University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Appalachian State
No. 1 Tar Heels Topple ASU, 12-3
March 11, 2009 | Baseball
March 11, 2009
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Sophomore right-hander Bryant Gaines struck out a career-best nine batters in six-plus innings, and All-America Dustin Ackley had two home runs among his four hits to pace No. 1 North Carolina to a 12-3 win over Appalachian State Wednesday at Boshamer Stadium. Ben Bunting's career-best four hits matched Ackley's effort, and Kyle Seager added three, as the Tar Heels (12-2) pounded out a season-best 20 hits.
Carolina broke open a close game with 10 runs over its final three trips to the plate, but Gaines (2-0) was the story early, as he retired the first 12 batters he faced and fanned seven the first time through the order. He finished with just three hits and one run allowed over six-plus innings with no walks to earn his second straight win.
Ackley, who ended a 2-for-22 skid with a home run in his final at bat Tuesday, picked up where he left off Wednesday with a homer in the first and added a second in the eighth for the first multi-homer game for a Tar Heels since Seager went deep twice against Boston College last season. Ackley added a pair of singles and a walk.
Bunting, who had his third three-hit game of the season Tuesday, bettered that showing Wednesday with a triple, a double and a pair of singles. Seager was 3-for-5 with two RBI and has 11 hits over the last four games. Mark Fleury and Jacob Stallings added two hits each to help UNC pick up its first 20-hit outing since tallying 22 at Charlotte last season.
Appalachian starter Josh Dowdy (1-2) went five innings and allowed four runs on nine hits, while striking out six. David Towarnicky and Chris Alessandria each had two hits for the Mountaineers (5-8).
After Gaines punched out the side in the first, the Tar Heel bats struck for two in the bottom of the first. Bunting led off with a triple to right center and scored on Levi Michael's sacrifice fly. Ackley then sent a 2-2 pitch from Dowdy out to center for his second straight solo home run and a 2-0 Carolina lead.
The Walnut Cove All-America belted his first homer of the year in Tuesday's seventh-inning rally and is the first Tar Heel to go deep in consecutive at-bats since Seager did so at Florida Atlantic last season.
The Mountaineers found the hit column in the fifth when Towarnicky and Alessandria opened the inning with consecutive singles, but Gaines got a fly ball out and then started a 1-6-3 double play to end the threat. He faced just one over the minimum through five.
Carolina broke things open in the sixth with seven runs to match a single-inning season high. Garrett Gore and Fleury singled and Ryan Graepel was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Mike Cavasinni, who dropped a single into right to score Gore with the first run. Stallings ripped an RBI single to center to plate Fleury, and Graepel scored on the play when ASU center fielder Rand Smith misplayed the base hit.
Bunting's third hit of the day scored Cavasinni, Michael drove in Stallings on his second sac fly of the afternoon, and Seager followed with a two-run single to center to close the scoring with a 9-0 lead.
After the Mountaineers got on the board in the seventh when Isaac Harrow singled off Gaines and scored on a base-loaded walk issued by Logan Munson, the Tar Heels got that run back when pinch hitter Brett Thomas led off the bottom of the inning with a single, and pinch runner Ryan Norton scored on back-to-back wild pickoff attempts - one at first and one at second - by ASU's Andrew Webster.
Appalachian scratched for two more in the eighth on a run-scoring groundout by Towarnicky and an RBI single by Alessandria, but Ackley answered with his second solo homer - an opposite field shot to left on a 1-0 pitch by Michael Brogan. Seager singled and came around to score on Seth Baldwin's sacrifice fly for the 12-3 final margin.
The Tar Heels return to Atlantic Coast Conference action this weekend at Virginia Tech for a three-game series beginning Friday.
