No. 12 North Carolina baseball sweeps Boston College in sloppy series

The North Carolina baseball team’s series against Boston College was characterized by long games and sloppy play.

This was most evident in the sixth inning of No. 12 UNC’s 16-8 win over Boston College (19-22, 7-14 ACC) on Sunday. 

The Tar Heels (30-11, 13-8 ACC) scored 12 runs in the inning, the Eagles used four different pitchers and two crucial runs were scored off wild pitches.Those two runs tied the game, then took the lead for UNC.

That victory was by far the least exciting and shortest for the Tar Heels because they won the first two games in walk-off fashion. The Saturday doubleheader was long and sloppy; it lasted 10 hours, saw 24 pitchers used and almost 1,000 pitches were thrown across the two games.

When junior Michael Busch was asked to put the long day into words the first thing he said was “exhausting.” However, the doubleheader was also exciting.

“You only come across so many walk-off wins throughout your college career or your high school career,” Busch said. “To have that twice in the same day was a ton of fun, but at the same time, it was long.”

With those two victories and the win on Sunday, UNC completed a sweep of Boston College and moved into a tie with Georgia Tech atop the ACC Coastal Division. 

“It’s hard winning a series in this league,” head coach Mike Fox said. “And it’s hard sweeping them anywhere against anybody because everybody is good, so I feel pretty good right now.”

The Tar Heels finished the sweep with their decisive victory on Sunday, but the first two were where the team showed its fight. UNC won the first leg of the doubleheader, 8-7, and the second, 11-10. Both victories came in the 11th inning.

The Tar Heels scored 35 runs in the series and a good chunk of those were thanks to an impressive hitting display from Busch and first-year Danny Serretti.

Serretti and Busch accounted for 15 of the Tar Heels’ 35 runs. Both of the sluggers hit two home runs, highlighted by Serretti’s grand slam in Saturday’s nightcap.

“I’m just trying to push across runs for the team because they are so hard to come by against ACC teams and good teams,” Serretti said. “I’m really just trying to lock in and do what I can to help.”

Serretti drove in a career-high 10 runs on the weekend, six of which game in the second game of the series. 

Busch also continued to stay hot. He hit 6-15 with two home runs and five RBIs in the series. 

“Michael Busch is just special,” Fox said. “He’s a special player.”

Busch has been on a tear of late, recording an RBI in 13 of his last 14 games and hitting five home runs in his last six. 

"Baseball is such a tough sport, and you’ve got to enjoy it while you are seeing the ball well because it doesn’t come often,” Busch said.

The hot hitting for the Tar Heels paid off because the pitchers struggled against Boston College’s tough lineup, allowing 25 runs in the series. The Tar Heels’ catcher, Brandon Martorano was beat up by a number of balls thrown in the dirt over the weekend.

Martorano caught 31 innings over the course of two days, and Fox had nothing but high praise for him.

“I texted him last night at about midnight that I thought he was a stud yesterday,” Fox said. “Then turning around and doing it today about 12 hours later, you can’t say enough about that. That’s toughness.”

Toughness was the key for the Tar Heels in their sweep. They lasted through three long and sloppy games to earn a crucial result and get back on top of their division.

@matt_chilson

@DTHSports | sports@dailytarheel.com