UNC Baseball: Tar Heels take series at Boston College

The No. 14 UNC Baseball program faced a tough early season test by going on the road to take No. 21 Boston College this past weekend and they left with a big series win.

The Diamond Heels earned bookend wins on Friday and Sunday to get a big series win in the Atlantic Coast Conference and have built some momentum moving forward. After being unranked to start the year, the Tar Heels are likely going to move up this week after taking two of three in Chestnut Hill.

Here is our weekend recap for the big series win:

Game 1: UNC 9, Boston College 3 

North Carolina (11-5, 7-3 ACC) stomped Boston College (10-6, 2-5 ACC) 9-3 behind a superb pitching performance from redshirt-sophomore Austin Love.

Sophomore Danny Serrietti belted a three-run home run in the top of the first inning to give the Tar Heels a 3-0 lead.

Love blanked Boston College for three innings before allowing a run in the bottom of the fourth inning to make it 3-1 North Carolina.

From there North Carolina scored in three of their five remaining innings with another run in the top of the fifth to make 4-1. Then three runs in the top of the sixth inning to extend the lead to 7-1 and another in the top of the eighth inning to make it an 8-1 North Carolina lead.

Boston College managed two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to make it 8-3.

In the top of the ninth North Carolina extended the lead to 9-3, which was the eventual final in Friday’s game.

Love handled the Eagles through seven innings with eight strikeouts, six hits allowed, one unearned run, and two walks in the game. Serrietti hit an impressive 2-5 with five RBI and a run scored while first-year Johnny Castagnozzi went 1-3 with two RBI, two runs scored, and two walks.

 Game 2: Boston College 10, UNC 3

After winning the opening game of the series, the Tar Heels fell short in game 2 on Saturday afternoon.

Boston college plated two runs in the bottom of the first and later extended the lead to 3-0 with a solo home run in the bottom of the third inning. North Carolina scored in the top of the fifth inning as junior Angel Zarate hit an RBI double to shrink the lead to 3-1 Boston College.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Boston College capitalized on five walks from UNC pitchers and scored seven runs to balloon their lead to 10-1.

North Carolina responded in the top of the eighth with two runs to shrink the lead to 10-3, which was the eventual final as UNC could not make the comeback.

Game 3: UNC 5, Boston College 4

In the rubber match, UNC got back to their winning ways and earned a big win on Sunday to take the series.

Boston College took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning but Serretti belted a home run to even the score 1-1 in the top of the second inning.

In the bottom of the third inning, Boston College gained the advantage 2-1 via a leadoff home run.

North Carolina had the bases loaded with no outs in the top of the fourth inning when Inclan was hit by a pitch that drove in a run and tied the game 2-2. Castagnozzi hit a sacrifice fly to give North Carolina the 3-2 lead and Zarate drove in a run on a fielder’s choice to push the lead to 4-2.

In the bottom of the fifth inning,  Boston College rallied to score two runs and tie the game 4-4.

Serretti laced an RBI triple to give the Tar Heels a crucial 5-4 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth. Boston College had no response and UNC won the deciding game of the weekend series.

https://twitter.com/DiamondHeels/status/1373726197016887301

Head Coach Scott Forbes credited his teams’ resiliency for winning a tough road series against  Boston College, and rebounding after the loss on Saturday.

“When you have that toughness, you find a way on the road to win two out of three against a veteran Boston College team that’s there a good team, Forbes said. “For our guys to find a way to do that it just shows that they’re gritty and they’re tough.”

The Tar Heels look to build on the momentum when they take on the East Carolina Pirates in a home game Tuesday afternoon.