UNC baseball blasts Pirates in 17-4 win

After being shut out by Pittsburgh on Sunday, the No. 10 North Carolina baseball team’s bats came back to life Tuesday night, beating East Carolina 17-4 at Clark-LeClair Stadium in Greenville.

The Pirates (11-6) struck first in the bottom of the first inning on Kirk Morgan’s RBI groundout, but the Tar Heels’ Tyler Lynn quickly struck back and tied the score at 1 in the top of the second inning with a solo home run.

UNC (13-2) added seven more runs in the top of the second inning, punctuated by Adam Pate’s three-run double and Tyler Ramirez’s three-run home run to right field, giving the Tar Heels an early 8-1 lead.

North Carolina starting pitcher Cole Aker only pitched 2 2/3 innings, as Coach Mike Fox went to the bullpen early and often — working through five pitchers over the course of the game.

“We knew they were going to keep coming back; they would keep playing,” Fox said. “Our bullpen is good for us, so we decided to make a change.”

The Pirates ultimately scratched across three more runs — one in the third inning against Aker and two in the fifth inning against A.J. Bogucki.

But the Tar Heels fortified their 9-4 lead with four runs in the top of the sixth inning. Brandon Riley’s bases-loaded walk, Cody Roberts' sacrifice fly and a two-run triple by Brian Miller gave UNC a 13-4 lead.

North Carolina added more insurance runs in the eighth inning, highlighted by Logan Warmoth’s two-run double that gave UNC a 17-4 lead.

Reliever Taylor Sugg closed out the win, pitching two scoreless innings.

Quotable

“The hitting was kind of contagious and we kept playing and didn’t give away many at bats tonight.” — Coach Mike Fox on the breadth of production from the Tar Heels’ lineup.

Notable

UNC reliever Spencer Trayner was awarded the win, his first of the season. He pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings and stranded two runners in the fifth after entering the game with one out and runners on first and second base.

Three numbers that matter

8: Eight Tar Heels in a row reached base safely in the top of the second inning, scoring eight runs in the process. UNC ended the inning with eight runs on six hits, while the Pirates committed one error.

13: The two teams combined to pitch 13 different players. East Carolina had eight pitchers take the mound over the course of the game, compared with North Carolina’s five. Aker was the only pitcher who went more than two innings.

9: All nine players in UNC's starting batting order recorded a hit, tallying 16 total on the day. Miller led the team with three hits, and six batters had multiple hits for UNC.

What’s next?

UNC hosts Elon at 6 p.m on Wednesday at Boshamer Stadium.

sports@dailytarheel.com