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The Daily Tar Heel

Luca Dalatri fans 15 as UNC baseball completes sweep of Radford

The No. 9 North Carolina baseball team (7-0) used a record-breaking performance by first-year Luca Dalatri to complete its sweep of Radford (1-6) with a 7-5 win on Sunday.

What happened?

The first score of the day came in the bottom of the second, when an Ashton McGee single drove Kyle Datres home to put UNC up, 1-0.

The majority of the Tar Heels' runs came in the bottom of the third inning, when UNC exploited a Radford implosion in the field. A couple of wild pitches and four errors culminated in three runs for North Carolina.

The story of the day, though, was UNC’s starting pitcher. Dalatri, a first-year, had a memorable second start for the Tar Heels. He had a perfect game through 3 1/3 innings before a Highlander single spoiled things, but he held a shutout until the top of the eighth. 

Radford only managed one hit between the third and seventh innings, and the Tar Heels were able to pile on with three more runs in the bottom of the seventh.

The game hung in the balance in the last two innings, though, when a two-run Radford eighth inning and a three-run ninth put the tying run in the batter’s box. In the end, redshirt first-year Josh Hiatt eventually escaped the top of the ninth for his fifth save of the season, striking out the Highlanders' final batter.

Who stood out?

Dalatri gave up five hits, two runs and struck out 15 in eight innings for his second win of the season. He was also efficient, tossing just 99 pitches all day, 75 of which went for strikes.

Dalatri’s 15 strikeouts are the most in a game by a Tar Heel first-year since 1998 and the most by a UNC pitcher since Matt Harvey struck out 15 in 2010.

When was it decided?

The Highlanders committed several errors. The team made four of its six errors in the bottom of the third, and all three Tar Heel runs in the frame were unearned.

Why does it matter?

With the win, the Tar Heels earned another series sweep and are a perfect 7-0 on the season.

More importantly though, Dalatri’s performance was his first dominant collegiate pitching performance. His only other start for North Carolina came against Kentucky, when he picked up five strikeouts and allowed four runs over seven innings.

Where do they play next?

The Tar Heels face Winthrop on Tuesday at 3 p.m. at Boshamer Stadium.

@alexzietlow05

sports@dailytarheel.com

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