UNC baseball takes first ACC series from Pittsburgh, 2-1

The North Carolina baseball team had already gone through the hard part.

On Saturday, the Tar Heels beat Pittsburgh not once but twice, outscoring the Panthers in a 9-5 shootout, then edging them in a 2-1 pitcher’s duel. On Sunday, the Tar Heels led 4-3 after the fourth inning — scoring three runs in the bottom half of the frame to climb out of a 3-1 hole. They were on the cusp of clinching the series sweep, opening the ACC season with three straight wins against conference newcomer Pittsburgh.

Then the game took a wild turn.

A wild pitch by reliever Trevor Kelley set up a game-tying sacrifice fly for Pittsburgh’s Dylan Wolsonovich in the seventh, and in the eighth, a single, a passed ball, a walk and a wild pitch set the table nicely for two more Panthers runs. The Tar Heels (10-4, 2-1 ACC) lost 6-4 and would have to settle for a 2-1 series win.

“Well, I mean, we’re happy to get the series win, certainly,” said coach Mike Fox. “Disappointed going into Sunday with the chance to win all three and not get it done. All and all, after you process today, you have to go back and say, ‘Not great, but not bad.’”

The series began promisingly enough for the Tar Heels with a six-run first inning in the first game of Saturday’s twinbill, but UNC would have to overcome a feisty Pittsburgh team that tagged sophomore starter Trent Thornton for four runs in a shaky fourth inning. In game two, the Tar Heels relied on a dominant Benton Moss, who struck out 12 and allowed just one run in seven innings.

Freshman Zac Gallen got the start in game three, and after retiring his first six batters, he began to unravel in the third inning. Gallen, a right-hander, had difficultly locating his two-seam fastball, which kept darting out of the strike zone. The leadoff batter reached on a wild third strike, and three runs would come across in an inning that included a passed ball, a hit batter and a walk — the big hit, a double, came off the bat of Wolsonovich.

From there, Gallen simply had to limit the damage, gutting through a 6.1-inning, four-run performance on the mound.

“I felt OK, definitely not my best,” he said. “I really just tried to keep us in the game … I knew the offense was going to score some runs, so if I could minimize the damage it would be all right.”

The offense did in fact score some runs — one positive in the series for North Carolina.

After struggling with the bats early, the Tar Heels have averaged 6.6 runs in their last five games. Catcher Korey Dunbar, who went 2-for-3 with two RBIs Sunday, has played a significant role in that revival, returning to the lineup last weekend after an early season bout with mononucleosis.

“All of our bats really are starting to come together and starting to string a lot of runs and hits together and play more as a team offensively,” Dunbar said. “So I think that’s a big plus.”

The offense showed its potency in Sunday’s three-run fourth, snatching the lead from Pittsburgh pitcher Joseph Harvey on a Tyler Ramirez sacrifice fly, Dunbar RBI single and Joe Dudek double to deep left-center.

But UNC’s mistakes later in the contest wiped that rally from the board.

“It was a good response for them off of Harvey, who I thought was throwing the ball well to get the lead right back,” Fox said. “Just some resiliency.

“But you have to finish games in this league.”

The Tar Heels made it through the hard part. They just couldn’t quite seal the deal.

sports@dailytarheel.com