Chapel Hill went into last Wednesday’s game seeking some revenge for an earlier loss at Carrboro. The Tigers got that, and more, in an 11-1 win shortened to five innings by the NCHSAA’s 10-run “mercy rule.”

“Tonight was not just about Carrboro,” said CHHS coach Randy Trumbower, noting the Tigers; 3-2 road loss March 20. “Tonight was about turning it on and playing a little bit better baseball and finding our knack, doing things the right way.”

Getting CHHS back above .500 overall, the win was the third straight for Chapel Hill (9-7, 4-0 Carolina 3A Conference) and the third straight time that the Tigers pounded out double digits at the plate. Even taking a couple of close hit/error calls into account, CHHS collected 11 hits off the Jaguars.

“We’ve picked it up a lot here recently,” Trumbower said. “The last few games, we have been playing a lot better; We are clearly starting to hit the ball better.”

CHHS got 12 hits last weekend in a 4-2 win over Surry Central for third place in the 16-team Hilltop Invitational Tournament. The Tigers then played what Trumbower termed "maybe our best game of the year" in pounding out 20 hits in a 16-7 victory Tuesday over Oxford Webb.

Chad Fisher (3-0) shook off Wednesday’s unseasonably cold weather to pitch for a one-hit win, striking out nine Jaguars. That brought his season total to 37 Ks in just 20 innings pitched. After giving up his only base on balls Wednesday in the second inning, Fisher then used his curveball to great effect in retiring the next 10 batters.

“My stuff was working,” Fisher said. “It was a very important game. They are one of our cross-town rivals and we did take a big loss from them the first time we played. I’m glad we got back at them.”

Carrboro (10-4, 6-2 Carolina 2A Conference) led 1-0 off a “small-ball” run in the first, with Stewart “Stupac” Powell singling into right for the Jag’s lone hit, then stealing second, getting third on a passed ball and scoring on a throwing error that allowed Jared Lennon to reach first.

Carrboro’s roof caved in during a disastrous third inning, when a single hit plus two walks plus two Tigers hit by pitches plus two mental errors and two mental errors equaled six CHHS runs.

“It was dreadful,” Carrboro coach Nat Tyndall said, pulling a folded piece of paper from his pocket and examining the litany of mistakes. “We had been playing fairly fundamental baseball, but we weren’t thinking out there tonight.

“Chad pitched a good ballgame, good enough to win, but I’m embarrassed by the way we played.”

Carrboro came out of long spring break layoff to beat Granville Central 9-3 on Tuesday behind the pitching of Jack Schaufler (6-1). Tyndall was hopeful the Jags would get out of Wednesday’s funk in time to face the meat of their Carolina 2A schedule coming up. Currently in second place, Carrboro faces the league’s other top three contenders within the next nine days – Tuesday versus Cedar Ridge (7-8. 6-2), South Granville (13-3, 8-0) on Friday and Northwood (10-1, 7-1) on April 24.

Chapel Hill (at Southern Vance last Friday) faces similar challenges in the Carolina 3A this week. The Tigers host second-place Orange (10-4, 1-0) in a crucial league game Tuesday, 4A rival East Chapel Hill on Wednesday and then third-place Cardinal Gibbons (10-5, 2-1) on Thursday.