The North Carolina baseball finished off a sweep of Boston College Sunday afternoon with a 4-1 victory at Boshamer Stadium.
Freshman Hobbs Johnson picked up the win with 5.1 innings of work in which he allowed just two hits and one run to the Eagles while striking out seven. The numbers make it sound like he had his way with the lineup, but it wasn’t that simple.
On three different occasions Johnson had his back to the wall with two or more runners on base, but each time he came up with clutch strikeouts.
“It was definitely not my best day,” Johnson said. “I didn’t really have much of anything I didn’t feel like as far as command or anything like that. But coach always preaches to us to pitch pitch-to-pitch and only focus on that pitch. So from that aspect of it, I think that philosophy is what allowed me to get those strikeouts in those big situations.”
Behind Johnson, the Tar Heels are still getting used to a new infield alignment. Colin Moran made his return to ACC competition this weekend after suffering from a broken bone in his hand and up the middle, coach Mike Fox moved Tommy Coyle back to second base where he spent all of last season. At shortstop, Fox has freshman Michael Russell, who played the position in high school.
“Tommy’s playing real, real well at second base and we swept (Boston College) today so things are going well, and I’m liking it.” Russell said. “Colin’s great in the infield, especially on those slow rollers and bunts – his bunt coverage is fantastic – so Colin is as solid as can be. A few more reps and we’ll get him back where he wants to be again and we’ll be even better.”
Fox agreed that Moran, though he looked strong in his first two games back, still needs some time to get back to the level he was at before the injury.
“He didn’t play well today, his timing was off.” Fox said about Moran. “You could tell he’s not seeing that changeup as well… I think everybody got fooled by the first couple of games – oh, he’s right back – but he’s not there yet. But he will be.”
Cody Stubbs, the first baseman, registered UNC’s first hit of the game in the second inning with a single to straightaway center field. Tommy Coyle’s single moved him over to second and freshman Adam Griffin brought Stubbs home with a single to right field.
