April 21, 2012
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – An eight-run first inning was all No. 6 North Carolina would need in the first game of a Saturday doubleheader at Boshamer Stadium as the Tar Heels led wire-to-wire and beat Georgia Tech, 12-5, to even the weekend series.
The Yellow Jackets hit a pair of sixth-inning home runs during a four-run frame to cut the margin to 11-4, and tacked on runs in the eighth and ninth innings. But the eight-run, eight-hit bottom of the first allowed the Tar Heels to improve to 29-11 overall and 13-7 in the ACC. Tech slipped to 23-17, 8-12.
Jake Davies put the Jackets on the board when he blasted a monster, three-run home run off the light pole in right-center field to make it 11-3. Daniel Palka followed two batters later with his team-leading ninth blast deep over the right field fence.
For Davies, the homer extended his career-long hitting streak to 13 games and upped his ACC-leading RBI total to 41.
Charles Sheffield, who came on to play right field in the eighth inning and finished the game 2-for-2, drove in a run with single up the middle in the eighth. Mitch Earnest’s ninth-inning sacrifice fly brought home Tech’s sixth run.
Tech sophomore Dusty Isaacs was tagged the loss (5-2), while winning UNC pitcher Benton Moss worked 5.2 innings, had his no-hit bid broken up with Palka’s one-out single in the fifth inning. Moss’ shutout was ended with Davies’ three-run bomb in the sixth.
Moss (4-2) allowed five hits and four runs with a walk and four strikeouts. Brian Holberton finished 3-for-4, with four RBI including a bases-loaded three-run double in the first inning. Jacob Stallings had two hits, three RBI and scored three times.
The rubber game of the weekend series is set for 4 p.m. Saturday.
