University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Va Commonwealth
Heels Top VCU To Move To 14-0 On The Season
March 1, 2000 | Baseball
March 1, 2000
Box Score & Play-by-Play
Chapel Hill, N.C. -- Clay Hooper had three hits and three RBI, including a two-run home run in the third, as the third-ranked North Carolina baseball team erased an early deficit for an 8-4 victory over Virginia Commonwealth Wednesday afternoon at Boshamer Stadium. The Tar Heels improve to 14-0 on the year, while VCU falls to 9-4.
Ryan Snare pitched 6.1 innings and gave up four runs, three of them earned, for his third win of the season. He also struck out four Ram batters and has a team leading 27 K's this season. VCU starter Jason Dubois (2-1) gave up six runs and walked five batters in five innings to take the loss.
After surrendering an unearned run in the top of the first, Carolina bounced back with four runs in the third and proceeded to score one run in each of the next four innings. Sean Farrell crossed the plate first for Carolina on a double steal and Clay Hooper added a two-run home run as the Tar Heels jumped on top 4-1. An RBI single by Adam Greenberg in the fifth gave Farrell his second run scored of the afternoon.
Matt McCay knocked home a run in the fifth and Hooper added a two-out RBI single in the sixth inning. Hooper's hit extended the UNC lead to 7-4 and the senior shortstop finished the day 3-for-5. Ryan Earey, this week's ACC Co-Player of the Week, scored UNC's final run on a Jay Madeira sacrifice fly in the seventh. Earey was 1-for-2 at the plate and was hit twice by VCU pitches. He also pitched 1.2 innings of scoreless relief against a VCU team that pulled to within 6-4 with a three-run sixth inning.
Derrick DePriest pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his 98th career appearance, which moves him into second place all-time in the Carolina record book.
Carolina has won 45 consecutive games versus non-conference opponents in Chapel Hill, a streak that dates back to the Seton Hall series in 1998. At 14-0, the Tar Heels are also off to their best start since opening the season last year with a school-record 16-game winning streak.
Carolina continues its 12-game homestand with two weekend games versus West Virginia. The Tar Heels play host to the Mountaineers Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at 1:30 p.m. UNC, 8-0 at home this year, plays 17 of its next 20 games in Chapel Hill. Carolina's lone road trip in that stretch is its ACC-opening series at Georgia Tech March 17-19.
