Inclan's Walk-Off Double Lifts UNC Over Purdue 6-5

Sunday, March 1

Minneapolis, Minn. (US Bank)

10:30 a.m.

North Carolina

8-4

Purdue

6-4

Purdue

North Carolina

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

March 1, 2020 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Aury St. Germain

Box Score

MINNEAPOLIS- The Tar Heels displayed tremendous grit on Sunday afternoon after erasing a 4-0 deficient in the seventh inning against Purdue to win in the 10^th inning with a walk-off double from Clemente Inclan.

The North Carolina offense started sluggish, producing zero runs through the first six frames. It was not until Joey Lancellotti's two-run home run that the Tar Heel offense showed signs of life. After Lancellotti's home run, Tyler Causey plated Will Schroeder with a pinch-hit single to left field. After surrendering one run in the eighth inning, the Tar Heels scored two runs in the bottom of the frame to tie the game at five.

In the eighth inning, after back-to-back singles and a sacrifice bunt, Schroeder hit a sacrifice fly before Patrick Alvarez poked an RBI single up the middle to tie the game.

With one out in the 10^th, Alvarez singled to set up Clemente, who roped a double to plate Alvarez and win the game.

The Tar Heels used seven pitchers throughout the game, a season-high. Kyle Mott picked up his second win of the season on the mound after throwing the final two innings.

At the plate, Danny Serretti, Lancellotti and Alvarez each led the Tar Heels with two hits apiece.

Key Moments

Purdue scored in the first inning after a leadoff double, a sacrifice fly and an infield hit to take a 1-0 lead.
Angel Zarate showed off his arm strength in the third inning when the left fielder threw out a runner at home to end the inning and prevent a run.
Centerfielder Dylan Harris dove into right-center field in the fifth inning to make an incredible catch and record the second out.
Purdue extended its lead to 4-0 in the sixth inning with an RBI double and an RBI single to center field.
With runners on first and second base and zero outs, the Tar Heels turned a double play before recording a strikeout to stop the damage at three runs in the sixth.
North Carolina turned an unconventional double play to end the seventh inning when after a strikeout, the catcher tossed it to the first baseman who threw the ball to the second baseman to tag the runner who was originally at first base.
Danny Serretti recorded North Carolina's second hit of the contest with an infield single to third base in the seventh frame.
Joey Lancellotti sent a home run over the left field wall to plate Serretti and cut the Boilermaker lead in half in the seventh inning.
Tyler Causey recorded a pinch-hit RBI single in the seventh to pull the Tar Heels to within one run, 4-3.
Purdue extended the lead to two runs in the eighth inning after laying down a sacrifice bunt to plate the runner from third.
Serretti and Lancellotti leadoff the eighth inning with back-to-back singles.
After a sacrifice bunt from Stewart, Will Schroeder cut the lead to one run with a sacrifice fly to right field.
Patrick Alvarez singled up the middle to score Lancellotti in the eighth frame to tie the contest.
The Tar Heels loaded the bases in the ninth inning, but stranded all three runners to force their second extra-inning ballgame of the weekend.
After a Mott strikeout in the 10^th, Will Stewart threw out a runner at second to end the inning.
Inclan launched a one-out double to plate Alvarez and win the game.

Noteworthy

Lancellotti smashed his second home run of the season in the seventh inning.
Lancellotti put together his second multi-RBI game of 2020.
Gage Gillian made his third appearance out of the Tar Heel bullpen.
Causey recorded his second RBI of the season.
Alvarez recorded his fourth RBI as a Tar Heel.
The win is the Tar Heels first win in extra innings this season.
The four-run deficient was the largest comeback of the season.
The seven pitchers North Carolina used were a season-high.

Postgame Quotes

Head Coach Mike Fox
On the comeback win
"It was huge for our kids and our team to come back and win today. The entire effort of our team was there- we played three third basemen who each got hits. Patrick Alvarez was great today, coming off of the bench and getting two hits, including the one in the 10^th. Joey Lancellotti's two-run homer really gave us a jump-start that helped fuel our team. We got contributions from everybody."

On picking up the win after back-to-back losses
"We've been knocked down a little bit, but that is just baseball. We have lost a couple of tough ones, but we have to get back up and keep fighting. I learned a lot about my team today. After last night, it was tough, and we had our backs against the wall today, but we were able to respond. I am just so proud of our team."

Clemente Inclan, JR, Inf.
On his game-winning at-bat
Coach [Scott] Forbes was telling me to see the ball up and stay up the middle. The first pitch was low and I swung, so I knew I had to adjust on the second one.

Up Next
The Tar Heels play host to UNCG (March 3) and VCU (March 4) before welcoming Notre Dame (March 6-8) for the first ACC series of the season.