Keeping It Heel
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UNC Baseball: Tar Heels complete sweep of Middle Tennessee State

By Blake Cockrum

CORAL GABLES, FL - MAY 15: Head coach Mike Fox #30 of the North Carolina Tar Heels looks out from the dugout prior to the game against the Miami Hurricanes being cancelled due to weather on May 15, 2014 at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field in Coral Gables, Florida. (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)
CORAL GABLES, FL - MAY 15: Head coach Mike Fox #30 of the North Carolina Tar Heels looks out from the dugout prior to the game against the Miami Hurricanes being cancelled due to weather on May 15, 2014 at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field in Coral Gables, Florida. (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images) /
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The UNC baseball team is off to a good start in 2020, as the Tar Heels swept Middle Tennessee State on opening weekend.

Aaron Sabato got North Carolina on the board with a two-run double in the second inning, and the Tar Heels never looked back. They never trailed in the game, and won it by a final score of 5-4 to sweep Middle Tennessee State on college baseball’s opening weekend.

Sabato went 1-for-3 in the game with a run and two RBIs, and senior center fielder Dylan Harris went 1-for-2 with a walk, two runs scored and two runs batted in. He hit his first home run of the season, a solo shot in the fourth inning off Middle Tennessee State’s Austin Cheeley. Harris’ round-tripper turned out to be the game’s deciding run after the Blue Raiders scored one run in the fifth and one in the sixth.

The Tar Heels had six hits as a team, with no individual Tar Heel getting more than one. UNC batters took five bases on balls, struck out four times and left six runners on base.

UNC’s Connor Ollio pitched five and a third innings, giving up seven hits and three earned runs. Chris Joyner and Austin Love pitched the game’s final two and two-thirds innings, surrendering just one hit and no runs. Love, who got the win for North Carolina on Saturday night, picked up his first save of the season on Sunday.

MTSU shortstop Fausto Lopez went 3-for-4 at the plate, and first baseman Brycen Thomas was 2-for-4. Eight Blue Raiders recorded hits on the day, and Middle Tennessee State compiled 11 as a team. Starting pitcher Justin Medlin got the loss, giving up two hits, three walks and three earned runs in just two innings. He threw 48 pitches in two innings before being relieved by Cheeley.

North Carolina will have a day off before individual games with Elon and High Point on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. They begin a three-game series with Dallas Baptist University on Friday. All games will be televised on ACC Network Extra.

Next. Tar Heels fall to Boston College in Chestnut Hill. dark

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