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Baseball Drops Armstrong Atlantic State, 10-6
February 23, 2002 | Baseball
Feb. 23, 2002
SAVANNAH, Ga. - Junior left fielder Sean Farrell homered twice and drove in five runs as the University of North Carolina baseball team defeated Armstrong Atlantic State University 10-6 Saturday in the Memorial Health Diamond Classic at historic Grayson Stadium . The win snapped a three-game skid for UNC and improved the Tar Heels to 2-3 overall. Armstrong Atlantic State, a Division II powerhouse located in Savannah, falls to 12-3.
A day after notching season highs of eight runs and 10 hits in a 10-8 loss to Georgia, the Tar Heels bettered that effort with 12 base hits, including four home runs, in the four-run victory. Farrell, who has now had two home runs and five RBIs three times in his career, finished 2-for-4 at the plate, while Chris Maples homered and tripled and finished 3-for-5 with two RBIs. Russ Adams, who continues to DH for the Tar Heels as he nurses a hairline fracture in his left thumb, reached base each of his first four plate appearances and scored three times. Adams also tied a career high with three stolen bases.
Farrell homered in Carolina's first two runs of the game with a shot over the short left field fence in the top of the first inning. Armstrong Atlantic tied the game, 2-2, with runs in the first and second innings, but the Tar Heels pulled back ahead in the third on a leadoff homer by Maples and an RBI single by freshman Chris Iannetta, who made his first start of the season. The Pirates answered with three runs in the bottom of the third for a 5-4 lead, but Carolina pulled ahead for good on a two-run home run by Ron Braun in the fifth, his third homer in five games after notching just one long shot in 2001.
Maples tripled home Greg Mangum in the sixth for UNC's seventh run and Farrell's three-run home run beyond the bleachers in left in the eighth provided UNC's final three runs.
AASU ace Mike Roga took the loss to fall to 4-1, while sophomore Michael Gross (1-0) went 3.2 scoreless, two-hit innings for his first win as a Tar Heel. Gross was 0-0 in 11 appearances as a freshman. Whitley Benson helped preserve the win by striking out eight of the 11 batters he faced in 2.2 innings of relief for his first save of 2002.
Carolina concludes play in the Diamond Classic Sunday at 11 a.m. against Connecticut.
