UNC Baseball Drops 1st Game, But Wins Opening Series Against Seton Hall

Despite a tough loss on Opening Day, it was still a successful weekend at Boshamer Stadium for the Diamond Heels, who took two out of three against Seton Hall to win the first series of the season.

The Pirates jumped on UNC ace pitcher Max Carlson early on in Game One, scoring the first three runs of the contest and stretching the lead to as large as 6-2 on a three-run home run in the top of the fifth. Carolina was able to claw back into the game thanks to timely hitting from Mac Horvath, who homered in the fifth and doubled in the sixth, drawing Carolina to within 7-6. Horvath then scored on a bases-loaded walk later in the same inning to tie the score, and UNC then took the lead on a sacrifice fly. All in all, it was a four-run bottom of the sixth for Carolina.

But Seton Hall struck back in the top of the eighth, tagging reliver Kevin Eaise for three runs to seize the lead right back at 10-8. Carolina wasn’t able to rally in the final two innings and dropped its opening game for the first time under third-year head coach Scott Forbes.

In the second game on Saturday, Carolina once again fell behind after the top of the first, but responded to the tune of 11 unanswered runs. RBI singles from Hunter Stokeley and redshirt freshman Casey Cook gave the Diamond Heels the lead, which continued to grow through the later innings. Designated hitter Eric Grintz picked up three RBI, while Vance Honeycutt knocked in his first RBI of the season with a single in the bottom of the eighth. Honeycutt finished just 1-5 in the first game, but went 2-3 with three walks and two runs scored on Saturday.

Carolina wouldn’t quite reach 11 in Sunday’s rubber game, but did just enough to see the Pirates out of Chapel Hill with a series loss. Junior Jackson Van De Brake, a transfer from Tacoma Community College in Washington making his first start, made a decent first impression by clubbing a three-run home run in the bottom of the second to open the scoring. Honeycutt continued the scoring with an RBI triple later in the inning to make it 4-0.

The UNC bullpen took it from there, as Dalton Pence, Justin Szestowicki and Ben Peterson combined to toss 5.1 innings of shutout relief, allowing just five baserunners and striking out seven. Pence was awarded his first win of the season, while Peterson picked up the save.

The Diamond Heels will continue their opening homestand on Tuesday when they host Radford, followed by a visit from Longwood the next day. The following weekend ushers in a huge early series against East Carolina. The first two games will be played in Greenville, with Chapel Hill hosting the finale on Sunday.

Featured image via UNC Baseball on Twitter

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UNC Baseball Drops 1st Game, But Wins Opening Series Against Seton Hall

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