After scoring 15 runs in an Opening Day win against Seton Hall, the UNC baseball team somehow improved on that result in game two the next day, plating 19 and giving up zero in a romp at Boshamer Stadium. The Diamond Heels would follow that up with a clinical 7-3 victory on Sunday to open the 2022 season with a gaudy sweep of the Pirates.

Carolina got started early in game two, with Angel Zarate and Danny Serretti scoring unearned runs after a Seton Hall throwing error and a sacrifice fly. Then, it was freshman outfielder Vance Honeycutt’s time to shine once again. In the bottom of the second, Honeycutt sent a towering shot to left field that cleared the Boshamer Stadium scoreboard before leaving the yard. It was Honeycutt’s third home run in his first two collegiate games.

The Tar Heels tacked on runs in each of the next three innings, and the score was already 7-0 Carolina before things got wacky in the bottom of the seventh. Eleven Tar Heels would cross the plate in the frame, starting with Serretti taking home on a wild pitch. Honeycutt would earn his second RBI of the afternoon after being hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, before four singles, a double, and another hit by pitch brought in the remaining nine runs and expanded UNC’s lead to an eye-popping 18-0. One more run in the bottom of the eight on a bases loaded walk brought the score to the final of 19-0.

It’s easy to forget through the offensive parade, but five Tar Heel pitchers combined to shut out the Pirates on the day. Sophomore Max Carlson got the start, scattering three hits and a walk over four inning while striking out five. Fellow sophomore Davis Palermo, a hometown hero from Chapel Hill, would be credited with the win after pitching in the fifth and sixth innings while allowing just one hit. Connor Ollio, Connor Bovair and Caleb Cozart would split the last three innings to seal the deal.

Almost by default, it was a quieter afternoon at the dish on Sunday in the final game of the series. Seton Hall got on the board first, with an RBI single in the top of the second off Carolina starter Shaddon Peavyhouse. Peavyhouse was appearing in a Tar Heel uniform for the first time after transferring in from Coastal Carolina.

The offense would pick Peavyhouse up in the bottom of the third, tying a game on a Mac Horvath walk with the bases loaded and then taking the lead on an RBI fielder’s choice from catcher Tomas Frick. RBI hits from Alberto Osuna and Zarate in the third and fourth innings padded the lead, before Zarate scored on a wild pitch to make it 6-1. Second baseman Patrick Alvarez plated Honeycutt with a single in the fifth, making it three straight games to begin the season with an RBI knock. The freshman Honeycutt scored runs in all three games as well.

Shawn Rapp earned the game three win for Carolina, entering the game in the fourth for Peavyhouse and allowing no hits through an inning and a third. Caden O’Brien and Gage Gillian, fresh off being named to the Stopper of the Year watch list, combined on the final five innings to slam the door on the Pirates.

This is the fourth straight season Carolina has begun the year with a sweep at Boshamer Stadium. The team will stay at home for a midweek visit from Elon on Tuesday, before No. 12 East Carolina comes to Chapel Hill for the first two games of a three-game weekend series. Boshamer Stadium will host games one and two on Friday and Saturday before the teams meet in Greenville on Sunday afternoon.

 

Featured image via UNC Baseball on Twitter

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