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The Daily Tar Heel

No. 14 North Carolina baseball drops weekend series against Georgia Tech

VCU Baseball Enwiller
Sophomore Dylan Enwiller (6) just misses a chance at a single during UNC 11-8 loss over VCU on Wednesday.

The No. 14 North Carolina baseball team (23-9, 8-7 ACC) lost a weekend series to Georgia Tech (21-10, 9-6 ACC) for the first time since 2016. 

What happened? 

Game One: UNC 11, Georgia Tech 4 

In the first of a three-game series, the North Carolina baseball team’s offense reigned supreme as the Tar Heels beat Georgia Tech, 11-4. The North Carolina offense was explosive from the start. The Tar Heels notched a run in the first inning, and they kept rolling.

In the second inning, senior Jackson Hesterlee hit a two-run home run over the right field fence.  Eight Tar Heel UNC batters stepped up to the plate in the inning, and they scored four runs. After the second inning, North Carolina had a commanding lead, 5-0. 

While the offense was on fire, so was the Tar Heel pitching staff. Starter Tyler Baum quieted the Yellow Jacket offense from the start. He pitched 5.2 innings, struck out six batters, allowed six hits and three runs. The first Yellow Jacket run came in the bottom of the third. Even though the Yellow Jacket’s ultimately scored four runs in this contest, they were unable to catch the Tar Heels. 

Throughout the remainder of the game, two more Tar Heels hit home runs: Dylan Harris and Aaron Sabato and four other Tar Heels had multi-hit games. 

Game Two: Georgia Tech 11, UNC 10 

The second game of the series proved to be a hard fought battle between the Yellow Jackets and the Tar Heels. 

Unlike Friday’s matchup, Georgia Tech took an early lead and scored three runs in the bottom of the second inning to take the lead, 3-0. In the top of the third, North Carolina bounced back with two runs of their own. Ashton McGee led off the inning with a single then Danny Serretti drove in McGee after he hit a double to left field. Then Dylan Enwiller hit an RBI single and drove in Serretti from second. The Tar Heels cut the Georgia Tech lead to one.

In the third inning, the Yellow Jackets scored three runs and were able to get North Carolina pitcher Austin Bergner out of the game. Bergner pitched 2.1 innings, which is his season low. But the UNC bullpen did no better in slowing down the Georgia Tech offense. 

UNC faced a 9-4 deficit heading into the eighth inning, but continued to fight. With two men on base, Serretti hit a double down the left field line that drove in two runs. Even though Georgia Tech scored a run in the bottom of the eighth, UNC had one inning left to fight back and that is what they did. 

In the top of the ninth inning, all nine Tar Heels in the lineup hit, of those nine hitters three were walked, two hit RBI doubles and one hit an RBI single.  Both Serretti and Brandon Martorano hit RBI doubles. In that inning alone, North Carolina scored four runs off three hits and found themselves tied with Georgia Tech, 10-10. In the last three innings of the game, UNC scored eight runs. 

Although UNC battled back, they fell short. Georgia Tech won the game in the bottom of the ninth after a sacrifice fly to centerfield allowed a runner from third to score. 

Game Three: Georgia Tech 10, UNC 5 

Neither team was able to break through until the third inning. In the top of the inning, Michael Busch stepped up to the plate with two men on base and two outs and hit a three-run home run. With just one swing of the bat, Busch gave UNC the lead. That lead did not last long. Georgia Tech bounced back with a three-run home run of its own in the bottom of the inning. 

Now with a tie game, 3-3, UNC did not falter instead as they did on Saturday they bounced back. First-year Aaron Sabato hit a solo home run over the right field wall. That was Sabato’s second home run of the series and his eighth home run this season. 

Although UNC had the lead, Georgia Tech continued to battle. They regained the lead in the bottom of the fourth, by scoring two runs in the inning and led, 5-4. The Yellow Jackets’ maintained their lead and won the game, 10-5. 

Who stood out? 

On Saturday, first-year Serretti went 5-for-5 at the plate. He hit three doubles and four RBI. Serretti is the only Tar Heel on the team to have five hits in a game this season. Serretti has conquered this feat twice this season, his previous five hit game took place less than a month ago against Gardner Webb.

First-year Aaron Sabato hit two home runs this weekend against Georgia Tech, on Friday and Sunday respectively. Seven of his eight home runs this season have come against ACC opponents. He also leads the team in home runs, with eight this season. 

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Why does it matter? 

Heading into this three-game ACC series, both Georgia Tech and North Carolina were tied for first place in the ACC Costal Division, with a 7-5 record. After splitting the first two games of this three-game series, the series finale on Sunday determined which team would lead the division. On Sunday, Georgia Tech won the series and now lead North Carolina by one game in the ACC Costal Division. 

When do they play next? 

The Tar Heels will return to Boshamer Stadium to play UNC-Greensboro Tuesday night at 6 p.m. 

@TorreNetkovick

@DTHSports | sports@dailytarheel.com