The loud ding of Patrick Gamblin’s bat connecting with the ball in the top of the first inning meant a multitude of things.
It not only meant that Gamblin earned his 10th RBI of the season and a run for his Winthrop Eagles, but it also meant that for the eighth consecutive game, North Carolina would begin its offense from behind.
Though Winthrop took the early advantage, UNC plated four runs in both the second and sixth innings to shake the early deficit and emerge with a 12-6 victory.
“It’s always good to get started early and it really helped for momentum, always putting up a big inning,” right fielder Seth Baldwin said. “Four runs in one inning is pretty good. I think that really helped us.”
The Tar Heels opened the mid-week tilt unconvincingly as starting righthander Cody Stiles gave up a run and third baseman Colin Moran committed a fielding error.
UNC may have escaped with a win, but the trend of giving up early runs is one the team would like to shake.
“Coach said he was getting a little sick of that,” UNC junior Jacob Stallings said. “I guess it’s something we’re getting used to and we have a mature team, so we don’t freak out if we get behind … but I think we’d definitely rather play being ahead.”
UNC quickly nullified Winthrop’s early advantage by scoring four runs in the bottom of the second inning. Baldwin led the effort in by hitting a triple that bounced off the wall and allowed Tom Zengel and Matt Roberts to score.
Roberts earned his first career start as catcher Tuesday night in place of Stallings, who shifted to first base in lieu of injured Jesse Wierzbicki.
