Tar Heels drop Wake Forest 9-0 after long delay

The game between the North Carolina and Wake Forest baseball teams finally got underway just after midnight Saturday morning.

But it wouldn’t be long before the rain would come again and push the eventual 9-0 Tar Heel victory to Saturday afternoon.

Tar Heel starter Patrick Johnson was unhittable in the early morning on Saturday. After a slow start in which he walked two batters in the first inning, Johnson sat down the next 15 he faced.

Johnson issued a walk to Wake Forest leadoff hitter Pat Blair and then promptly picked him off at first base. Catcher Jacob Stallings erased Johnson’s other walk when Steven Brooks tried to steal second base. Brooks is the 29th runner Stallings has caught stealing this season.

“I couldn’t really find the zone the first three hitters, but I was able to settle down after that.” Johnson said. “I really don’t know what it was but Jake (Stallings) helped me out a lot throwing out Steven (Brooks) when he tried to steal second.”

Johnson got stronger as the game progressed, racking up eight strikeouts before the rain returned to Durham Bulls Athletic Park just before 2 a.m. The right hander had just struck out the side in the bottom of the sixth before play was suspended in the top of the seventh. Wake Forest would not record a hit until the game resumed Saturday afternoon.

“It started with great defense,” Johnson said. “I think in the third inning they connected pretty well with two balls that just happened to be right at the outfielders. Colin made a great play over at third, Levi at short — they were hitting them right to the position players last night.”

The Tar Heels looked very aggressive at the plate — taking big swings at first pitches and looking for hard contact. Their efforts paid off in the fourth inning when designated hitter Greg Holt blasted a two-run home run off the building behind the Blue Monster in left field.

As soon as the ball hit the bat, Wake Forest left fielder Mac Williamson could only turn and watch as Holt’s shot flew out of the park.

UNC blew the game open in the fifth inning when shortstop Levi Michael also left the yard to left field. Two batters later, senior Jesse Wierzbicki followed suit with a solo shot of his own. Wiezbicki’s home run, which cleared the famous bull atop the Blue Monster, was the longest of the three for the Tar Heels.

The success at the plate carried over to later in the afternoon when Tommy Coyle sent a double to the wall in left, scoring two runs in the first at-bat of the restart. In the next at-bat, Stallings knocked in Coyle with a single up the middle.

Chris Munnelly came out to start the conclusion of the game and recorded two outs before Brooks dropped a blooper in behind second base for Wake’s first hit of the game. Wake would only connect for one more hit in the game.

“(It was a) pretty complete game for us all the way around,” coach Mike Fox said.

“It starts with pitching for us and Patrick was really, really good. We got exactly what we wanted today — started the day with second and third and got a big hit to get off the five-run lead so it was a good finish for us.”