The Diamond Heels celebrated Bark at the Bosh night in Chapel Hill Tuesday night and used a dogged effort to push past Appalachian State, 4-2, and improve the team’s home record to 16-0 this season.

The duo of Vance Honeycutt and Angel Zarate continued to hound opposing pitchers this season, as a Zarate RBI double in the first inning scored Honeycutt after the freshman tripled to lead off the frame. The hit extended Zarate’s hitting streak to 21 games and his on-base streak to 44 games. Honeycutt’s day would be cut short though, as he exited the game in the bottom of the fifth after being hit by a pitch.

After the Mountaineers tied the score at 1-1 in the third, catcher Max Riemer made the most of his first start of the season with an RBI single in the fourth to give Carolina the lead back. Riemer finished the day 2-3 at the plate, the only Tar Heel to collect multiple hits on the evening.

Pitcher Will Sandy was on a short leash in his third start of the season, going just 2.1 innings before making way for UNC’s bullpen brigade. Shaddon Peavyhouse, Shawn Rapp and Davis Palermo ensured Carolina held its slim 2-1 lead into the top of the eighth inning, but Gage Gillian found his way into head coach Scott Forbes’ doghouse by allowing a game-tying solo home run. Two more Mountaineer batters reached in the inning against Gillian and Nik Pry before the ever-reliable Caden O’Brien came in to get the frame’s final out.

That set the stage for Carolina’s game-winning rally in the bottom of the eighth. After Danny Serretti walked with one out, Mac Horvath brought him all the way around with an RBI double to deep left field. Serretti scored on the play after the Mountaineer infielders failed to fetch the relay throw from the outfield, which also allowed Horvath to advance to third base. Hunter Stokely then walked on four pitches, before he and Horvath executed a picture-perfect double steal, with Stokely acting as a decoy on the basepaths and Horvath scoring UNC’s fourth run in the ensuing fracas.

O’Brien came back out for the ninth and added three more strikeouts to the team’s total on the night, slamming the door on the Mountaineers and improving Carolina to 18-3 on the season. UNC’s home stay is a brief one, as the Tar Heels will return to the road this weekend for a three-game series at Miami. The dog days of the ACC baseball schedule are just beginning.

 

Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications/Anthony Sorbellini

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