Blue Raiders Fall in Series Finale

Sunday, February 16

Chapel Hill, NC

12 PM

Middle Tennessee

0-3

North Carolina

3-0

Middle Tennessee

North Carolina

2/16/2020 4:25:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Brady McBride

Chapel Hill, N.C. – The Middle Tennessee baseball team dropped the series finale to #13 North Carolina 4-5, despite out hitting the Tar Heels 11-6.

The Tar Heels (3-0, ACC 0-0) jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second inning, but the Raiders (0-3, C-USA) offense would kick start on a Fausto Lopez double to left field. The Florida native would later score on a triple from Brian Dillingham.

Lopez would finish the game 3-for-4, with two doubles, and an RBI. His partner up the middle, Dillingham, accounted for a hit, a run, and two RBI in the contest.

The Raiders' bats broke out in the final game of the series. MT combined for just five hits in game one and two, but collected 11 hits including four doubles to conclude the set.

"The first game we got the jitters out," said Head Coach Jim Toman, "based on the way we played yesterday and today, we beat a lot of teams, but obviously not happy with the end results."

The Raiders threatened to erase the 4-5 Tar Heels in the bottom of the ninth with a runner in scoring positon, but stranded the runner at second base to end the game.

The Blue Raiders' gloves also improved as the weekend progressed. MT committed four errors in game one, and combined for just one in the last two games.

"Today we relaxed a little bit. We have good players and they're going to learn," expressed Toman. "The record isn't going to look good, but the takeaways were very positive over the last two days."

The Blue Raiders will return home to open up Reese Smith Jr. Field for the spring in the SAF Classic. The Raiders will take on Bradley in game one on Thursday, Feb. 20 at 3:00 PM CST.