March 25, 2007

Box Score

UNC 13, VT 1

 

BLACKSBURG, Va. - One day after knocking off No. 4 North Carolina in impressive fashion for its fourth conference win of the season, the Virginia Tech baseball team surrendered 17 hits while tallying just five of its own to fall to the ACC-foe Tar Heels by a score of 13-1 on Sunday afternoon at English Field.

With the loss, the Hokies fell to 15-10 overall and 4-5 in the ACC. North Carolina claimed the three-game series with the victory, and improved to 22-4 overall and 6-3 in league play.

UNC pitcher Luke Pitkonen earned the win by tossing seven strong innings of five-hit, seven-strikeout baseball to move to 5-0 on the season, while Tech starter Adam Redd (Dumfries, Va.) took his first loss of the season to fall to 2-1. Redd lasted just 3.1 innings and allowed seven earned runs on 12 hits.

Seven Tar Heels had multi-hit performances, and leadoff batter Tim Fedroff led the way by going 3-for-5 with two RBIs and three runs scored. For the Hokies, center fielder Nate Parks (Roanoke, Va.) was the only player to record more than one hit, as he went 2-for-4 and scored Tech's lone run. He also swiped his ACC-leading 22^nd base of the season in the third inning.

The Tar Heels wasted no time getting started, collecting hits from their first four batters on their way to a three-run first inning. Tim Fedroff led off with a double, and scored on Reid Fronk's subsequent single. Fronk advanced to third on Dustin Ackley's base hit, and then touched home when Tim Federowicz delivered UNC's fourth-straight base knock. Hokie left fielder Steve Bumbry committed an error on the play, allowing Ackley to move to third. Josh Horton then brought him home with a sacrifice fly to left, and UNC led 3-0 after one.

UNC got right back at it in the second, scoring two more to make it 5-0. Garrett Gore reached on a fielder's choice before Fedroff recorded his second extra-bagger of the day by launching his third home run of the season over the right-field wall.

The Tar Heels extended their lead to 8-0 after plating three more in the top of the fourth. Gore led off the inning with a single, and made his way to third on Fedroff's third hit of the day, also a single. A Fronk base knock scored Gore and moved Fedroff to third, who then scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Ackley. The Tar Heels tallied their third run of the frame when Fronk raced home on a Federowicz double.

The Hokies ended Putkonen's shutout bid in the bottom of the sixth to make it 8-1. Parks led off the inning with a single, and advanced to third on a base hit by first baseman Sean O'Brien (Chappaqua, N.Y.). Parks then scored his team-leading 23^rd run of the season when third baseman Bryan Thomas (Wilmington, N.C.) hit a fielder's choice that got O'Brien out at second.

UNC increased the margin to the final score of 13-1 in the top of the seventh behind four straight singles, the aid of two wild pitches and an error. Tar Heel relievers Rob Catapano and Andrew Carignan closed out the win with perfect eighth and ninth innings, respectively.

The Hokies will next hit the field on Tuesday, when they travel to James Madison for a 2:30 p.m., non-conference tilt.