Carolina Sweeps Wake Forest, Two Eighth Inning Home Runs Cap 8-6 Win

Sunday, April 1

Chapel Hill

2 p.m.

North Carolina

18-10, 0

Wake Forest

11-17, 0

Wake Forest

North Carolina

Brandon Riley

Photo by: Joe Bray

Carolina Sweeps Wake Forest, Two Eighth Inning Home Runs Cap 8-6 Win

April 1, 2018 | Baseball

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By: Davis Dupree

North Carolina used the long ball to complete the sweep of Wake Forest on Sunday evening at Boshamer Stadium by scoring seven runs in the final three innings for the 8-6 victory. Zack Gahagan started things with a three-run home run in the sixth inning, followed by a game-tying solo home run from Brandon Martorano in the eighth and the game-winning two-run home run from Brandon Riley four batters later to complete the 8-6 comeback.

North Carolina is now 18-10 on the season and 8-4 in ACC play, just one game behind Duke in the Coastal Division.

The Tar Heels jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the first inning before Wake Forest's bats woke up in the second to take the 3-1 lead.

In the first inning for the Tar Heels Cody Roberts found himself on second base after back-to-back Demon Deacon errors before Gahagan found a hole on the right side with a two-out, two-strike RBI single to drive him in from second.

For Wake Forest in the second, three singles and a sac fly in the frame plated three and gave the Demon Deacons the 3-1 lead. Despite the runs, the Carolina defense behind starter Rodney Hutchison helped limit the damage. Ashton McGee made a great running catch near the wall in left for the first out, and Ike Freeman laid out up the middle to snag a ground ball and end the inning to prevent the runner on third from scoring.

The Demon Deacons added another run to its lead in the fourth off a line drive that tipped just off the top of Gahagan's glove to score the runner from second to make it 4-1.

But, Carolina tied the game in the bottom of the sixth on a long three-run jack to left courtesy of Gahagan, his third of the year. The next three batters would reach to load the bases with nobody out, but the Heels failed to capitalize as the three straight strikeouts kept the Heels off the board to keep the score tied at four through six.

Wake Forest didn't waste any time in regaining the lead, as they put up a run in the top of the seventh on a two-out single from Johnny Aiello. Brett Daniels was able to limit the damage to just a run by picking up a few big strikeouts with runners in scoring position that stranded a pair of Demon Deacons.

The Heels had a response of its own in the bottom of the frame. Datres reached on an error, advanced to second on a walk and then third on passed ball before being brought home by a sacrifice fly from Ike Freeman to tie the game, 5-5.

The game turned into quite a back and forth affair, with Wake Forest getting back on top in the top of the eighth on an RBI double from Logan Harvey that made its way to the wall for the 6-5 advantage.

The Heels once again had the response in the bottom of the inning. Brandon Martorano led off with a solo home run to left field for his seventh of the year. After a Datres single, Brandon Riley got in on the action with a two-run shot down the right field line to put the Heels on top 8-6, which proved to be the game-winning runs.

Daniels worked the last three innings allowing just one run while striking out four to pick up the win, his fourth of the season.

Gahagan had a big day, finishing 3-4 with four RBI while Riley also had a multi-hit day, going 2-5 with two RBI and three runs scored.

The Heels will make the trip to Charlotte's BB&T Ballpark for the second consecutive week, this time taking on South Carolina on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m.