Unranked North Carolina salvaged the final game of its weekend series at top-ranked UVa., winning on Sunday by a 4-2 final.
Virginia (33-7, 16-5 ACC), which had already taken the first two games in the series, got on the board first on a two-out second inning RBI single by Branden Cogswell that scored Brandon Downes from second.
Carolina (23-17, 10-11 ACC) tied it up in the next half-inning, getting a sacrifice fly RBI from London Lassiter that plated Korey Dunbar, tying the game at 1-1 in the third. The Heels then took the lead for good in the fifth on a long two-run homer over the Hoo Zone left-field bleachers that scored Parks Jordan, making the score 3-1.
UVa. got a run back in the sixth on a safety-squeeze bunt by John LaPrise that brought home Joe McCarthy to reduce the UNC lead to 3-2.
North Carolina got that run back in the seventh on a fielder’s choice RBI by Wood Myers that scored Jordan from third, pushing the lead to 4-2.
The ‘Hoos did not mount a serious rally in the late innings, going down in order in each of the last three innings.
Virginia starter Brandon Waddell (5-2) took the loss, giving up four runs, three of them earned, on eight hits in six and a third innings, striking out one hitter and not issuing a walk. Waddell had an efficient outing, throwing just 76 pitches, 50 of them for strikes.
Carolina starter Zac Gallen (4-3) earned the win, giving up two runs on six hits in five and a third innings of work, striking out two and walking two in 88 pitches, 58 of them thrown for strikes.
In defeat, UVa. got some good news in the form of an earlier-than-expected return by left fielder Derek Fisher, who had missed 25 games with a broken hamate bone in his right wrist. Fisher had played just 14 games before going down with the injury in a 2-1 win at Duke on March 9. Hitting eighth in the order on Sunday, Fisher was 0-for-3 on his return.
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