University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Maryland
Baseball Routs Maryland For Three-Game Sweep
March 17, 2002 | Baseball
March 17, 2002
CHAPEL HILL - North Carolina routed Maryland, 20-8, Sunday afternoon at Boshamer Stadium to sweep a three-game baseball series from the Terrapins. The Tar Heels improve to 10-8 overall and are off to their first 3-0 start in the ACC since 1998. Maryland, winners of 12 straight games entering the series, falls to 14-5, 0-3 in league play.
Sean Farrell (4-for-5, 4 RBIs) and Ron Braun (4-for-6, 3 RBIs) each had four hits to lead a UNC attack that saw nine different players notch at least one hit. Russ Adams, who entered the game riding a career-high 11-game hitting streak and a .413 batting average, was the rare exception for Carolina, going 0-of-5.
"I hope this is a big shot in the arm for us," said UNC head coach Mike Fox. "Sweeps are hard to come by in this league, I don't care who you play or where you play or when you play."
Carolina exploded for 10 runs in the first two innings and never let up en route its fourth straight win, it's longest winning streak of the season. John McCurdy hit a solo home run for Maryland in the top of the first , but it was all Carolina from there. UNC sent 11 batters to the plate in the bottom of the first and got seven runs on six hits. Adam Greenberg had a leadoff double and scored Carolina's first run on a single by Farrell. Chris Iannetta, Mell Adams and Chad Prosser all added RBI singles in the inning, while Braun drove in a run on his first double of the season.
"We did what we wanted to, and that was to score some runs early in case rain shortened the game," Fox said of UNC's big first inning. "Things just went right for us. You don't get too many seven-run innings in the ACC."
Leading 7-1 after the first, Carolina stayed hot in the second with back-to-back-to-back home runs to right-center field by Farrell, Chris Maples and Jeremy Cleveland to extend its lead to 10-1. Braun tripled to lead off the fourth inning and scored, while Farrell doubled home Russ Adams for a two-run inning and a 12-1 lead.
Maryland scored three runs in the top of the fifth, including a two-out, two-run single by Matt Swope, but the Tar Heels answered with four more runs in the bottom of the fifth to move ahead 16-4. A two-run double by Braun, his third extra base hit of the game, highlighted UNC's four-run fifth. Bryan Phillips had a two-run double to end the Carolina scoring in a four-run seventh.
Daniel Moore (2-0) allowed six runs on six hits while striking out seven in six innings for the win, while Whitley Benson pitched an effective final three innings for his third save. Maryland starter Steve Schmoll (1-3) gave up seven runs and got just one first-inning out to take the loss.
Carolina returns to action this week with two games against Princeton. The Tar Heels host the Tigers on Tuesday and Wednesday at Boshamer Stadium, with both games starting at 3 p.m. Carolina returns to ACC play next weekend when it hosts Florida State for a three-game series.
