Pitching key in three wins

As the North Carolina baseball team faced its toughest opponent so far this season, the team's usual bright spots continued to shine in a weekend sweep at Boshamer Stadium of the reigning Big South Conference regular season champions, Birmingham Southern.

Solid starting pitching, several nearly flawless appearances by the bullpen and some spectacular defensive plays propelled the No. 10 Tar Heels to two come-from-behind wins to remain unbeaten at 8-0.

The series finale began as a pitchers duel, with only three runs scored between the two teams in the first seven innings of play.

Freshman first baseman Chad Flack started the scoring for the Tar Heels by blasting a two-run home run over the right field fence.

The Panthers answered in the sixth inning with their only run of the game, but threatened to add more off North Carolina starter Andrew Miller. After a trip to the mound by UNC coach Mike Fox to calm his sophomore hurler, Miller needed only one pitch to induce opposing pitcher Mac Godwin into a rally-killing 4-6-3 double play.

"We're cutting down on our errors," said sophomore pitcher Daniel Bard. "Defense and pitching is what's going to win us a lot of games."

The Tar Heels added four insurance runs off Godwin in the eighth inning behind clutch run-producing hits by freshman pinch hitter Kyle Shelton and sophomore second baseman Bryan Steed.

"We hit some balls hard up until then," Fox said. "But those big two out hits gave us some breathing room."

Saturday's game tested the mettle of the unbeaten Tar Heels. For the first time all season, North Carolina needed all nine of their offensive innings to put away an opponent.

With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the ninth, senior second baseman Greg Mangum lofted a sacrifice fly to left field that proved deep enough to score junior Blair Waggett for the decisive run in the 3-2 nail-biter.

The late-inning heroics might never have happened were it not for the perfect relief pitching effort of Jonathan Hovis. In earning his second win of the young season, the 5-11 junior retired all 12 Panthers he faced -- one of those outs being a sparkling diving catch by sophomore Jay Cox in left field.

"I knew I had to get ground balls, keep the game close and the score where it was," Hovis said. "I knew the guys would score later on."

In the series opener Friday, Bard established North Carolina's domination of the Panthers from the mound -- working seven innings while surrendering one hit and one earned run.

"We know what we're going to get out of (our starters) for the most part," Fox said. "They did what they needed to."

The Tar Heels responded to Bard's outing by tagging Birmingham Southern (2-4) starter Brandon Hynick for nine hits, knocking him out of the game in the fifth inning. Cox's three hits were as many as the Panthers could muster as a team during the Tar Heel's 6-3 win.

With the pitching and defense solid all weekend, the Tar Heel hitting proved key. If UNC's bats can stay hot, it will be tough to find an aspect of North Carolina's game that doesn't shine.

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.