Hits in fifth inning propel Tar Heels to victory against UNC-G

With two outs in the top of the fifth against UNC-Greensboro, and North Carolina second baseman Tommy Coyle on first, Brian Goodwin stepped up to the plate.

The freshman outfielder hit a triple into center field, sending Coyle home for UNC’s first run and ending the Tar Heels’ trend of only getting one hit per inning.

“When he hits the ball in the gap, he’s got a chance for a triple anyway because he can really, really run,” UNC coach Mike Fox said.

 “That was a big hit for us, because I think he had two strikes on him. It just got us off that zero. He’s got a chance to hit a lot of triples in his career.”

For the first four innings of the matchup against the Spartans, UNC seemed to be stuck on first base. The Tar Heels had only one hit in each of the first four innings, and all were singles.

Second baseman Dillon Hazlett had the first hit of the fifth inning for the Tar Heels but was thrown out at second in a UNC-G double play.  Coyle advanced to first from a walk, leading to Goodwin’s triple and the second hit of the inning for UNC.

“We were getting some hits, but we couldn’t really put runs on the board,” Goodwin said. “I think scoring that helped us out a little bit.”

Goodwin has had four triples this season, more than any other Tar Heel. And with nine extra base hits, Goodwin ties third baseman Levi Michael for the most on the team. But for the Rocky Mount native, it’s something he looks for every time he steps up.

“I haven’t had much luck over there on first, so I try to stay off it as much as I can. I just come out of the box, I think, looking for extra bases.”

Unfortunately for UNC, Goodwin’s at-bat failed to cause a change in momentum for the Tar Heels during the next two innings.

They fell back into their lull in the sixth, when shortstop Ryan Graepel had the only hit of the inning. Hazlett had the single hit of the seventh, but his second of the night.

But hits streamed in the eighth for UNC, when catcher Jesse Wierzbicki led off a game-changing inning with a solo home run. Hazlett and Graepel would also register hits during the inning, allowing UNC to come from behind and take a 4-3 lead.

North Carolina had no additional hits in the ninth inning, but hung on to beat the Spartans for the second time this season. In the February matchup against UNC-G, the Tar Heels had 16 hits in the 12-2 win. This time was a bit more of a struggle.

“We hit the balls hard, we got eleven hits,” Fox said. “The most important thing is we got it done at the end.”



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