UNC brings runners home

The eighth inning of the No. 17 North Carolina baseball team’s game against Princeton on Tuesday showed just what the Tar Heels have been lacking so often this season — clutch hitting with runners on base.

North Carolina has continually found itself in trouble by ending innings with multiple runners on the base paths and leaving those runners in scoring position.

That was the case on Tuesday afternoon until the eighth inning.
With a 2-1 lead and one out, sophomore Chaz Frank singled and stole second base to put himself in scoring position.

“The steal gave us some energy,” Frank said. “We didn’t have much energy all day and it kind of got the ball rollin’.”

Freshman Jeff Bouton followed Frank’s steal with a walk, then senior Ben Bunting flew out to left field. The Tar Heels were stuck with two runners on base and with two outs — a familiar situation for them, as they had left 10 runners on base in the first seven innings.

“Today, we were not very good early,” UNC coach Mike Fox said. “We were just leaving guys on.”

Sophomore Tommy Coyle stepped to the plate and knocked an RBI single through the right side of the Princeton defense, opening the floodgates as the next eight North Carolina batters reached base.

“Winning close baseball games is about driving in runs with two outs,” Fox said. “When the other team gives you an opportunity to score runs, you’ve gotta cash in.”

All in all, North Carolina scored nine runs in the eighth inning, a season-high for runs scored in one inning.

“We saved up all our two-out RBIs for one inning,” Fox said. “I wish our guys would’ve told me they were gonna do that so I wouldn’t have been on the edge of my seat for the first eight innings.”

Tuesday’s eighth inning gave the Tar Heels a chance to rid themselves of a chip they found on their shoulder in Winston-Salem last weekend.

During the weekend series, when UNC lost back-to-back games to Wake Forest, the Tar Heels left an astounding 16 runners on base compared to eight Wake Forest base runners.

What’s worse, of those 16 runners, nine were in scoring position, including five in Sunday’s 5-4 loss to the Demon Deacons.

“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a little frustrating,” starting pitcher Cody Stiles said. “But I understand how tough it is. You get over it real quick.”

Stiles picked up his third win of the young season after only giving up one run in 6 2/3 innings Tuesday. After the game, Stiles said he thought Tuesday’s performance would fix the problems North Carolina had been having with runners in scoring position.

Fox didn’t agree with his young pitcher, though. He said the team wasn’t having problems hitting under pressure, but just had a couple of bad games.

“It’s just baseball,” Fox said. “We talk about being our best with runners in scoring position — sometimes the pitcher beats you and sometimes you beat him.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.