May 5, 2009

Box Score

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - No. 1 North Carolina scored five runs in the first and bettered that effort with six in the fourth en route to a 15-6 win over No. 28 Elon Tuesday at Boshamer Stadium. All-America Dustin Ackley and Mark Fleury drove in three runs each, and Levi Michael homered for the second straight game to lead the Tar Heels (36-11) to their ninth win in the last 10 outings.

The loss snapped a nine-game winning streak for the Phoenix (33-14), who allowed a season-high 15 runs for the second and failed to reach the 10-run mark for the first time in the last nine games.

Ackley was 3-for-4 with two walks and two runs scored, while Fleury was 2-for-3 and also scored twice to go along with the three RBI. Michael connected on a two-run home run in the first, Tarron Robinson plated two with a pinch-hit single in the fourth and Ben Bunting chipped in with two hits.

Michael's homer was his 12th, and only Chad Flack (15) and Seth Williams (13) hit more long balls as freshman at Carolina, both in 2005.

Lefty relief ace Brian Moran (5-1) worked 2 2/3 scoreless innings, striking out three and allowing just one hit to pick up the win. Logan Munson worked a scoreless inning out of the pen, and Adam Warren tossed two scoreless innings in his first relief outing of the season.

Mike Melillo was 3-for-4 with one of three solo home runs, and Cory Harrilchak was 3-for-4 with two doubles for Elon.

After the game was delayed over an hour at the start due to lightning and heavy rain, the Tar Heels wasted little time breaking the rust off their eight-day layoff, scoring five runs in the first and chasing Elon starter Tom Porter (1-3) before he recorded an out. After Bunting led things off with a single, Michael drilled a two-run home run to right on a 1-0 pitch to put Carolina on the board.

Porter issued back-to-back walks to Ackley and Kyle Seager, and Fleury greeted reliever J.D. Reichenbach with his 17th double off the wall in left center to score both runners. The Tar Heel catcher later scored on a fielding error by Elon third baseman Chase Austin to give UNC a five-run cushion.

The Phoenix climbed back in the game with back-to-back solo home runs in the second. Melillo and Dallas Tarleton went deep off Carolina starter Patrick Johnson, but the right-hander struck out the side to close the inning without further damage.

After Carolina left the bases loaded in the second, Justin Hilt hit a third homer for Elon to lead off the third and trim the lead to 5-3 against Johnson, who allowed three runs on five hits over 2 1/3 innings. He struck out four before Moran entered to pick up the final two outs in the third and strand a runner.

After being walked his first two times to the plate, Ackley delivered a two-out, bases-loaded single in the third. A hit batter, a walk and an infield single from Bunting loaded the bases for Ackley, who laced a single to center to score Mike Cavasinni and Ryan Graepel and push the Carolina lead to 7-3.

The Tar Heels put the game away with their sixth-run fourth. A walk to Fleury and singles by Garrett Gore and Cavasinni loaded the bases for the third straight frame. Fleury scored when Mellilo mishandled a throw to the plate on a force play, and Gore scored on a balk to give Carolina a six-run advantage. Robinson tacked on two more with a single off the first base bag, and Ackley and Seager closed the scoring with back-to-back two-out RBI doubles.

After Graepel put Carolina in the scoring column for the third straight inning with an RBI double in the fifth, Fleury delivered an RBI single up the middle in the sixth to score Michael, who was hit by a pitch, to give the Tar Heels a 15-3 lead.

UNC scored 10 unanswered before Elon scored three times in the ninth against Matt Harvey. Harrilchak and Pat Irvine had RBI doubles in the frame.

The Tar Heels close out their home schedule Thursday against Longwood at 6 p.m. before returning to ACC play this weekend at NC State.