Evan Blanco, a night after #11 Virginia gave up 11 runs in the first three innings, held #7 North Carolina to two runs in six and a third, and Ethan Anderson went deep twice, as the ‘Hoos defeated the Heels, 7-2, on Friday night at the chilly Dish.
The win for Virginia (25-6, 9-5 ACC) clinches the weekend series with UNC (25-6, 10-4 ACC).
Blanco had his fastball-changeup combo working well, striking out seven, walking one, and allowing six hits, two of them solo homers to UNC leadoff man Vance Honeycutt, the second of which made it a 3-2 game in the sixth.
UVA had gotten on the board first, in the first, with a two-out, three-run homer off the bat of Harrison Didawick (.322, 13 HR, 46 RBIs).
Anderson (.299, 4 HR, 17 RBIs) hit the first of his two solo homers in the bottom of the seventh to extend Virginia’s lead to 4-2.
A two-run double from Casey Saucke (.376, 7 HR, 34 RBI) extended the lead to 6-2.
Anderson then added the slam-proof insurance in the bottom of the eighth.
Owen Coady (1-0, 1 save, 2.65 ERA) got the save with two and two-thirds innings of scoreless relief, allowing one hit and striking out three.
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Chris Graham
