University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Virginia
Tar Heels Top Virginia in 10 Innings, 4-3
May 16, 2003 | Baseball
May 16, 2003
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - North Carolina (37-18 13-10 ACC) defeated Virginia (27-23, 10-12 ACC), 4-3 in ten innings, in game two of Friday's doubleheader at Boshamer Stadium. Junior Jeremy Cleveland hit his 18th home run of the season in the bottom of the tenth to make a winner of reliever Whitley Benson. Sophomore Bo Dickerson was stellar in relief of starter Adam Kalkhof. Dickerson threw 3.1 innings of hitless baseball, keeping the Tar Heels in the game despite a relative lack of offense.
Carolina struck first in the bottom of the third after Chase Younts doubled down the right field line and scored on an RBI single off the bat of Cleveland. However, Virginia bounced back in the fourth thanks to a long two-run homer from first baseman Joe Koshansky, giving the Cavaliers a 2-1 lead.
Virginia added a run in the fifth on an RBI single by Koshansky that scored second baseman Eric Christensen. The Tar Heels pushed across a second run in the sixth with a pair of singles by Cleveland and Ryan Blake followed by an RBI groundout by Sammy Hewitt.
UNC tied the game in the eighth after Younts reached on an error and Cleveland singled to center. After Blake flied out to deep center, Hewitt lined an RBI single to left, scoring pinch runner Blair Waggett and knotting the score at three. But with runners on first and second, Virginia reliever Gabe Spooner got Chris Iannetta to ground into an inning-ending double play.
After both teams failed to score in the ninth, Benson struck out Ryan Zimmerman, stranding runners on first and second in the top of the tenth.
With one out in the bottom of the tenth, Jeremy Cleveland sent a 2-1 pitch over the right field wall to start the pre-graduation fireworks show and winning the game for the Tar Heels, 4-3.
enson (2-2) retired both batters he faced in the tenth to pick up the win.
The Tar Heels and Cavaliers conclude their series with game three, which will begin on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.
