Tar Heels shut out Maine in NCAA tournament opener

After only the first inning of Friday night’s NCAA regional game, the North Carolina baseball team had essentially shut down its opponent.

Maine pitcher Keith Bilodeau walked Carolina’s leadoff hitter Chaz
Frank, spurring an offensive series the Black Bears simply could not overcome.

First baseman Jesse Wierzbicki stepped up to the plate as the Tar
Heels’ fourth batter and singled to center field, notching a run for Frank, who was in scoring position after advancing to second on a balk.

Bilodeau then walked a second batter, pushing Wierzbicki to second, before throwing a slider that catcher Jacob Stallings hit well over the left field wall to score Wierzbicki and Coyle and round out the inning.

There would be no more runs scored after Stallings’ home run, and the Tar Heels beat Maine 4-0.

Stallings, who approached the plate at the bottom of the first with two outs and two runners on base, wanted to get ahead and put his team in place for a good start.

“I just saw it up and was able to get a good swing on it,” Stallings said. “I didn’t want to leave Jesse and Tommy (Coyle) out there on base.”

UNC shone defensively as well. Short stop Levi Michael made a number of well-crafted plays that prevented several Maine batters from getting on base, despite the Black Bears’ four leadoff singles over the course of the first six innings.

During the entire game, Maine was only able to advance one runner past second base, and the Black Bears failed to drive in a single run.

“Levi summed up the left side of the infield,” Weirzbicki said. “Some of the balls he gets are just unbelievable. I was on first base thinking, ‘There’s no way he’s going to get to that ball,’ and all of a sudden the ball was in my glove – incredible defense.”

Bilodeau and relief pitcher Stephen Perakslis were able to hold the Tar Heels to only four runs on five hits, despite a fielding error by short stop Michael Fransoso that allowed Stallings to reach base in the bottom of the fourth inning.

The pitching pair threw 75 strikes and struck out six.

“I tip my hat to Keith Bilodeau,” Associate Head Coach Scott Forbes said. “After we hit the three-run homer right there at the beginning, he did a good job of keeping in the game.”

Forbes coached the Tar Heels from the dugout due to the absence of head coach Mike Fox.

The No. 3-seeded Tar Heels remain unblemished at home in NCAA regional games since 2006, advancing to 13-0 after their shutout victory against Maine.

UNC is now 46-14 overall and 6-2 all-time against the Black Bears.

UNC will be in action again on Saturday against the No. 3 seed James Madison University after advancing in the winners’ bracket of the regional.

The Chapel Hill regional champion will go on to face the winner of the Cal State Fullerton regional in the Super Regional for a shot to play in the College World Series.