University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
37-9
Richmond
14-28
No. 3 Tar Heels Outlast Richmond, 5-4
May 3, 2017 | Baseball
CHAPEL HILL --- Brian Miller walked and scored on a misplayed fly ball to right in the bottom of the ninth to give No. 3 North Carolina a 5-4 win over Richmond Tuesday evening at Boshamer Stadium. Zack Gahagan's RBI single in the eighth tied the game after the Spiders scored four straight to take a surprising 4-3 lead, and the Tar Heels won in walk-off fashion for the second straight game in the ninth to improve to 37-9 on the year.
Tyler Lynn continued his hot hitting with a run-scoring double in the first. Brandon Martorano and Logan Warmoth added RBIs in the fourth to make it 3-0 before the Spiders (14-28) scored three times in the fifth to tie the game.
Tyler Baum left with two on and two out in the fifth before Austin Bergner allowed three RBI straight hits to make it a 3-3 contest. Richmond took the lead in the seventh on a fluky play where Brandon Riley's relay from right hit a base runner, allowing Vinny Capra to score from third.
But the Tar Heels had a little magic left over from the weekend sweep of Clemson and used it to score a sixth consecutive victory. Kyle Datres led off the eighth with a double and moved to third on a Cody Roberts single two batters later. Gahagan then singled back up the middle to plate Datres and tie the game.
After Trevor Gay and Taylor Sugg (1-0) combined for a scoreless ninth, Carolina loaded the bases on a walk, a fielder's choice/throwing error and an intentional pass. With the infield and outfield drawn in, Datres popped up to shallow right, where Caleb Ward was unable to make a play, and the winning run scored in the form of Miller.
Sugg retired the only man he faced to earn his first career victory. Richmond used eight pitchers on the night, with Dalton Light (0-1) taking a hard-luck loss.
Carolina will now be off until Tuesday, May 10, as the team turns its focus to final exams.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Sugg, Taylor (1-0)
L: LIGHT, Dalton (0-1)
Batting:
RBI: ADAMS, Kyle 1 ; DE MARTE, Jonathan 2
SH: WATTERS, R.J. 1
Base Running:
RUNS: CAPRA, Vinny 2 ; ADAMS, Kyle 1 ; SCHMIDT, Kyle 1
SB: BRUMBAUGH, Daniel 1
Batting:
2B: Lynn, Tyler 1 ; Datres, Kyle 1
RBI: Warmoth, Logan 1 ; Lynn, Tyler 1 ; Gahagan, Zack 1 ; Martorano, Brandon 1
SF: Warmoth, Logan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Miller, Brian 1 ; Warmoth, Logan 1 ; Datres, Kyle 1 ; Roberts, Cody 1 ; Gahagan, Zack 1
SB: Gahagan, Zack 1 ; Pate, Adam 1
CS: Busch, Michael 1
HBP: Datres, Kyle 1 ; Gahagan, Zack 1
PO: Busch, Michael 1
