Tar Heels hold off the Seahawks in UNCW’s final non-conference baseball game; ECU gets shutout win

CHAPEL HILL, NC (UNCW) —  North Carolina rode a strong start from A.J. Boguski as the Tar Heels completed a sweep of the home-and-home series with UNCW with a 7-2 win on Tuesday at Boshamer Stadium.

The Tar Heels halted a three-game losing skid with the win to improve to 32-19 while the Seahawks extended their skid to four, a season-high, and dipped to 33-16.
UNC starter A.J. Bogucki (1-2) picked up the win with a season-high five innings of work. The righthander fanned eight, also a season-high, scattered three hits and walked two. Trevor Kelley picked up his third save, working three shutout innings.

Jared Gesell (2-1) took the loss in relief, allowing a run on four hits and a walk over season-tying high of 3.1 innings.

Landon Lassiter, Logan Warmoth and Brian Miller had two hits apiece while Miller knocked in two runs. Skye Bolt connected on this team-leading ninth homer of the season to provide the difference in the fifth inning.

No one had a multiple-hit game for UNCW, but Joe Bertone did hit his fifth home run of the season, a two-run shot to right that tied the game at 2-all in the fourth.

Up next: UNCW closes out the regular season on Thursday with the first of three games against visiting James Madison. First-pitch for Thursday is set for 6 p.m. The Seahawks need to win at least one game in order to clinch the second seed in next week’s Colonial Athletic Association tournament in Charleston, S.C.

How it happened: Bolt turned around a 1-0 offering from Gesell in the fifth to break a tie ball game. The Tar Heels would go on to put the game out of reach by scoring the next four runs with two in the seventh and two more in the eighth.

Inside the box score: UNCW’s 12 strikeouts marked the 17th time this season they’ve fanned at least 10 times … UNC had five, two-out hits and plated three runs with two outs … Offensively, the Seahawks managed just two hits with runners on base and went hitless with RISP.

Notes: Steven Linkous moved to within one of tying the UNCW record for stolen bases by a junior … UNCW fell to 8-10 on the road.

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GREENVILLE, NC (ECU) — Hunter Allen and Reid Love drove in three of East Carolina’s seven runs on Senior Night lifting the Pirates to a 7-0 win over Elon in seven innings at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium. The contest was called early due to inclement weather in the area.

With the win the Pirates improve to 33-20 on the year, while the Phoenix drop to 24-27. The victory pushed ECU’s home record to 24-12 on the season.

David Lucory (3-4) picked up the win tossing five scoreless frames where he allowed one hit, walked two and struck out three. Nick Durazo gave up a hit with one strikeout and Evan Voliva tossed a clean inning with one strikeout out of the bullpen.

Casey Jones (0-1) took the loss allowing all seven runs (earned) on five hits with three walks in 3.1 innings. Sean Byrnes scattered a pair of hits over 3.2 frames in relief.

Allen led the Pirates seven-hit attack going 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI and a run scored. Love added two RBI, while Garrett Brooks, Luke Lowery and Charlie Yorgen each drove in a run. Lowery’s RBI came on his 12th home run of the season, which highlighted the Pirates four-run fourth inning.

Ryan Cooper and Nick Zammarelli collected the lone base knocks for Elon.

Up Next:
ECU will hit the road for its final regular season series at Cincinnati, which starts Thursday, May 14 with a 6 p.m. (ET) scheduled first pitch.

How It Happened:
The Pirates wasted little time in pushing across their first run taking a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Hunter Allen led off with a four-pitch walk and took third on Charlie Yorgen’s single to left field. Reid Love reached on a fielder’s choice scoring Allen for the games first run.

ECU added two runs in the second inning pushing its lead to 3-0. Kirk Morgan was hit by a pitch to start the frame then moved to second on Eric Tyler’s walk. A Travis Watkins sac bunt advanced both runners before Garrett Brooks’ sac fly plated Morgan from third. Allen followed with a two-out single through the right side scoring Tyler from second before he was thrown out at second to end the inning.

Luke Lowery’s solo home run to left field highlighted the Pirates four-run fourth extending the lead to 7-0. Lowery belted his 12th homer of the season (third in last four games) for the first run. Allen drove in his second run of the contest with a bases loaded single that plated Tyler before Yorgen’s fielder’s choice pushed across Watkins. Love’s RBI double down the right field line capped the frame scoring Brooks before Yorgen was thrown out at the plate.

Game Notes/Inside The Box Score
ECU’s pitching staff picked up its fifth shutout of the season and first since blanking USF on April 12 … Allen posted his 15th multi-hit game and third multi-RBI contest of the season … Love collected his fifth multi-RBI game driving in two … Lowery belted his 12th home run of the season (third in last four games) with a solo shot in the fourth … Against Elon this year, Lowery has connected on four long balls and driven in 12 runs … The win was the fourth of the season against Elon (swept the Phoenix Mar. 13-15) and extended ECU’s win streak against Elon to 11 games … ECU recorded a pair of two-out hits pushing its season total to 163, which resulted in a pair of runs (113 on the season).