University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Princeton
Baseball Crushes Princeton, 16-2
March 20, 2002 | Baseball
March 20, 2002
CHAPEL HILL - North Carolina had 18 hits, including seven home runs, in pounding Princeton 16-2 Wednesday afternoon at Boshamer Stadium. The Tar Heels are winners of six straight games and have outscored their opponents 51-12 over their last three outings heading into this weekend's three-game home series with No. 3 Florida State.
Russ Adams was 3-for-5 with five RBIs and led the homer parade with two. Chris Iannetta, Sean Farrell, Ryan Blake, Chris Maples and Ron Braun all also went deep, as the Tar Heels surpassed last year's home run total (30) in just the 20th game of 2002. The Tar Heels have 34 homers this year, with Farrell and Maples leading the way with six each.
Carolina got four runs in the first and led 4-1 entering the bottom of the sixth before it exploded for six runs in both the sixth and seventh innings. With two outs in the sixth, Russ Adams went deep with a two-run shot to right-center field. Farrell walked and Blake had a two-run homer of his own. Maples and Iannetta followed with solo homers in succession, the second time in four days the Tar Heels have hit back-to-back-to-back home runs. Carolina also had three consecutive homers in last Sunday's 20-8 win over Maryland.
Leading 10-1, the Tar Heels had another flurry of homers in the seventh. Braun led off the inning with an opposite field shot for a 10-run advantage. Russ Adams followed three batters later with a two-run bomb and Farrell followed that with a solo shot. Mell Adams, who also had a two-run single in the first, drove in UNC's final runs with a two-run single in the seventh.
Meanwhile, four Carolina pitchers combined to hold Princeton to just four hits on the afternoon. Freshman Carter Harrell (3-3) pitched five innings, the longest outing of his career, and allowed just one run on two hits while striking out a career-high seven batters for the win. Chris Higgins (0-1) allowed four runs on eight hits over five innings for the loss.
Adam Greenberg was 1-for-2, stole two bases and scored two runs to extend his team-high hitting streak to 12 games. Iannetta, who had a career-high four hits in five at bats, has hit in four straight games and is 9-for-15 with five RBIs and six runs scored in that stretch. The freshman catcher had just seven hits all season prior to his current four-game hitting streak.
Carolina, currently alone in first place in the ACC at 3-0, hosts FSU Friday at 3 p.m., Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at Noon.
