The Tar Heels open ACC Tournament with 6-0 win

GREENSBORO — North Carolina’s baseball team isn’t fooling anyone.

Their league-best ERA is a stat that every coach in the ACC is aware of and subsequently has warned his team about the Tar Heels deep and talented pitching staff.

And Wednesday night in UNC’s 6-0 ACC Tournament opening victory against Wake Forest, the Tar Heels used a lot of arms off of that staff – six to be exact.

“Give credit to their pitching staff,” Wake Forest coach Tom Walter said after the game. “That’s why they have the best pitching staff in the league. We knew it would be tough to get runs off their bullpen so we felt like we needed to score off (Shane) Taylor early and we had a couple opportunities.”

But the Demon Deacons couldn’t make the most of those opportunities, thanks to a combination of strong defense and 3.2 strong innings from R.C. Orlan in relief.

Taylor got his third start of the season in the Tar Heels’ opener and gave UNC 4.1 innings of shutout ball before handing the game over to the bullpen. Tate Parrish was credited with the win for his strikeout in the fifth inning against the only batter he faced.

The Tar Heels got the offense kick started in the third inning with a two-out rally.

Brian Holberton led off the bottom of the third with a double to right center and Parks Jordan moved him over to third with a single of his own. Chaz Frank grounded one to the first baseman, but Carlos Lopez – the Demon Deacons first baseman – missed the bag and made a panicky throw to home. But Holberton had retreated back to third and the play loaded the bases.

Michael Russell bounced one to the third baseman in the next at bat and Mark Rhine stepped on third for the force but made a weak throw to first allowing Russell to reach base. Holberton scored on the play to give UNC the 1-0 lead.

With two outs and two runners on, Jacob Stallings belted a double down the left field line to clear the bases. Cody Stubbs brought Stallings home with a single to right center to put UNC up 4-0 in the third.

“I was just trying to be aggressive in that at bat,” Stallings said about his RBI double. “With two outs, and a runner in scoring position the pitcher’s going to try to ahead and I was actually in a 1-0 and figuring he would throw a fastball because he didn’t want to go 2-0. I was able to get the bat head out a little bit and hit it down to the corner.”

The Tar Heels added on another run in the fifth as Frank singled home Parks Jordan who was standing on second. And UNC added on some extra insurance in the eighth when Stubbs scored on a throwing error.

Things got a little hairy in the top of the ninth as the Tar Heels used three different pitchers to close out the game. Cody Penny replaced Orlan with two outs but gave up a pair of walks to load the bases and was pulled for Chris O’Brien. O’Brien ended the threat with a strikeout in the next at bat.

Making five pitching changes in a six-run game might sound like overkill to some, but that’s just fine by UNC coach Mike Fox.

“We’ve got guys that haven’t pitched in a while and we like to use our pitchers,” Fox said. “We feel like our guys have worked hard and they want innings. I know its late, I know what the score is and I get all that but I’m just going back to the hotel – it doesn’t really matter to me – I enjoy it. I enjoy being in the dugout.”

Fox and the Tar Heels will be back in action tomorrow at 3 p.m. against Miami.