Criswell, Busch Lead Carolina To 11-0 Win In NCAA Opener

Friday, June 1

Chapel Hill, N.C.

2 p.m.

North Carolina

North Carolina A&T

(from left) Kyle Datres, Michael Busch, and ackson Hesterlee celebrate scoring against N.C. A&T.

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

June 1, 2018 | Baseball

Box Score Photo Gallery Photo Gallery II

CHAPEL HILL – Cooper Criswell's six scoreless innings and a Michael Busch three-run home run helped No. 6 seed North Carolina beat North Carolina A&T, 11-0, in Friday's first game in the NCAA Chapel Hill Regional.

North Carolina (39-18) rallied behind a 4-for-8 combined effort from Busch and Kyle Datres at the top of the lineup, while four pitchers combined to walk none and strike out 10 in the first win of the weekend. Busch's five RBIs were the most by a Tar Heel in NCAA tournament play since Garrett Gore drove in five against Kansas in 2009.

Criswell (5-2) rolled through his first three innings of work, striking out four Aggies and not allowing a run. That set the table for the Heels to strike first in the bottom of the third, courtesy of timely hitting from Busch.

With Jackson Hesterlee and Zack Gahagan occupying second and third, Busch took a pitch from Aggies starter Tim Luth (6-3) and drove it into the left-center gap. It got all the way to the wall, scoring both to give the Tar Heels a 2-0 advantage through three full innings.

After Criswell tossed another scoreless inning, the North Carolina offense capitalized with an even bigger inning in the fourth, putting up five runs to give their starter plenty of insurance to work with. After Hesterlee hit a line drive to right field that scored a pair, it was Busch a few batters later who broke the game open. On the first pitch of his at-bat, he hit a no-doubter over the wall in right center. It went into the trees next to the flag poles at Boshamer Stadium, scoring three more runs to give the Heels a 7-0 advantage.

"I don't really try to guess," Busch said when asked about his first-pitch approach. "Once you get guessing, you start to get yourself into bad situations. I tried to be aggressive all day. I think my first three at-bats I swung at the first pitch. But, I didn't want to miss any fastballs or changeups, any 'get me over' changeup or fastball. I tried to get ahead in the count and tried to be aggressive all day. He laid a fastball in there and I tried to put a good swing on it."

Criswell continued to cruise over six full innings of work. He allowed just three hits over his scoreless outing, striking out six and, perhaps most importantly, walking none.

With his six near-perfect innings, the junior lowered his season ERA to 2.65.

"I always try to go out there, throw strikes and let my defense work," Criswell said of his outing. "They played great behind me, I thought. The first inning when Cody [Roberts] made that great play on a line drive and then doubled them off at first, it was a big confidence booster… I was just going out there, pound the zone and give my team a chance to win."

The Heels added four more runs over the last several innings, highlighted by Datres' two-run triple in the eighth. Caden O'Brien, Rodney Hutchison Jr. and Tyler Baum combined for three scoreless innings out of the bullpen to give UNC its first NCAA tournament shutout since 2011.

"It was good to get a win in game one," said head coach Mike Fox. "I thought Cooper [Criswell] was really good for us. Pitching is still the name of the game, pitching and defense, and I thought we did that pretty well today. It was a good, clean win for us… Everybody contributed and I'm glad to get a win."

Greg White had two hits and a highlight-reel catch in left to lead the Aggies (32-24).

With the win over the Aggies, the Tar Heels will face the winner of Friday's second game between No. 2 Purdue and No. 3 Houston Saturday at 6 p.m. N.C. A&T will face the loser at 1 p.m.

Gianluca Dalatri is scheduled to take the mound for North Carolina in Saturday's winners bracket contest.