a brief break in the second, in which the Tar Heels were retired in order, UNC scored 14 runs during the next four innings to put the game well out of reach. The lead would grow to 18-0 by the end of the sixth.

UNC scored its runs by seemingly every way except the forward pass.

Farrell and DH Ryan Blake scored on sacrifices in the third. But it was the longball that would garner the Tar Heels most of their scores.

Maples, who has hit nine homers in the last ten games, hit his two in consecutive at-bats in the fourth and fifth innings.

"It helps when you're seeing the ball and your swing feels good," he said. "Right now, everything's just kind of clicking for me."

After Braun hit a solo shot in the fourth, right fielder Mell Adams knocked Sweich from the game with a three-run blast in the sixth.

The homers were supplemented by four doubles and a record-breaking triple by Adams, the 15th of his career, setting a new UNC career mark.

Fox was pleased that his team had played so well on both sides of the ball.

"I think it's just that attitude that 'Hey, let's do our job, too,'" he said. "'We're scoring some runs, so let's pitch. We're pitching, the offense wants to score some runs.'"

The Sports Editor can be reached at sports@unc.edu.