University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Westrn Carolina
Baseball Gets Record-Setting Victory
March 7, 2000 | Baseball
March 7, 2000
Chapel Hill, N.C. -- The second-ranked University of North Carolina baseball team jumped on top of Western Carolina early and held off a late rally for a record-setting 11-8 victory Tuesday afternoon at Boshamer Stadium. The Tar Heels are now off to their best start in history with 17 consecutive wins to open the 2000 season, which tops last year's 16-0 start and also marks the longest winning streak ever at Carolina.
Scott Autrey made his second start for the Tar Heels and picked up the win. The freshman right-hander gave up two runs on four hits in six complete innings to move to 4-0 on the season. Brad House (1-1) gave up six runs on seven hits in just 1.2 innings to take the loss.
Sean Farrell, Jay Madeira and Tyrell Godwin were the stars at the plate for the Tar Heels. Farrell had a career game, as he went 3-for-4 with two home runs and five RBI. Godwin had a two-run homer in the seventh and finished the game 2-for-4 with four RBI, while Madeira had three hits and scored three runs in five at bats. He also stole two bases.
The Tar Heels jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead after one inning and then blew the game open with a five-run second. Matt McCay led off the inning with a double to right center field. Madeira reached on a bunt single up the first base line, and Farrell knocked both Tar Heels home with his third home run of the year. Chad Prosser followed with a double of his own, and he scored on Godwin's second RBI of the game. Godwin later scored on a wild pitch to make the lead 6-0 after two innings.
The Tar Heels and Catamounts traded runs in the fifth. Western Carolina's Charles Thomas capitalized on back-to-back two-out walks with an RBI single to left to get WCU on the scoreboard. Carolina answered in the bottom half of that inning when Madeira led off the inning with his second hit of the afternoon, a double to left, and Prosser knocked him home with a sacrifice fly to center.
After WCU scored another run on the sixth, Carolina scored four runs in a big seventh inning. Madeira led off the inning with a single and Farrell knocked him home with his second homer of the game, a long blast over the left-field wall. Four batters later, Godwin crushed a home run of his own and pushed the Tar Heels on top 11-2.
The Catamounts made a late rally, with two runs in the eighth and four more runs in the ninth, but the comeback bid was not enough. Todd Buchanan had a home run in the eighth off of B.J. Finnerty, and the Catamounts made the most of two walks by Jason King and later a throwing error by pitcher Matt Tanner for four runs in the ninth.
The Tar Heels and Catamounts will be in action again Wednesday at 3 p.m. at Boshamer Stadium. Carolina hosts the University of Richmond Spiders this weekend for games on Saturday (1 p.m.) and Sunday (1:30 p.m.). UNC is in the middle of a 12-game homestand and will play 14 of its next 17 games at home, a place where Carolina has won 48 straight games against non-conference foes. Carolina's lone road trip during that stretch is the ACC-opening series at Georgia Tech March 17-19.
