University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Virginia Tech
Johnson Nearly Perfect As UNC Sweeps
May 19, 2012 | Baseball
May 19, 2012
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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Sophomore Hobbs Johnson carried a perfect game into the eighth inning Saturday afternoon to help No. 6 North Carolina claim its fifth ACC sweep of the year as the Tar Heels downed Virginia Tech, 6-2. Johnson struck out a career-high 10 batters as he improved to 6-1 on the year and fueled Carolina to its 13th straight victory.
Johnson was dealing from the start as he went to just one three-ball count on the day, which came against the final batter of the fourth inning.
The left-hander struck out a pair in the first, one in the second and third and two more in the fourth as he retired the first 12 batters he faced to open the contest but would not be done there.
The Tar Heel offense pegged Johnson to a 2-0 lead after three frames as they pushed across single runs in the second and third innings.
Jacob Stallings opened the second with a lead off single and moved to second on a ground out before coming around to score the game's opening run on a Cody Stubbs RBI single.
Stallings was a factor once again in the third inning when he nearly left the yard. Colin Moran started a two-out rally with a single lined up the middle and came around to score when Stallings laced a double off the left field wall to make it 2-0.
Johnson needed just 10 pitches for a 1-2-3 fifth inning before his offense nearly tacked on more runs in the bottom half.
The Tar Heels loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth as head coach Tommy Coyle to pinch hit. Coyle lined a ball at the third baseman who knocked the ball down and stepped on third to end the threat.
Johnson returned to the mound for the sixth and did not throw a ball in another perfect frame that saw two more strikeouts.
Adam Griffin came through with a two-run single in the sixth to plate two more Carolina runs and bump UNC's lead to 4-0.
Another scoreless frame out of Johnson in the seventh saw the Rocky Mount, N.C., native force a fly out to left and strike out his 9th and 10th batters of the afternoon.
Coyle redeemed himself in the seventh when he turned on a Jake Atwell offering for a two-run home run to right field to extend Carolina's lead to 6-0. The home run was Coyle's fourth of the year and second this week after homering against UNC Asheville.
Johnson retired his 22nd consecutive batter to open the eighth inning before Jake Atwell connected on a seeing-eye single just past the diving Coyle at second base to break up the perfect game bid.
Ronnie Shaban followed with a single to center that Chaz Frank over ran allowing Atwell to score and Shaban reach third base. Brendon Hayden made it three straight hits with a RBI single up the middle as the Hokies climbed to within four at 6-2 before Johnson forced Kyle Wernicki into a line out to end the inning.
R.C. Orlan and Michael Morin combined on a scoreless ninth as the Tar Heels won their 13th straight game.
On senior day Jacob Stallings paced the offense with a 3-for-5 performance as he scored a run and drove in two more. Stallings' RBI double in the third was his 21st double of the year which moved him into the UNC single season top ten list.
Cody Stubbs all notched two-hit games for the Tar Heels, while Tommy Coyle each contributed a pair of RBIs.
Johnson needed just 96 pitches to go eight innings allowing just three hits and two unearned runs. The southpaw did not walk a batter and set a new career high with 10 strikeouts.
The ACC sweep was the fifth of the year for the Tar Heels who became the first Tar Heel team in school history to accomplish the feat.
Carolina finished tied with the 2006 and 2008 teams for the most ACC wins in a single season as the Tar Heels finished with a 22-8 mark in league play.
The 22 league wins earned the Tar Heels the No. 2 overall seed in the ACC Tournament and they will be paired with No. 7 Wake Forest, No. 6 Miami and No. 3 NC State in a round robin pool. No. 1 Florida State will take on No. 8 Georgia Tech, No. 5 Clemson and No. 4 Virginia in the other pool with the pool winners meeting in Sunday's championship.
The schedule for the ACC Tournament will be announced at 12 noon on Sunday by the conference office.
