The Diamond Heels earned their second straight win over Coastal Carolina Saturday at Boshamer Stadium, clinching the three-game series with the Chanticleers and moving to 10-1 on the season.

Starter Max Carlson and relievers Gage Gillian, Davis Palermo and Caden O’Brien combined to allow just five hits and two walks over nine innings while striking out 11 Chanticleer batters. Carlson went four innings and thus was not credited with the win, but still logged his third consecutive start without any runs allowed. Gillian pitched Carolina through the seventh to earn the decision, while lowering his earned run average to 1.93. It was the first win of the season for the senior from Spring Hill, TN.

UNC managed just seven hits of its own, but struck them when it mattered. A double from Alberto Osuna in the fourth inning drove in Friday night’s hero Mac Horvath and broke the scoreless tie, before Hunter Stokely drove in Osuna with a single in the next at-bat. Freshman star Vance Honeycutt manufactured a run almost on his own in the seventh, taking a four-pitch walk before stealing second base (he now has 11 steals this season) and advancing to third on a groundout. He then came in to score on a single by Tomas Frick, giving Carolina valuable late-inning insurance. Even more came in the eighth as Stokely drove in Horvath for the second time on the day.

O’Brien slammed the door on the Chanticleers in the ninth, keeping his 2022 earned run average at zero. Though the season is just 11 games old, the senior O’Brien has emerged as a trusted ninth-inning arm for head coach Scott Forbes.

The Diamond Heels have now won all three of their weekend series in 2022, and will have a chance to sweep the Chanticleers Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.

 

Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications

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