University of North Carolina Athletics
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Clemson
Seager Slugs No. 4 UNC To First Series Win At Clemson
April 12, 2008 | Baseball
April 12, 2008
CLEMSON, S.C. - Second baseman Kyle Seager homered twice and drove in a career-best four runs to lead No. 4 North Carolina to a 4-3 win and its first-ever three-game series victory at Clemson Saturday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. The Tar Heels (28-7, 12-4 ACC) got five scoreless innings from their bullpen and overcame three errors to hold on for the one-run victory.
After closing out an 8-2 win in a rain-suspended game one earlier Saturday, Carolina rode a three-run shot from Seager in the first and a solo blast in the fifth to the win. The ACC's leader with 45 RBI, Seager recorded his second career multi-homer game. The Kannapolis native, who was one of four Tar Heels with two hits on the day, also connected on a pair of homers Feb. 23 at Florida Atlantic.
While Seager provided all the offense Carolina needed, it was the bullpen that kept the Tigers (18-16, 6-11 ACC) off the scoreboard over the final five innings. Reliever Rob Catapano (2-0) came on for starter Adam Warren in the fourth and allowed just one hit over 1 1/3 innings to pick up his third career victory. Right-hander Colin Bates fanned four over 2 2/3 innings, and Tim Federowicz and lefty Brian Moran picked up the final three outs in the ninth to nail down the victory.
Moran, who registered his first career save, induced a grounder to first by Clemson's top home run hitter, first baseman Ben Paulsen, to end the game with the tying run in scoring position.
Warren struck out four in four-plus innings and allowed three runs - two earned - on four hits and three walks.
Clemson starter Graham Stoneburner (4-1) scattered 10 hits, including Seager's pair of homers, and two walks over 7 2/3 innings. He allowed four runs, just one of which was earned, and struck out three.
The Tar Heels, who have not dropped in ACC series in their last nine chances, claimed their first series victory over Clemson since a 2000 win in Chapel Hill. The Atlantic Coast Conference went to its current three-game weekend series format in 1990.
Seager followed a Clemson fielding error and a walk with a three-run home run to grab a first-inning lead for the Tar Heels. The Kannapolis native belted a 2-2 pitch from Stoneburner to right for his fourth homer of the season, but the Tigers got right back in the game with two runs in the bottom of the inning.
After a leadoff single by second baseman Mike Freeman, centerfielder Wilson Boyd doubled to left center to plate the first run and then scored from third on a passed ball to cut the Carolina lead to a single run.
The teams combined for just three hits over the next three innings before Seager struck again with his second homer of the day, a solo shot also to right on a 2-2 pitch from Stoneburner. But as they did in the first, the Tigers answered in the bottom of the inning to climb with a single run.
Right fielder Chris Epps ended the day for Warren with a leadoff single and took second on Freeman's second single of the day. A sacrifice bunt from Boyd put both runners into scoring position for catcher Doug Hogan, who scored Epps with a sacrifice fly to right. Catapano followed with a key strikeout of Paulsen to strand the tying run at third.
After the Tar Heels squandered back-to-back singles to open the seventh, the Tigers put runners on the corners with no outs thanks to consecutive UNC errors in the bottom of the inning. Bates buckled down to work out of the jam and left the bases loaded, preserving the one-run lead.
The series finale is set for 1 p.m. Sunday with freshman right-hander Matt Harvey on the mound for the Tar Heels opposite Clemson lefty Ryan Hinson.
