Baseball Falls 5-4 At No. 9 North Carolina
April 26, 2002
Chapel Hill, N.C. (www.hurricanesports.com) – – North Carolina catcher Chris Iannetta took a second-pitch off University of Miami reliever Shawn Valdes-Fauli (1-1) over the wall in right center in the eighth inning to lead the ninth-ranked Tar Heels (31-14) in a 5-4 win over Miami (21-20) in front of 1,765 fans Friday night at Cary C. Boshamer Stadium.
UNC reliever Michael Gross (5-3) scored the win for the Tar Heels pitching the final 2.2 innings with two hits and three strikeouts.
North Carolina started early on UM starter Dan Touchet scoring four runs over the first two innings. Touchet settled down holding the Tar Heels off the scoreboard for the remaining 3.1 innings of his start and eventually took a no-decision. He was replaced in the sixth with Andrew Cohn after going 5.1 innings and allowed a career-high 10 hits, four earned runs, three walks and three strikeouts.
UNC starter Scott Autrey also took a no-decision as he went 6.0 innings with seven hits, three earned runs, two walks with eight strikeouts. Reliever Whitley Benson replaced Autry in the seventh and allowed the Hurricanes to tie the game.
North Carolina opened up the scoring, 3-0, in the first inning with three runs on four hits off Touchet, including a home run and two doubles. Adam Greenberg led off with a solo home run to right field on a 2-and-2 count. Russ Adams then singled with a bunt between the pitcher and first baseman. Adams would move to second on Sean Farrell’s ground out to third base. Adams later scored on Chris Maples RBI double to right center. After Ron Braun recorded the second out, Jeremy Cleveland drove in Maples with a double to right field.
The Tar Heels added a run, 4-0, in the second on Greenberg’s sacrifice fly RBI to centerfield scoring Iannetta from third. Iannetta led off the inning with a walk and moved to third on Greg Mangum’s double to right field.
The Hurricanes put together a two-out rally in the fifth, 4-2, scoring two runs on three hits. After the first two Hurricane batters recorded outs, Paco Figueroa singled up the middle. Following his stolen base to second, he scored on Brad Safchik’s RBI double to the gap in right center. Danny Figueroa followed with an RBI single to centerfield to score Safchik.
Miami continued its comeback in the seventh, 4-4, scoring two runs on three UNC pitchers. After Autrey walked Paco Figueroa to start the inning, he was replaced with Whitley Benson. Benson proceeded to balk Figueroa to second then gave up a RBI double to Safchik, off the wall in right center. Later in the inning, Javy Rodriguez drove in the tying run, Safchik, with a single up the middle.
The series continues on Saturday at 7 p.m. with the finale on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. Both games can be heard over the Internet at www.hurricanesports.com or on the student voice of the Hurricanes, WVUM 90.5 FM.
The Tar Heels are ranked No. 9 by Collegiate Baseball, No. 19 by Baseball America, No. 23 by Baseball Weekly and No. 24 by the NCBWA.
For more information on University of Miami athletics log on to its newly designed website www.hurricanesports.com, the official site for all Hurricane news, tickets and apparel. For Hurricane ticket information call 1-800-GO CANES.
