Reilly Hovis, a junior reliever for the UNC baseball team, has been declared out for the remainder of the 2015 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery Tuesday morning to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow.

Hovis, a native of Gastonia, North Carolina served as the team’s closer last year and was named to the All-ACC first team as a relief pitcher. He was credited with a team-high nine wins in 2014, while also picking up six saves. On top of that, he also struck out 81 hitters in just 64 innings, finishing the year with a 2.25 ERA.

Those numbers were good enough to earn Hovis a spot as a third-team Preseason All-American reliever for 2015, but after struggling mightily in his only two appearances of this year, allowing six runs in just three innings pitched, it was clear there might have been something wrong.

Head coach Mike Fox had hoped to have Hovis return at some point during this year to help out a bullpen that has struggled to find production from anyone other than senior Trevor Kelley and junior Trent Thornton, but that dream has gone out the window with this news.

The surgery was performed by the world famous Dr. James Andrews, and it typically requires at least 12 months of recovery time.

Game Postponed:

In related news, the Tar Heels’ game against UNC-Asheville, which was originally scheduled for 6 p.m. at Boshamer Stadium on Wednesday, has been canceled due to heavy rain in the forecast. No makeup date has been announced. Next up, Carolina will travel to Blacksburg, Virginia this weekend for a three-game ACC series with Virginia Tech.