Gale one-hits Towson in 6-0 win

The forecasted thunderstorm that pushed up the start time of North Carolina’s baseball game by an hour never materialized Wednesday at Boshamer Stadium.

There was still thunder, but it was generated by UNC pitcher Andy Gale and the bats of his Tar Heel teammates instead.

The freshman tossed seven innings of one-hit ball, and the offense banged out 13 hits as the No. 16 Tar Heels (17-5) cruised to a 6-0 victory against Towson (8-8) to sweep their two-game series.

BASEBALL Towson 0 UNC 6

“It was just my second start of the year, so I really didn’t know how long I was gonna go,” said Gale, who faced only one batter over the minimum. “But I kept the pitch count down, got some ground balls and got a double play in a key situation out there.”

UNC’s hitters, on the other hand, were able to turn their key situations into runs.

Left fielder Mike Daniel spearheaded the Tar Heels’ offensive effort, blasting home runs over the right-center field fence in back-to-back at bats for his first round-trippers of the year.

“I just went out there looking for a good pitch to hit,” said Daniel, who laced a triple down the right field line as well. “Usually, I get the ball a lot on the outside part of the plate, but today, they came inside, so I decided to pull it.”

Daniel wasn’t the only UNC batter who had a banner afternoon. Shortstop Josh Horton went 4-for-4 with three doubles while batting ninth in the order.

“He’s just got great hand-eye coordination,” said UNC head coach Mike Fox. “He doesn’t look the smoothest up there in the (batter’s) box. He can look fooled and still get his bat on the ball.”

And while Horton managed to get hits when he was fooled, the same couldn’t be said for the Tigers, who were tripped up by Gale’s pitching throughout the game.

On a pitching staff that includes phenoms Andrew Miller and Daniel Bard, Gale’s opportunities to prove himself have been sparse so far this season. But Fox said Wednesday’s gem likely will translate into more innings for the freshman.

“The next opportunity we can run him out there, we’re certainly gonna do that,” Fox said. “A kid pitches like that, he’s got confidence — we’ve got to build on that.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.