University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Miami
No. 6 Carolina Drops ACC Tournament Opener
May 26, 2011 | Baseball
May 26, 2011
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DURHAM, N.C. - No. 6 North Carolina dropped its opening game of the 2011 ACC Tournament to No. 16 Miami, 7-5, Thursday afternoon at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The Tar Heels opened with a 5-0 lead after five innings but the Hurricanes scored seven runs over the final four innings to claim the win.
The Tar Heels jumped out to a 3-0 lead after one inning as nine batters went to the plate in the opening frame.
Colin Moran picked up his 68th RBI of the season in the first when he doubled home Levi Michael who drew a one-out walk to give Carolina a 1-0 lead.
A hit by pitch and a single from Tommy Coyle loaded the bases for Jacob Stallings but the junior backstop went down swinging before Ben Bunting dropped in a RBI single in front of rightfielder Dale Carey.
Greg Holt drew a walk to plate in another run and extend the lead to 3-0 after the first.
Holt battled through a 25-pitch first inning before settling down in the second and getting the Canes in order and allowed just two hits over the third and fourth innings without much trouble.
The Tar Heels were threatening in the third with a lead off walk and a bunt single but Jesse Wierzbicki was picked off of second base by Miami catcher Shane Rowland for the first out before an double play ended the inning.
Carolina got runners to second and third in the fourth but were unable to add to their lead until the fifth.
A one-out walk started things off in the fifth as Wierzbicki drew another free pass and moved to second on a Tommy Coyle single to centerfield. Jacob Stallings followed with a single through the left side and left fielder Rony Rodriguez over ran the ball allowing Wierzbicki to score and stretch the lead to 4-0.
Greg Holt helped himself out later in the inning with a RBI double to left center.
The Canes finally got to Holt in the top of the sixth inning getting a pair of hits and a walk to score a run and cut the Tar Heel lead to 5-1. The run singled the end of the day for Holt as Tate Parrish came on for the Tar Heels and issued a walk forcing Andrew Smith into the game.
Zeke DeVoss, who reached base six times in the game, cleared the bases with a double in the left center gap before getting thrown out at third base to end the inning.
Miami took the lead in the very next inning with a pair of unearned runs in the seventh to grab a 6-5 lead.
The Hurricanes tacked on an insurance run in the ninth to take a 7-5 lead into the bottom of the ninth.
Miami's bullpen kept Carolina hitless over the sixth, seventh and eighth innings before Carolina finally picked up a hit in the ninth.
Wierzbicki picked up a one-out single up the middle but back-to-back ground balls to second base ended the threat and gave Miami the 7-5 win.
The Tar Heels will look to bounce back on Friday when they take on Wake Forest at 7 p.m. at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
