College Notebook: Tar Heels beat Irish in tennis
Whitney Kay clinched a 5-2 win for the No. 1 Tar Heels against 28th-ranked Notre Dame on Friday.
North Carolina (16-0, 4-0 ACC) won the opening doubles point and gained early momentum with an 8-4 win by 18th-ranked Hayley Carter and Kay.
Consecutive singles wins secured the road victory: No. 14 Carter, No. 16 Caroline Price and No. 61 Kay on four made it a 4-0 advantage after all three won in straight sets.
Notre Dame is 8-5, 3-2.
▪ The No. 12 North Carolina men’s tennis team defeated Miami 7-0. Host UNC moved to 14-5 (3-0 ACC); Miami dropped to 5-7,0-2.
Baseball
UNC: Charles Leblanc’s three-run single in the seventh inning broke a 9-9 tie and host Pitt got a 12-9 win.
After UNC fell behind 8-3, Skye Bolt’s three-run homer capped a four-run sixth to give the Tar Heels a 9-8 lead. But the host Panthers tied it in the bottom of the inning before Leblanc’s big hit off Trent Thornton in the seventh provided the winning margin in the series opener.
Tyler Ramirez put North Carolina (11-6, 2-2 ACC) in front in the third with a bases-clearing double off the wall in left center before Pitt (7-8, 2-2) rallied for eight straight runs. The Panthers scored single runs in the second and third on a solo homer by Frank Maldonado and a sac fly before exploding for six in the fourth off UNC starter Zac Gallen.
North Carolina brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth against closer Matt Pidich, but Pidich struck out Korey Dunbar with two on to end it. Garrett Wrambel (1-0) worked 1.1 scoreless innings in relief to pick up the win for the Panthers, who have won back-to-back series openers against Virginia and UNC.
Wake Forest: Ben Breazeale was named to the Johnny Bench Award watch list, the Greater Wichita Area Sports Commission announced.
The award is given annually to the top Division I collegiate catcher, recognizing offensive, defensive and leadership abilities.
Duke: The Blue Devils (13-4, 1-3 ACC) took an early lead but could not hold off Georgia Tech (13-4, 3-1), dropping a 5-2 decision at home.
Campbell: Heath Bowers struck out seven in 7 2/3 without a walk and Campbell (15-2, 1-0 Big South) held on for a 3-2 win over visiting Longwood.
The win was the 12th straight for Campbell.
Track & field
St. Augustine’s: Shakinah Brooks (Southeast Raleigh) leaped 19-11 3/4 to place second in the women’s long jump at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships held in Birmingham.
SOFTBALL
St. Augustine’s: Miranda Zanni earned a pitching victory and a save and smacked a home run in a home doubleheader win (6-3, 4-1) against Bluefield State College. The Falcons are 4-4.
This story was originally published March 13, 2015 at 7:54 PM with the headline "College Notebook: Tar Heels beat Irish in tennis."