Baseball Comes Up Just Short In 10-9 Loss To Georgia Tech

Friday, May 21

Atlanta, Ga.

6 PM

North Carolina

26-23, 0

Georgia Tech

27-21, 0

North Carolina

Georgia Tech

Photo by: Katie Meyers

May 21, 2021 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Aury St. Germain

ATLANTA – North Carolina (26-23) never backed down from ACC Coastal Division leader Georgia Tech (27-21), but UNC's late-game heroics came up just short as the Yellow Jackets hit a walk-off solo home run to win game two, 10-9.

North Carolina found itself down 5-0 and 8-4 throughout the contest but scored two ninth-inning runs to tie the game. Just five pitches into the bottom of the ninth, Georgia Tech's Drew Compton hit a home run over the right-field fence to even the series.

After a scoreless first, Georgia Tech posted a five-spot in the second inning to capture the first lead of the game. The Yellow Jackets took advantage of a Tar Heel throwing error to score their first run of the game before an RBI double pushed it to 2-0. A wild pitch, two RBI singles and a sacrifice fly gave Georgia Tech the 5-0 lead.

Nik Pry came in relief of Shawn Rapp in the second frame after Rapp tossed 1.1 innings which yielded five runs, one walk, and one strikeout.

Johnny Castagnozzi belted his second home run in as many days in the third inning, a two-run no-doubter that brought the Tar Heels within three.

Continuing to fight, the Tar Heels scored their third run of the ballgame in the fourth inning when Danny Serretti smashed an RBI triple to left field to score Caleb Roberts. Two batters later, Brett Centracchio pulled the Tar Heels within one with an RBI groundout to second base.

Georgia Tech put together a three-run fourth inning to extend the lead back to four runs.

The Tar Heels continued to battle, this time when Caleb Roberts jacked his team-high 10^th home run of the season to pull the Tar Heels back to one run in the fifth inning, 8-7.

After both bullpens settled down in the sixth and seventh innings, Georgia Tech pushed its lead to 9-7 with a solo home run in eighth.

Carolina battled for the entirety of the contest and tied of the game in the bottom of the ninth when Serretti plated Zarate with a double to the right-field gap. Max Riemer led off the inning with a single. With one out, Zarate lined an RBI single to score the pinch runner, Colby Wilkerson.

Thompson followed with a single to put two baserunners on for Carolina. With one ball and one strike, Serretti tied the game with a double to right center that scored Zarate.

The Tar Heels were outhit 17-8 in the contest but committed just one error compared to GT's two.

Chris Joyner, Connor Ollio, and Gage Gillian each saw action out of the bullpen. Gillian threw 2.1 innings and struck out two but suffered the decision.
The series will be decided tomorrow at 1 p.m.