No. 12 Tar Heels Stumble Against WVU

Wednesday, March 19

Chapel Hill

6:00 PM

North Carolina

West Virginia

March 20, 2014 | Baseball

By: UNC Athletic Communications

CHAPEL HILL --- John Mears tossed a complete game three-hitter and West Virginia beat No. 12 North Carolina 5-1 Wednesday night at Boshamer Stadium. Ryan McBroom had three hits for the Mountaineers, who have won nine of the their last 11 games.

West Virginia (11-6) threatened early against Carolina starter Luis Paula before breaking through in the fifth. With runners on second and third and one out, Bobby Boyd and Billy Fleming had back-to-back RBIs to give the Mountaineers a 2-0 lead.

Parks Jordan broke up Mears' no-hitter with a clean single to right to lead off the sixth, but the Tar Heels (14-6) still hadn't gotten a runner into scoring position until the seventh. After a one-out single, Michael Russell moved to second on a wild pitch with one out. Two batters later, Adam Pate doubled to the gap in left to make it 2-1. But Pate was erased at third trying to stretch it to a triple and Mears retired to final six batters to log his first complete game of the year.

Paula (1-1) allowed two runs in 4.2 innings for the Tar Heels, who will open a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series against Georgia Tech Friday at 5 p.m. at Boshamer Stadium. Tickets are available at the Boshamer box office and online at GoHeels.com/tickets.