Seminoles seize opportunities in 7-1 win over UNC baseball

Baseball is a game of opportunities.

A win or loss can be determined by creating opportunities and whether or not you take advantage of them.

And in the North Carolina baseball team’s 7-1 loss Wednesday to Florida State at NewBridge Bank Park, it was the Seminoles who generated and exploited their offensive opportunities against UNC starter Taylore Cherry.

The Seminoles struck first in the second inning. After Cherry allowed two men to reach base via a single and a walk, John Sansone hit a sharp grounder to Landon Lassiter at third, which he successfully backhanded to start a double play.

With the Tar Heels an out away from escaping the scoring threat, Justin Gonzalez stepped to the plate and lined a pitch into left to give FSU an early 1-0 lead. FSU coach Mike Martin said Gonzalez’s two-out hit was key following the play by Lassiter.

“That was really big because Sansone hit the daylights out of the ball, and Lassiter made a big league play and turned a double play,” Martin said. “Gonzo comes up and gets a big two-out hit for us. It’s very, very important.”

The Tar Heels, meanwhile, continued to have their woes at the plate against FSU starter Billy Strode. The lefty was lights out through four innings, allowing only one hit.

Unable to fashion any offensive opportunities of their own, the Tar Heels entered the bottom of the fourth needing to constrain the Seminoles offense — a task easier said than done.

With runners on first and second and one out, the Seminoles put both runners in motion. Catcher Korey Dunbar received the pitch and fired to third base, only to have the runner called safe on a bang-bang play.

Cherry then loaded the bases by walking Gonzalez — giving FSU a chance to bust the game wide open. And the Seminoles seized the opportunity by driving in four runs on three hits to push their lead to 5-0.

Coach Mike Fox said the double steal triggered FSU’s offensive breakout.

“We knew they were going to either try to run off of Taylore, and they do a great job getting secondary leads and create things for them offensively,” Fox said. “They take advantage of that. They’re as good a team as any that does that.”

The deficit proved to be insurmountable for the Tar Heels, as the team grounded into three inning-ending double plays in the fifth through seventh innings to spoil its chances of making a comeback.

Fox said the Seminoles won the game due to the scoring opportunities they created and what they were able to do in those situations.

“They take advantage,” Fox said. “When you open the door, a walk there, two out hits, all the things that you would script out on how to win a game. Florida State does it time after time after time.”

Contact the desk editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.