University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Maryland
No. 15 Tar Heels Slug Past Maryland, 11-9
May 7, 2004 | Baseball
May 7, 2004
Chapel Hill, N.C. - The No. 15 North Carolina Tar Heels rallied with three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to take the first game of a weekend series from the Maryland Terrapins, 11-9, Friday night at Boshamer Stadium. The Tar Heels and Terrapins combined for 20 runs and 32 hits in the slugfest, as at least one run was scored in every inning but the seventh and ninth. The UNC bullpen held Maryland to one run in 5.1 innings in relief of starter Daniel Bard, who could not get out of the fourth. Senior Whitley Benson (4-0) picked up the win, and senior Michael Gross notched his fourth save. Josh Andrews (3-1) took the loss for the Terrapins.
The Terrapins started the offensive onslaught in the top of the first with a pair of RBI doubles from left fielder Will Frazier and designated hitter Jason Maxey.
Carolina answered with a single run in the first and three in the second. After first baseman Wes Moyer drove in designated hitter Matt Ellington with one out in the second, center fielder Chase Younts knocked his third home run of the season over the right field wall to give the Tar Heels a 4-2 lead.
Maryland responded quickly, however, scoring two runs in the third and four in the fourth, pushing the score to 8-4. The Terrapins strung together four consecutive two out hits to even the score in the third, highlighted by an RBI single from Maxey and an RBI double from right fielder Truan Mehl.
ard was unable to escape the fourth, as he yielded a pair of singles and hit two Maryland batters, the second coming with the bases loaded. Bard's 3.2-inning outing was his shortest start of the season, and his 10 hits allowed were a season high. With the score 5-4, Jonathan Hovis came on in relief of Bard and appeared to get the Tar Heels out of trouble, but left fielder Jay Cox misplayed a fly ball off the bat of Maxey and three more Terrapins came around to score.
The Tar Heels closed the gap to one in the fifth with consecutive RBI singles from catcher Chris Iannetta, right fielder Marshall Hubbard and third baseman Sammy Hewitt, all of which came with two men out in the inning. The teams traded single runs in the sixth, giving Maryland a 9-8 lead entering the seventh.
After stranding the tying run on third in the seventh, Carolina broke through in the eighth with three runs. A single by second baseman Bryan Steed and a double by shortstop Greg Mangum put runners on second and third with one out. An intentional walk to Cox brought Iannetta to the plate with the bases loaded, and he delivered a line drive to center that scored the tying and go-ahead runs. The Tar Heels were handed an insurance run when Terrapin relief pitcher Justin Hulse committed a balk, scoring Iannetta from third.
With the win, Carolina improves to 33-11 overall and 12-7 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Maryland drops to 19-28, and 3-16 in the ACC. Game two of the three game series starts at 1 p.m. Saturday.
