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Sophomore hurls five strong innings as UNC closes out ACC Championship play with 9-0 win

DURHAM, N.C. (theACC.com) – North Carolina sophomore pitcher Gianluca Dalatri took another giant step toward regaining top form on Friday.

The Tar Heels couldn’t ask for much better news as they closed out play in the Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Championship with a 9-0 win over Georgia Tech and turned their attention to next week’s NCAA Regionals.

Dalatri, making his second appearance after missing 12 weeks of the regular season due to a stress reaction in his throwing elbow, allowed two hits in five shutout innings while striking out eight Yellow Jackets and issuing one walk. He threw 73 pitches before head coach Mike Fox turned the remainder of the game over to the bullpen.

The performance came six days after Dalatri (1-2) pitched four shutout innings in a regular-season win over Virginia Tech that marked his first action since Feb. 23. That could bode well in the postseason for the New Jersey native, who was named to several Freshman All-America teams in 2017 after posting a 7-5 record and striking out 97 batters in 85 innings.

Backed by home runs from Brandon Martarano and Zack Gahagan, Dalatri received plenty of offensive support. After going hitless through the final five innings of Wednesday night’s 5-4 loss to 12th-seeded Pitt that eliminated them from tournament title contention, the Tar Heels (38-18) came out swinging on Friday.

UNC grabbed a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first against All-ACC first-team Tech starter Connor Thomas. Kyle Datres and Michael Busch opened with back-to-back doubles to quickly put the Tar Heels on the board, and Ike Freeman’s sacrifice fly plated the second run.

Busch led off the bottom of the third inning with his second double of the game, and a Yellow Jacket error set the table for Martorano’s ninth home run of the season – a three run blast to left-center – that made it 5-0. Two batters later, Gahagan cleared the wall in left for a two-run shot that all but put the game out of reach.

Thomas (7-4) departed after the third inning have yielding seven runs (six earned) on seven hits. The Tar Heels nicked Georgia Tech reliever Andy Archer for two more runs and the 9-0 margin that wound up as the final score.

The Yellow Jackets (31-27) found one bright spot in the performance of reliever Tristin English, who held the Tar Heels scoreless in his five-inning stint. English allowed three hits and did not walk a batter while striking out five.