Tar Heel Baseball Bests St. Francis, 15-3

Friday, March 5

Chapel Hill, N.C.

3:00 PM

North Carolina

St Francis

March 5, 2004 | Baseball

By: UNC Athletic Communications

March 5, 2004

Box Score

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Freshman left fielder Jay Cox went 4-for-5 with four runs scored and an RBI, and North Carolina (6-3) scored 11 runs in the fifth to cruise to a 15-3 win over St. Francis (1-4) Friday at Boshamer Stadium. Freshman right-hander Daniel Bard worked seven innings to earn his second win of the year.

Led by Cox, who raised his average to .409, four Tar Heels had multi-hit afternoons. Designated hitter Ross Cook went 2-for-3 with three RBI and two runs scored, and catcher Chris Iannetta went 2-for-4 with three RBI. Second baseman Greg Mangum also added a pair of hits and scored twice. Iannetta now has a team-best 11 RBI and a .355 batting average.

ard (2-0) picked up his second win of the season after allowing six hits and no earned runs. He also struck out five and walked two, while lowering his earned run average to 1.33. Junior Bryan Phillips came on to work a scoreless eighth inning, and Bo Dickerson struck out two in the ninth. The Carolina staff did not allow an earned run for the second game this season.

St. Francis starter Rob Eberhart (1-1) took the loss. Center fielder Anthony Guidice went 3-for-3 to lead the Terriers at the plate.

Carolina plated an unearned run in the bottom of the second to take an early 1-0 lead. Cox legged out an infield single to first base and then scored when Guidice dropped a fly ball off the bat of Cook. The lead was short-lived as the Terriers scratched for a pair of unearned runs in the top of the third. After back-to-back singles, a balk by Bard put runners on second and third. An error by Tar Heel shortstop Craig Corrado allowed the first run to score, and then SFC third baseman Greg Colonna drove in the second with a single.

The Tar Heels tied the score at two in their half of third after Cook walked, and Iannetta doubled him home. UNC added another run its half of the fifth to take a 3-2 advantage. After Cox singled, stole second and took third on a balk, he scored on a RBI groundout by center fielder Mell Adams.

Already leading 3-2, Carolina exploded for single-inning season highs of 11 runs and eight hits in the fifth. Iannetta doubled to center to score the first two runs of the inning. After two runs scored on errors, and Cox singled home a run, Corrado singled with the bases loaded to score two more. After Mangum's second single of the frame, Cook tripled to center to drive home three runs. The final run of the inning scored on an RBI groundout by Hubbard.

Carolina added a run in bottom of the eighth, while the Terriers scored their third unearned run of the day in the ninth.

The series continues with games scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday and 1:30 p.m. Sunday. Sophomore Adam Kalkhof (0-1) is slated to start game two, and junior Garry Bakker (0-1) will go in game three for the Tar Heels.