University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Maryland
No. 3 Tar Heels Clinch Coastal Division Crown
May 19, 2007 | Baseball
May 19, 2007
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Tim Federowicz went 3-for-5 with a pair of RBI doubles and pitched 2 1/3 shutout innings of relief, as No. 3 North Carolina clinched its second straight Atlantic Coast Conference Coastal Division title Saturday with a 6-3 win over Maryland in game two of a doubleheader at Shipley Field. The Tar Heels (45-11, 21-9 ACC) locked up the No. 2 seed in next week's ACC Tournament and matched the school record for regular season victories with the weekend sweep of the Terrapins (26-30, 7-23 ACC).
In addition to Federowicz's offensive effort, left fielder Reid Fronk led off the game with his third home run of the day and finished 2-for-5. Dustin Ackley, Garrett Gore and Josh Horton, who had two RBI in the game and five in the doubleheader, each added two hits for the Tar Heels.
With two hits in game two and seven in the series, Ackley has 101 base hits on the season to become just the fifth player in UNC history with 100-plus hits in a single season. Ackley, who has hit safely in 12 straight, is just one hit shy of Brian Roberts' UNC freshman record of 102 set in 1997.
Carolina right-hander Luke Putkonen (7-1) picked up his first victory since April 22 with five strong innings. He allowed just one run on seven hits and two walks, while striking out two. Federowicz came on with two on and no outs in the sixth and allowed four hits and one walk over 2 1/3. Closer Andrew Carignan allowed two runs in the ninth but worked the final 1 2/3 for the Tar Heels.
Maryland lefty Brett Cecil (5-6) made just his second start of the season and was tagged with six runs (five earned) on 12 hits and two walks. He struck out two. Six different Terrapins had two hits in the game, and Maryland outhit UNC, 14-13.
After clubbing a pair of solo home runs in the first game, Fronk hit his second leadoff homer of the season on just the third pitch of the game by Cecil to stake the Tar Heels to an early 1-0 lead.
Carolina tacked on two more in the third on back-to-back doubles by Federowicz and Horton to pull in front 3-0. Gore reached on an error by Cecil to leadoff the inning and scored all the way from first on a double off the wall in right center by Federowicz. Horton followed on the next pitch with double to center to drive in Federowicz for his fourth RBI of the day.
Neither team managed much offensively over the next two innings before Maryland got on the board in the sixth. First baseman Gerry Spessard singled off Putkonen to lead off the inning, and second baseman Steve Braun then singled against Federowicz to drive in Spessard and trim the UNC lead to 3-1.
Federowicz quickly got that run back for the Tar Heels in the top of the seventh on his second RBI double of the game. Singles by Gore and Ackley put two on for Federowicz, who laced a double down the left field line to give UNC a three-run lead once again. Horton then blooped a single into shallow left to score Ackley from third, and Chad Flack added an RBI fielder's choice to give the Tar Heels a 6-1 advantage.
Jon Greenwich and Mike Murphy had run-scoring singles in the ninth for Maryland.
The Tar Heels, who have now won 10 straight games at Shipley Field, will be back in action at the 2007 ACC Baseball Championship, which opens Wednesday at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville.
