Bats Left Frustrated as UNC Baseball Drops Game 1 of Super Regional

Carolina will face elimination once again Sunday afternoon, as the Diamond Heels dropped Game 1 of their Super Regional series with Arkansas Saturday, 4-1.

Game 2. Tomorrow. 1 pm.#GoHeels x @WellsFargo pic.twitter.com/ewgYGm9lTC

— Carolina Baseball (@DiamondHeels) June 11, 2022

“Unbelievable game, unbelievable atmosphere,” UNC head coach Scott Forbes said of the sellout Boshamer Stadium crowd. “Proud of our fans. Proud of the support we have. Happy for our guys that they have that support.”

The Tar Heels fired the crowd up early by loading the bases with one out in the bottom of the first. It looked like UNC would give some early run support to starting pitcher Max Carlson, but Alberto Osuna struck out swinging and Mikey Madej, the Most Outstanding Player of last weekend’s regional, grounded out. Madej got good contact on a pitch from Arkansas starter Connor Noland, but the ball struck his leg before it could find its way up the middle. Noland recovered in time to throw Madej out at first, and the Razorbacks escaped the jam.

“That’s baseball. Mikey hit that ball on the nose,” said shortstop Danny Serretti, who finished 2-4 and was standing on second base during the play. “Just happened to hit his leg and bounce right next to him. Hopefully those bounces go for us tomorrow.”

Carlson and Noland threw up zeros through the first four innings, but Arkansas struck first on a no-doubt solo home run from Peyton Stovall to lead off the top of the fifth. It was the first of what would become three Razorback runs in the inning, with the next two scoring on a single and a sacrifice fly. Carlson gutted out the rest of the fifth, but only recorded one out in the sixth before being pulled for reliever Nik Pry.

“I felt really good today,” Carlson said. “Just left some stuff up, and they hit it, got those three runs in the fifth. And that got it done for them.”

Arkansas added one more run in the top of the seventh in support of Noland, who threw 6.2 quality innings, allowing just six hits (two of which came in the first), one walk and no runs. Noland utilized a sharp slider to fool Carolina hitters all day.

“He was able to locate that breaker in pretty much any count,” Forbes said.

“He had an electric slider today. It kept us off-balance,” said Serretti. “Gotta tip your cap to him.”

Carolina’s one run came in the bottom of the eighth, when freshman Vance Honeycutt squared up a pitch from Arkansas reliever Evan Taylor and sent it over the fence. The solo shot was Honeycutt’s 25th of the season, which sets a single-season program record. But the one run was not enough, as the Tar Heels couldn’t build any more positive momentum.

Now, the Tar Heels find themselves in a familiar position to last weekend: with their backs against the wall. The road back isn’t quite as arduous from a scheduling perspective, as Carolina won’t have to endure any doubleheaders and only need to win two games, but Arkansas is no VCU. The Razorbacks were ranked as highly as No. 2 in the polls this season and are just a year removed from being the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament.

But with the experience of surviving the loser’s bracket last weekend, Carolina is confident it can escape elimination once again.

“I feel like we’ve been playing with our backs against the wall for as long as I can remember,” Serretti said. “We’re ready for it. If any team’s gonna do it, it’s this one.”

Featured image via UNC Baseball on Twitter

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Bats Left Frustrated as UNC Baseball Drops Game 1 of Super Regional

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