The No. 20 Tar Heels (21-4) took down the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (16-7) for the third time this weekend, 9-2, earning their fourth clean sweep of the season.
Calm, steady, and consistent on the mound, junior left-handed pitcher Shea Sprague pitched the Tar Heels through nearly the entire game.
“I just go pitch by pitch,” Sprague said bluntly. “As they start rolling, [I] just get more comfortable, more confident.”
North Carolina forced a quick three-up three-down to start the game. In the batter’s box, senior designated hitter Alberto Osuna doubled down the left-field line to bring in two runs for UNC. Graduate second baseman Alex Madera grounded out to second to earn one RBI, putting the Tar Heels up early, 3-0.
The game continued to move steadily with no action at home plate for either team in the second or third innings.
At the top of the fourth frame, Cam Jones earned one RBI for the Yellow Jackets. But to this, the Tar Heels had a quick response in the bottom of the frame: two homers back-to-back by senior Parks Harber and freshman Luke Stevenson.
After another steady inning from Sprague, North Carolina monopolized off of Georgia Tech’s struggle to find an answer at the mound. In the bottom of the sixth, Brett Thomas allowed one RBI for the Tar Heels before junior Vance Honeycutt homered off of Jones, bringing UNC to a 9-1 lead going into what proved to be a quiet seventh inning.
“I knew his best pitch was a changeup, and I was just looking for something out over the plate and up,” said Honeycutt. “And I got one.”
Sprague came back to the mound in the ninth inning for what fans hoped would be a complete game. However, head coach Scott Forbes quickly spoke to him and had him step off the mound.
