University of North Carolina Athletics
Moran Earns ACC Weekly Pitching Honor
March 30, 2009 | Baseball
March 30, 2009
GREENSBORO, N.C. - After posting four dominating relief appearances and a pair of wins, North Carolina left-hander Brian Moran was named Atlantic Coast Conference Pitcher of the Week Monday, the league office announced.
Over his four outings last week, Moran recorded 16 strikeouts and no walks over 10 1/3 innings. The Rye, N.Y., native allowed just two runs for a 1.74 ERA and earned two victories over ranked opponents - No. 26 UNC Wilmington and No. 8 Virginia.
Despite not picking up the win in Sunday's series-clincher against the Wahoos, Moran had arguably his finest outing as a Tar Heel with career highs of 6 1/3 innings and eight strikeouts out of the bullpen. He entered with the bases loaded in the third, worked out of the jam and kept the Cavaliers off the scoreboard over the next five innings. He allowed just two runs, and the Tar Heels rallied for the win in the ninth.
Earlier in the week, the lefty beat UNC Wilmington for the second time in his career with three strikeouts and just one hit allowed over 2 1/3 frames Tuesday. Moran struck out all five batters he faced, stranding three runners in the process, over his next two outings - against Charlotte Wednesday and versus Virginia Friday. He earned the win in the opener against the Cavaliers.
On the season, Moran has a remarkable 42-to-2 strikeout-to-walk ratio and leads the Tar Heels with a 2.37 ERA over 30 1/3 innings.
He is tied for fourth in the ACC in strikeouts, ranks sixth in ERA and shares the league lead with 16 appearances.
