Bergner Dominates As Heels Shutout Pitt, 4-0

Saturday, March 17

Chapel Hill

4 p.m.

North Carolina

11-8, 0

Pittsburgh

11-6, 0

Pittsburgh

North Carolina

Austin Bergner (45)

Photo by: UNC Athletic Communications

March 17, 2018 | Baseball

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By: T.J. Scholl

Chapel Hill – Austin Bergner had a career day for the Tar Heels as the sophomore righty threw eight shutout innings while striking out 12 Panthers batters, both career highs, as the Heels took down Pittsburgh 4-0. The Heels got on the board early in the first inning and that's' all the run support that Bergner would need as Carolina clinched the series and moves to 3-2 in the ACC.

After a five RBI outing on Friday, Zack Gahagan added to his weekend total as he drove in the first run of the day in the first inning to give Carolina the 1-0 lead. After Kyle Datres reached on a fielders choice and stole second base, Gahagan drove a ball right back up the middle to bring Datres home as he slid in to home head first to beat the throw.

In the top of the third inning, the Pitt Panthers threatened to score a few runs of their own as they loaded the bases with one out. But, Bergner pitched his way out of the jam by striking out the next two Panther batters to preserve the Heels 1-0 lead.

Carolina doubled their lead in the fifth inning off a Kip Brandenburg double down the first base line to give the Heels a 2-0 advantage. Substitute Dallas Tessar started the inning off with a walk before he was moved to second on a Ben Casparius groundout to first base. With two strikes, Brandenburg fought off a pitch that went down the right field and ended up against the fence to score Tessar.

In the bottom of the sixth inning the Tar Heels once again doubled its lead thanks to some infield singles for the 4-0 lead. After Ike Freeman singled to centerfield to put Gahagan on third base, Tessar dropped a perfect bunt down the third base line to score Gahagan as he legged out the throw to first. Next up, Ben Casparius hit a ball in the exact same spot Tessar laid down his bunt and the third baseman had no play on it to load the bases. Brandenburg then hit a chopper to third, but again the third baseman had no play as Freeman scored from third for the second run of the inning.

Bergner would throw until the ninth inning before Josh Hiatt came in and closed the game to the Tar Heels. Carolina out hit Pitt 10-4 as they picked up their third win of the week.

Carolina and Pitt will play its final game of the series Sunday, March 18 at 1 p.m. ET at Boshamer Stadium.