UNC baseball beat Clemson in weekend series opener

Things are clicking so well for the North Carolina baseball team that even coach Mike Fox is surprised.

Kent Emanuel kept Clemson’s bats in check despite some control issues, and the No. 1 North Carolina baseball team beat the Tigers 10-3 in Saturday night’s series opener.

“I told the team before the game that this would be a close, low-scoring game, so that shows you how much I know,” Fox said.

Sunday’s game was postponed due to rain with the Tar Heels (24-1, 8-1 ACC) leading Clemson (16-10, 5-5 ACC) 2-0 in the top of the third inning. The game will be resumed today at 2:45 p.m., with the series finale to follow at 6 p.m.

In the game that was completed, a crowd of almost 4,000 — by far Boshamer Stadium’s biggest of the season — saw the Tar Heels jump out to an 8-1 lead by the third inning. The Tar Heels put up four runs in the first and four in the third, a spurt capped by Matt Roberts’ two-out, three-run homer in the third inning.

But Clemson had a chance to get right back into it.

Emanuel, a left-handed junior, displayed shaky command at times. In the fifth inning, Emanuel gave up two hits and a walk to load the bases with no outs and the middle of the Clemson order coming up.

Pitching coach Scott Forbes went to the mound to talk to the southpaw. And after the visit, Emanuel quickly buckled down.

He went almost exclusively to his off-speed pitches, striking out Steve Wilkerson on three changeups and popping up Garrett Boulware to short right field for the first two outs.

Then, after getting two strikes on Shane Kennedy with more slow pitches, Emanuel rang up Kennedy on a perfect fastball on the inside corner.

“They hit a ball in the gap there and they’re right back in the game, one swing of the bat,” Fox said. “And then strikeout, fly ball, strikeout. Three-four-five. That’s Kent Emanuel.”

No runs came across in the frame, and Emanuel pitched a one-two-three sixth — his first hitless inning of the night. After loading the bases, he retired 10 straight Clemson batters and stayed on the mound through the eighth inning despite throwing 117 pitches.

And overall, Emanuel’s stat line was strong as usual — eight innings, one run, one walk and five strikeouts. And Clemson’s only run when he was on the mound came on a third strike that bounced to the backstop.

Even when Emanuel’s command slipped in the middle innings, Fox said he knew the pitcher was only bending, not breaking.

“We talk about our offense, but the key to the game was that lefty we had on the mound,” Fox said. “He’s got the unique ability to look like he’s teetering and we need to go get him, but he’s got such a history here we know he’s got another gear down in there.”

Contact the desk editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.