The No. 24 ranked North Carolina Tar Heels defeated Longwood 15-1 on Tuesday.
The Tar Heels (7-1) had 14 hits offensively and 25 base runners total. Eleven different players had base hits and nine reached base more than once.
UNC’s Connor Bovair got the start on the mound and pitched 4.2 innings. The right-handed sophomore gave up one run on three base hits and struck out four. The Tar Heel bullpen finished the game allowing no runs on one base hit and struck out an additional six batters. Kyle Mott (1-0) picked up his first victory of the season.
The Lancers (3-6) used nine total pitchers in the contest. Andrew Melnyk (0-1) started the game and pitched one inning, giving up one run in the process from a leadoff home run to open up the game.
North Carolina drew first blood in the bottom half of the first inning when Vance Honeycutt drove a pitch over the centerfield fence for a leadoff home run.
The Tar Heels would add to their lead in the bottom half of the third and fourth innings when Angel Zarate and Will Stewart would record RBI’s from a base hit and sacrifice fly respectively.
Longwood responded in the top half of the fifth through a Michael Peterson single to right field that scored Eliot Dix.
UNC answered with a combined nine runs in the fifth and sixth inning, highlighted by Tomas Frick’s grand slam.
The Tar Heels were not done yet, as they added four more runs in the home half of the eighth inning.
“I just told them the feeling that we have right now is something that we need to try and not feel,” said head coach Chad Oxendine on the message he’s sending his players. “We have lost a few games in a row, we’ve got a really, really good opponent this weekend in Purdue. We just have to find a way to scrap one so we can get in that winning mode and have that winning feeling again.”
“We just got to compete a little more on the mound. We had way too many walks tonight, and when you walk guys in that stature, to a team that’s as good as North Carolina, they’re going to hurt you.”
“Offensively, man, I think tonight earlier in the game we were doing some things. Mike-Mike (Peterson) had a couple bags, we ran a couple of offensive plays successfully. We just need to get a big hit. we didn’t get a big hit with runners on second and third early in the game. Once you allow their starter to wiggle out of some situations man, they’re good, they’re really good pitchers and when you get some guys on and can’t get them in, they’re gonna hold you down.”
Michael Peterson finished the day with two base hits, one RBI and two stolen bases. Peterson is yet to be caught stealing on six attempts this season and has a .444 batting average through nine games.
The Lancers look to bounce back this weekend when they travel to Holly Springs, N.C., for a three-game neutral-site series against Purdue.
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