University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
UNC Greensboro
No. 1 Tar Heels Top Spartans, 6-2
March 14, 2007 | Baseball
March 14, 2007
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - No. 1 North Carolina got 6 2/3 shutout innings from its bullpen and two RBI each from Tim Federowicz and Benji Johnson in a 6-2 win over UNC Greensboro Wednesday at Boshamer Stadium. The Tar Heels (17-1) scored six unanswered runs after falling behind 2-0 in the first inning to earn their second straight victory over the Spartans (7-8).
Senior right-hander Matt Danford picked up his first win of the season and the 15th of his career with two innings of scoreless relief. He walked two and allowed just one hit. Junior right-hander Rob Wooten struck out five of the nine batters he faced to establish a career high over 2 1/3 shutout innings, and classmate Tyler Trice retired all six batters he faced over the final two frames. Freshman lefty Brian Moran also retired the only batter he saw with two on in the fifth.
Federowicz went 2-for-4 with an RBI double in the first and a run-scoring single in the fifth, while Johnson drove in the go-ahead runs with a triple in the third. Johnson extended his current hitting streak to eight games, and freshman Dustin Ackley extended his team-best hitting streak to 10 games with third career three-hit game. He saw a run of 15 straight games with an RBI snapped, but did score two runs on the night for the Tar Heels, who scored their first five runs with two out.
Junior shortstop Josh Horton also added two hits to extend his season-best hitting streak to seven games.
UNCG starter Ryan Falcon (1-3) took the loss after allowing five runs on seven hits, but only two of the runs were earned. Third baseman Guy Welsh led the Spartans with three hits on the night.
UNC Greensboro jumped on UNC starter Jared Bard with four straight hits to open the game and took a 2-0 lead on RBI from Greg Feltes and Welsh in the first. Bard settled down and did not allow any further damage, but he was lifted after 2 1/3 innings of work in his first career start. He allowed five hits and two walks and struck out two.
Carolina trimmed the two-run UNCG lead in half in the bottom of the first, as left fielder Reid Fronk was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and scored all the way from first on the RBI double down the left field line by Federowicz.
The Tar Heels took the lead in the fourth with three more two-out runs, which were all unearned due to a pair of Spartan errors. Ackley started the rally with the first of his three hits. He then stole second, advanced to third on a bad throw by UNCG first baseman Joel Johnson and scored on a fielding error by Welsh to tie the game. Johnson followed two batters later with a triple to left center to give Carolina a 4-2 lead.
UNC added single runs in the fifth and eighth for the 6-2 final score. Horton singled and scored on Federowicz's second RBI base hit in the fifth, and pinch hitter Tim Fedroff was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the eighth to drive in the final run of the night.
The Tar Heels return to Atlantic Coast Conference action this weekend against No. 7 Virginia. Game times are set for 3 p.m. Friday, 4 p.m. Saturday and 1:30 p.m. Sunday. Friday's game will be broadcast by ACC Select, while Saturday's game will be televised by Fox Sports Net South.
