University of North Carolina Athletics
Thursday, May 17
Chapel Hill
1 p.m.
North Carolina
35-17, 0
9
vs
1
Virginia Tech
21-31, 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Virginia Tech
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
10
1
North Carolina
0
2
0
2
1
2
2
0
X
9
12
1
Cooper Criswell
UNC Downs Hokies 9-1, One Win Away From Clinching Coastal Division
May 17, 2018 | Baseball
Chapel Hill – No. 6 North Carolina broke out the bats against Virginia Tech on Thursday afternoon for a 9-1 victory against the Hokies to move within one win of clinching the Coastal Division championship. Cooper Criswell threw seven shutout innings for his fourth win of the year while Brandon Martorano went 3-4 with four RBI, including a two-run home run in the fourth inning.
In the bottom of the second inning, the Tar Heels jumped out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to back-to-back singles from Brandon Martorano and Zack Gahagan. With two outs and runners on the corners, Martorano laced one off the pitcher's glove which bounced in to right field to score Ike Freeman from third to take the 1-0 lead. The very next pitch, Gahagan smoked a ball to right field to score Clemente Inclan from second to double the early Tar Heel advantage.
Brandon Martorano doubled the Tar Heel lead with one swing of the bat in the fourth inning with a massive two-run home run. With Inclan on first, Martorano launched a ball to left field that was a no brainer as the Heels took the 4-0 lead.
The Tar Heels would tack on five more runs over the next three innings to take a 9-0 lead while Cooper Criswell tied his career high by throwing seven shutout innings on the mound. The junior didn't walk a batter while striking out six Hokies en route to his fourth win of the season.
Brandon Riley extended his hitting streak to 10 games and his consecutive reached base streak to 19 games, both career highs, while five Tar Heels all recorded multi-hit games.
The Tar Heels will look to clinch the ACC Coastal Division title on Friday against Virginia Tech with first pitch set for 1 p.m. ET. Due to inclement weather in the area, all game times are subject to change throughout the weekend.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Criswell, Cooper (4-2)
L: Luke Scherzer (1-4)
Batting:
2B: Jack Owens 1 ; Stevie Mangrum 2
RBI: Michael Fernandez 1
SH: Michael Fernandez 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Nick Menken 1
Batting:
HR: Martorano, Brandon 1
RBI: Datres, Kyle 1 ; Freeman, Ike 1 ; Martorano, Brandon 4 ; Gahagan, Zack 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Enwiller, Dylan 1 ; Busch, Michael 1 ; Riley, Brandon 1 ; Freeman, Ike 1 ; McGee, Ashton 1 ; Inclan, Clemente 2 ; Martorano, Brandon 1 ; Gahagan, Zack 1
SB: Busch, Michael 1
HBP: Hesterlee, Jackson 1 ; Riley, Brandon 1 ; Inclan, Clemente 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
1
H
3
RBI
4
cf/rf
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
RHP
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