No. 2 Tar Heels

rally past Mountaineers
From staff reports

CHAPEL HILL — Second-ranked North Carolina broke open a close ballgame with a seven-run sixth inning and went on to hand Appalachian State’s baseball team a 12-3 defeat on Wednesday afternoon at Boshamer Stadium.

The game was the second that North Carolina (12-2) took from Appalachian State (5-8) in as many days. The Tar Heels beat the Mountaineers 9-8 after Appalachian State had taken a 7-4 lead Tuesday.

North Carolina didn’t need to rally past Appalachian State on Wednesday. The Tar Heels jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning but starting pitcher Josh Dowdy held UNC scoreless over the next four frames to keep Appalachian within striking distance.

Tar Heel starter Bryant Gaines held Appalachian hitless until the fifth, but the Mountaineers had an opportunity to cut into the two-run deficit when David Towarnicky and Chris Alessandria led off the inning with back-to-back singles. However, a flyout and an inning-ending double play squelched the threat.

North Carolina put the game out of reach in the sixth inning by sending sent 10 batters to the plate. The first six hitters of the frame reached base and cleanup hitter Kyle Seager, the ninth Tar Heel to bat in the inning, put an exclamation point on the seven-run rally with two-run single to center field.

Appalachian (5-8) scored its first run when catcher Jeremy Dowdy drew a bases-loaded walk in the seventh and added two more in the eighth on a run-scoring groundout by Towarnicky and an RBI single by Alessandria. Towarnicky and Alessandria accounted for four of ASU’s seven hits with two apiece. Rand Smith and Chris Trappy both doubled for the Mountaineers.

North Carolina matched ASU’s single run in the seventh and two in the eighth to close out its 12-run, 20-hit effort. All-American Dustin Ackley led the way with a 4-for-4 performance that included two home runs, his second and third of the two-game midweek series.

Dowdy pitched well, striking out six in five innings of work, but was saddled with the loss to fall to 1-2 on the season. The senior right-hander was out-dueled by Gaines, who allowed just three hits and didn’t issue a walk while fanning nine in six scoreless innings to move to 2-0 on the campaign.

North Carolina 9, ASU 8
CHAPEL HILL — Just seven outs away from its first win over a nationally ranked opponent in 27 years, Appalachian State saw No. 2 North Carolina score five runs in the final two innings and fell, 9-8, on Tuesday afternoon at Boshamer Stadium.

Appalachian (5-7) led 7-4 with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, but North Carolina (11-2) got an infield single, hit batter and back-to-back home runs by freshman Levi Michael and all-American Dustin Ackley to grab an 8-7 advantage.

Bat luck played a part in the four-run UNC seventh, as ASU pitcher Taylor Miller struck out the first two batters he faced in the inning, but was hit on his non-throwing arm by a comebacker on the infield single. He was not injured on the play, but didn't retire another batter before leaving the game after allowing a double to cleanup hitter Kyle Seager following the back-to-back homers.

The Mountaineers came back to even the score at 8-8 in the top of the eighth when Wes Hobson scored from second base on an errant pickoff throw to first by pitcher Colin Bates. However, the Tar Heels plated in the bottom of the eighth on an RBI single by Tarron Robinson in the bottom of the eighth. Bates retired the side in order in the ninth to seal the win for the Heels.

Despite the final result, ASU turned in one of its best efforts of the young season in defeat. Seemingly reversing a trend that had seen them outscored 17-10 in the first inning of ballgames this year, Appalachian banged out four hits and scored three times in the top of the first to grab an early 3-0 lead. The first-inning blues returned in the bottom of the stanza, however, as UNC scored three runs of their own to knot the contest at 3-3.

The teams swapped runs in the bottom of the second and top of the third to make it 4-4 before the Apps scored twice in the fourth and once more in the seventh to take the 7-4 advantage.

Appalachian State catcher Jerod Faggart led the Mountaineers offensively with a 2-for-4 effort that included a two-run single in the first and a solo home run in the third. Isaac Harrow, David Towarnicky and Chris Alessandria also drove in runs for the Mountaineers.

Leadoff hitter Ben Bunting collected three of North Carolina’s 11 hits and scored three runs. Michael drove in three runs, all on his seventh-inning blast.

Chris Patterson was saddled with the loss to fall to 1-1 on the season while Bates upped his record to 2-1 despite blowing the save in the eighth.

Appalachian fell just shy of its first win over a top-25 opponent since it defeated No. 23 The Citadel, 5-4, in 1982 and its first-ever triumph over a top-10 team. The highest-ranked opponent that ASU has ever toppled was No. 14 Wake Forest in 1977.

The Mountaineers looks to snap a five-game skid when it hosts The Citadel for a three-game Southern Conference series this weekend at Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium. Game times are set for 3 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.