Paula, Raburn lead UNC baseball to victory

The skies were dingy and gray — a sign that rain was on its way, but North Carolina baseball coach Mike Fox still wanted his team to play.

The elements held off as the Tar Heels took their mid-week game against the Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs 7-1 on Wednesday.

Fox said the weather wasn’t going to stop his team from picking up another spring break win.

“It speaks to what I’ve always thought — if you get these kids up and get them to play rather than lay around all day, they’re generally a little bit better,” Fox said. “We made the right call with the weather, and our guys bounced in here ready to go, and we played a good, clean game today.”

Fox started sophomore Luis Paula on the mound, and Paula showed up as well, striking out a career-high nine batters and walking just two Runnin’ Bulldogs.

“Today felt really good,” Paula said. “I got my confidence back and just kind of pounded the zone.”

Paula admitted that he didn’t think much during the game but that he now sees room for improvement.

“It’s a work in progress,” he said. “It kind of started off slow, but I’ve just got to keep working and see how it goes from here.”

Paula allowed one run in the top of the second inning, but UNC’s offense grossly out-performed Gardner-Webb.

Senior Parks Jordan and sophomore Korey Dunbar knocked in runners in the bottom of the first inning to put UNC up 4-0.

Gardner-Webb had a short defensive break in the second, third and fourth inning.

In the fifth inning, Fox sent sophomore Alex Raburn up to the plate — sealing Gardner-Webb’s fate.

“It was the first pitch I saw,” Raburn said. “That’s my approach — go up there ready to hit. It was right there, so I just swung at it.”

Raburn sent the ball over the fence left of centerfield, bringing sophomore Landon Lassiter in and giving UNC the 6-1 edge.

His next at-bat, Raburn hit a slider on a 1-1 count and drove in Jordan for the 7-1 lead.

As impressive as Raburn’s day was, Fox said he got peak performance from several of his bench players, not just Raburn.

“We just made a change, and then Alex comes through with a home run and a base hit,” Fox said.

“Three of the guys who came off the bench got on base five times for us, so it was good to see those ready. They’re down here every day, and they deserve an opportunity to go in and play, and I’m glad to see them play well today.”

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