University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Louisville
No. 5 Cardinals Take Series Finale In Slugfest
May 8, 2016 | Baseball
CHAPEL HILL --- Corey Ray had three hits and drove in three runs in support of Kyle Funkhouser as No. 5 Louisville beat No. 17 North Carolina 10-6 Sunday afternoon at Boshamer Stadium. Zack Gahagan clubbed his fifth home run for the Tar Heels, who pounded out 11 hits on the day but could not slow down the powerful Louisville offense.
Carolina (30-17, 10-14 ACC) jumped on Funkhouser (6-3) for runs in the first and second thanks to a pair of leadoff extra-base hits. Brian Miller opened the bottom of the first with a triple to left and scored on an Adam Pate single. Eli Sutherland then had a leadoff double in the second ahead of Gahagan's RBI single.
But the Cardinals (37-10, 15-8 ACC) got one back in the third and took the lead for good on Ray's two-run single in the third. Louisville added four more in the sixth with Will Smith's bases-clearing double the big blow in the frame.
Gahagan's blast in the sixth cut the UofL lead to 7-4, but the visitors jumped on the Tar Heel bullpen for three more in the seventh to put the game out of reach. Logan Warmoth's two-run double in the ninth gave Carolina one last hope, but Sam Bordner got the next three batters in order to end it.
Funkhouser settled in after a rocky start to go 6.0 innings, allowing four runs on nine hits and striking out six. Jason Morgan pitched into the fourth before being relieved by A.J. Bogucki (3-5).
Cole Aker put together a solid performance out of the Carolina bullpen late, allowing just one hit over 2.2 scoreless frames and striking out a pair.
UNC faces a five-game week starting Tuesday at 6 p.m. with a visit from East Carolina.
