North Carolina Holds Strong For Win Over UCLA

Lubbock, TX – The North Carolina Tar Heels got hot early and used a strong effort from their bullpen to hold on to a 5-4 victory over the UCLA Bruins on Friday night.

The story for Carolina coming into the NCAA tournament has been Austin Love’s dominance at the mound. Love has been chasing Andrew Miller’s record for most strikeouts by a Tar Heel in a single season. Coming into Friday’s matchup, Love only needed 13 more K’s to tie Miller’s record. 

Austin Love started out slow in the 1st: a wild pitch, which led to a Kevin Kendall score off a double from Matt Mclain (1-0). But in the next five innings, he began to take over the game and prove why Carolina has had so much faith in him this season. 

First baseman Bret Centracchio doubled in the 2nd and went on to score for the Heels, 1-1. After the bottom of the 3rd, Love found his stride, retiring seven straight batters to end the 3rd.  The Tar Heels were able to expand their lead to 3-1 off a 2-run single from DH Will Stewart in the top of the 4th.

Brett Centrachio made an athletic catch at the wall to secure a foul ball and get out of the 4th inning for the Tarheels. The Bruins’ offense continued to struggle as Austin Love dominated the ball game with his high fastball and low changeup, tallying up six strikeouts after retiring 12 straight batters. The Bruins wouldn’t get a hit until Kevin Kendall hit a lead-off double to start the 6th inning. Kevin Kendall would go on to score off a sacrifice fly from the Bruin, making it 3-2. 

The Tar Heels responded at the top of the 7th with a walk from left fielder Angel Zarate. The next at-bat, shortstop Danny Seretti took Adrian Chaves yard after he threw right down the middle, making it a 5-2 Carolina lead. The UNC dugout celebrated at the plate, as all the momentum appeared to be in the Tar Heels’ favor. 

The Bruins’ offense found some traction in the next inning after Kendall hit an RBI single up the middle, 5-3. After Austin Love walked Jonjon Vaughns, putting runners on the corners with one out, Carolina decided to pull him after 95 pitches. The Tar Heels’ ace had an incredible day at the mound, after 6.5 innings, Love totaled:  9 K, 6H, 3R, 3 ER, 2BB. The sophomore finished the day only 4 strikeouts away from tying Andrew Miller’s single-season strikeout record. 

With two runners in scoring position and one out for the Bruins in the bottom of the 8th, the Carolina pitching staff decided to pull Caden O’Brien and put their trust in the clutch Nik Pry to save the game. After a rough night, catcher Tomas Frick dropped another ball at the plate for Carolina, and Matt Maclain scored for the Bruins, 5-4.

So after five pitches, the Tar Heels pulled Nik Pry and decided to put in their left-hander, Shawn Rapp, to prevent the tying run from scoring with one out left in the bottom of the 8th. After a rough night behind the plate, Frick is able to make a quick play on an infield dribbler and get the out at 1st to end the stretch. 

The Tar Heels went to their 5th pitcher on the night with Gage Gillian, looking for the save in the bottom of the 9th. After Noah Cardenas struck out, Kevin Kendall hit a shot to deep left field just over the foul ball line, and Angel Zarate was able to make the sliding grab for the second out of the period. All Kendall could do was tip his hat as to the acrobatic play. After walking the Pat Caulfield, Gage Gillian was able to strike out Matt Mclain, who swung and missed on a 90 mph fastball upstairs to end the Bruin’s night. The Tar Heels beat the Bruins 5-4 to win the opening round of the NCAA Baseball Tournament and

The Tar Heels (28-25) will go on to face Texas Tech in front of a sold-out home crowd in the second round tomorrow night at 9 pm