University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Wake Forest
Tar Heels Fall, 10-2, At Wake Forest
March 12, 2011 | Baseball
March 12, 2011
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Wake Forest snapped No. 14 North Carolina's eight-game winning streak Saturday afternoon in Winston-Salem as the Demon Deacons jumped out to a 5-0 lead after the first two innings and the Tar Heels were unable to battle back. A pair of freshman had good showings despite the set back as Shane Taylor threw 3.1 innings of no hit ball and outfielder Jeff Bouton connected on his first career home run. The rubber match is set for 1 p.m. on Sunday at Wake Forest Baseball Park.
Starter Chris Munnelly found himself in early trouble as he walked the first two batters he faced before giving up back-to-back singles as Wake Forest struck for three runs off the sophomore.
Freshman Andrew Smith came on to get a line drive to third base that Colin Moran corralled and fired to first for a double play before getting a punch out to end a shaky first inning.
Wake Forest tacked on a pair of runs in the second but it could have been more if not for the middle infield duo of Tommy Coyle and Levi Michael. With the bases loaded and one down Wake's Matt Conway hit a ball up the middle that Coyle was able to get to and flipped to Michael in one motion for the force at second. Michael made the putout and spun at the same time before firing to first to cut down Conway and end the second inning.
Jeff Bouton brought the Tar Heels within four (5-1) in the top of the third when he air-mailed a ball over the left field fence for his first career home run.
Carlos Lopez made it 7-1 in favor of the Demon Deacons with a two-run home run in the third inning. Bryant Gaines came on to work a scoreless fourth to keep the Tar Heels in the contest but was not as lucky in the bottom of the fifth as Lopez hit his second two-run homer of the afternoon in a three-run fifth.
A Levi Michael RBI double in the sixth pulled one back for Carolina as the Tar Heels cut the deficit to 10-2.
Freshman Shane Taylor came on to get the final out of the fifth inning and turned in a tremendous performance as the right-hander threw 3.1 innings of no-hit baseball. Taylor struck out five batters and did not walk any one during the outing.
The duo of Jacob Stallings and Jesse Wierzbicki each extended hit streaks to eight games apiece. Wierzbicki equaled a career high, while Stallings set a new career high after a six game streak earlier in the season.
Michael Morin will look to get the Tar Heels back on track Sunday as he takes the hill for his fourth start of the year. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.
