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No. 22 Tar Heels Knock Off No. 6 NC State, 12-6
April 27, 2003 | Baseball
April 27, 2003
RALEIGH, N.C. - North Carolina (33-14 11-7 ACC) defeated NC State (36-10, 13-5 ACC), 12-6 on Sunday afternoon at Doak Field. The Tar Heels used seven pitchers, walked six batters and stranded 15 runners on base but put seven runs on the board in their first three at-bats to win the final game of the series and avoid being swept for the first time this season. Sean Farrell was again one of the offensive heroes for Carolina, going 4-for-6 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Sammy Hewitt also went 2-for-4 with a home run and five runs batted in.
Carolina batted around and jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning. With one out, Chad Prosser reached on an infield single and advanced on a walk to Jeremy Cleveland. Farrell then ripped a single to left field, scoring Prosser. A walk to Hewitt loaded the bases for Chris Iannetta who blooped a single into shallow right field, scoring Cleveland with the Tar Heels' second run. Farrell came around and slid into home safely on a passed ball by NC State's Colt Morton.
The Tar Heels extended their lead thanks to a three-run home run by Sammy Hewitt in the top of the second. Greg Mangum and Farrell scored on Hewitt's ninth homer of the season, giving Carolina a 6-0 advantage.
NC State got on the board with a run in the bottom of the third inning. Chad Orvella led off the inning with a single and scored the Wolfpack's first run on a fielder's choice off the bat of Jeremy Dutton.
Trailing 7-1 in the bottom of the fifth, the Wolfpack scored three runs. Matt Camp led the inning off with a single and a two-run home run by Orvella brought NC State within four runs. The Wolfpack loaded the bases thanks to two walks and a hit by pitch. With one out and the bases loaded, Morton hit a sacrifice fly to deep right field, scoring Marc Maynor with the third and final run of the inning.
With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning, Dutton was hit by a pitch which scored Orvella for the third time on the afternoon and brought the Wolfpack within two runs at 7-5. With the bases still loaded, Matt Danford entered the game for Carolina and issued a walk to Justin Riley on four pitches, scoring Adam Hargrave with the second run of the inning.
Carolina went ahead 8-6 in the top of the seventh inning. Prosser reached on a fielder's choice and with two outs, Farrell doubled into the left-center field gap, bringing Prosser around all the way from first base.
The Tar Heels added four insurance runs in the top of the ninth inning. Hewitt had a two-run single through a drawn-in infield and Mike Daniel lifted a two-run double to left which scored Hewitt and Iannetta and gave UNC a six-run lead to work with in the bottom of the ninth.
The Tar Heels return to action on Friday with a game against UNC-Wilmington at 7 p.m. at Boshamer Stadium.
