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Carolina routs UNC Wilmington

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - No. 12 North Carolina used the big inning to its advantage Tuesday night as the Tar Heels used back-to-back innings of five and four runs to blow open a 14-2 win over UNC Wilmington at Boshamer Stadium. Freshman Colin Moran paced the offense going 3-for-4 with six RBI, while Tommy Coyle chipped in three runs and three hits. Carolina will host High Point on Wednesday with the first pitch set for 6 p.m.
Tommy Coyle extended his career-long hitting streak to 11 games early in Tuesday's contest when he rifled a ball into the right field corner for a one-out double. Back-to-back fly outs following a walk would end the Tar Heel threat.
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Seth Baldwin delivered the first run of the ball game as he lead off the bottom of the third with his second home run of the year a solo shot that cleared the right center field fence just feet away from a leaping Andrew Cain.
The Tar Heels tacked on another run in the bottom half of the fourth as a lead off walk by Jacob Stallings got things going. Colin Moran followed with a single to left center allowing Stallings to motor around to third before Jesse Wierzbicki lifted a ball to right for a sacrifice fly.
The Seahawks struck back in the top of the fifth as the Tar Heels trotted out five different pitchers. Starter Cody Stiles was on a pitch count and was lifted in the fifth after facing three batters to open the inning getting a fly out and allowing a pair of runners. UNC Wilmington picked up a pair of walks and a single and took advantage of three Tar Heel errors in the inning to push across the tying runs.
The Carolina bats came to life in the bottom half of the fifth as Tommy Coyle and Levi Michael tallied back-to-back RBI singles before Colin Moran delivered the knock-out punch, a three-run home run to right center that put Carolina in front 7-2.
Greg Holt, who notched the final out of the fifth, delivered a 1-2-3 inning in the top half of the sixth to get the Tar Heel bats back to the plate.
Carolina used a two-out rally in the sixth to score four more runs as Moran cleared the bases once more, this time with a three-run triple.
Ben Bunting started things off by drawing a two-out free pass and then proceeded to steal second. Bunting moved to third when UNCW's Thomas Pope threw left of the shortstop and then scored on an errant throw by Michael Bass from center field.
Coyle tallied his third hit of the evening with a single through the right side prior to a walk to Levi Michael and an infield single by Brian Holberton. Moran came through the with the big hit again as he hit a ball to dead center that Bass was unable to track down allowing all three Tar Heels to score.
The Tar Heels would tack on three more runs in the bottom half of the eighth thanks to two walks, a hit by pitch, a strikeout wild pitch and a sacrifice fly.
Carolina picked up 5.1 innings of no-hit baseball from its bullpen from the fifth inning on as Holt, Jimmy Messer, Hobbs Johnson and Tim Brechbuehler combined for the final 16 outs of the game.
Moran's six RBI are a career high for the freshman and along with his eight total bases team-highs for this season.
Holt earned his fourth win of the year and lowered his ERA to 2.04 on the year.
Up next for the Tar Heels is a visit from the High Point Panthers on Wednesday. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. at Boshamer Stadium.
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