The No. 9 North Carolina baseball team (4-0) hosted its first midweek game of the season on Wednesday afternoon, crushing Gardner-Webb in an 11-1 win at Boshamer Stadium.
What happened?
The Tar Heels were able to get to Runnin' Bulldogs' starting pitcher Landon Mitchell early. By the end of the first inning, UNC had already broken the game wide open and established a 5-0 lead.
After Mitchell walked the first two batters he faced, first-year first baseman Michael Busch slapped a single into right field to score the runner on second and give UNC a 1-0 lead. Junior second baseman Zack Gahagan followed Busch’s lead, knocking a double into left field to score another run.
Sophomore outfielder Brandon Riley then scored a third run on an infield single before sophomore third baseman Kyle Datres launched a two-run home run just over the fence in left field to clear the bases and give North Carolina the five-run edge.
Gardner-Webb (2-3) scored its lone run in the top of the third when Mason Fox crushed a solo home run over the left-field wall.
UNC was able to score two runs on Mitchell’s replacement, Cooper Devine, in the bottom of the fourth on a single by Miller and a sacrifice fly from Logan Warmoth. Gahagan added another insurance run in the bottom of the seventh on a solo home run to left field.
The Tar Heels scored their final three runs of the game in the bottom of the eighth. First-year Ike Freeman scored fellow first-year Austin McGee on a sacrifice fly to right field before Warmoth rocketed the ball to center to collect a triple and send another run in.
Busch then reached on a dropped fly ball by Gardner-Webb's center fielder to score Warmoth, giving North Carolina its final run of the day.
