North Carolina
5-5
Liberty
6-3
No. 13 Tar Heels down Liberty, 17-2
March 2, 2018 | Baseball
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Tyler Baum turned in yet another solid start going six innings and allowing two runs on three hits while striking out seven for his second win of the year. The bullpen picked up right where Baum left off, with Trevor Gay and Kyle Blendinger throwing a combined three no-hit innings.
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The Tar Heels got the scoring started in the third inning with a pair of manufactured runs. After a leadoff walk to Dallas Tessar, the leadoff man would swipe second and advance to third on a throwing error before scoring on a wild pitch. Brandon Riley also walked in the inning and ended up scoring on a sac fly from Cody Roberts.
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Liberty responded quickly in the top of the fourth with a two-run home run from Trey Todd to even up the score. However, that would be about all the offense the Flames would produce on the evening.
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Liberty threatened again in the fifth with runners on the corners and one out, but the opportunity was stifled by Tessar who caught a fly ball in left field and threw out Trey McDyre at the plate.
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Carolina broke the game open in the bottom of the fifth with a huge eight-run inning. The offense got going with a Datres walk and a pair of well-executed hit-and-runs to drive him home and keep the pressure on. With runners on the corners, Ashton McGee recorded his first extra-base hit and RBI on the season when he laced a line drive into the right field corner for a two-RBI double. Later in the inning, Ike Freeman, Tessar and Brandon Riley all worked bases loaded walks to plate three runs. Michael Busch rounded out the inning with a two-RBI single extending the lead to 10-2.
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The offense stayed hot the following inning thanks to a couple of two-run home runs by Zack Gahagan and Brandon Riley, pushing the lead 14-2.
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The Heels continued adding to its lead late, plating another in the seventh after a walk to McGee and singles from Jackson Hesterlee and Kip Brandenburg. The Heels tacked on two more in the eighth on an infield single from Hesterlee and a sacrifice fly from Dylan Enwiller to extend the lead to 17-2 and make it four consecutive scoring frames.Â
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The Heels and Flames square off again tomorrow at Boshamer Stadium with a scheduled 2 p.m. first pitch.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Baum, Tyler (2-0)
L: SKIRROW, Noah (1-1)
Batting:
HR: TODD, Tre 1
RBI: TODD, Tre 2
Base Running:
RUNS: EMBRY, Jonathan 1 ; TODD, Tre 1
Batting:
2B: Datres, Kyle 1 ; Casparius, Ben 1 ; McGee, Ashton 1
HR: Riley, Brandon 1 ; Gahagan, Zack 1
RBI: Tessar, Dallas 1 ; Riley, Brandon 3 ; Busch, Michael 2 ; Roberts, Cody 2 ; McGee, Ashton 2 ; Hesterlee, Jackson 1 ; Gahagan, Zack 2 ; Brandenburg, Kip 1 ; Freeman, Ike 1 ; Enwiller, Dylan 1
SF: Roberts, Cody 1 ; Enwiller, Dylan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Tessar, Dallas 2 ; Riley, Brandon 2 ; Datres, Kyle 1 ; Busch, Michael 1 ; Casparius, Ben 1 ; Roberts, Cody 1 ; Lancellotti, Joey 1 ; McGee, Ashton 3 ; Martorano, Brandon 1 ; Gahagan, Zack 2 ; Freeman, Ike 2
SB: Tessar, Dallas 1
HBP: Martorano, Brandon 1 ; Gahagan, Zack 1
