The Diamond Heels ended the 2022 regular season with a flourish Saturday afternoon, throttling No. 20 Florida State 11-0 to finish off a three-game sweep of the Seminoles at Boshamer Stadium. It was UNC’s first sweep of Florida State in Chapel Hill since 2002.

In a game split by a rain delay in the seventh inning, Carolina dominated both halves. Before the skies opened up, the Tar Heels had already opened up a 6-0 lead. Angel Zarate staked UNC to a lead immediately, leading off the bottom of the first with a solo home run.

Carolina added on a pair of runs in the second on sacrifice flies from Mac Horvath and Danny Serretti, then got another from Tomas Frick in the fifth to lead 4-0. The red-hot Alberto Osuna drove in a pair of Tar Heels in the sixth with a single to left, bringing the score to 6-0 before the rain delay. The Seminoles are likely tired of seeing Osuna at the plate, as the former junior college star batted 5-13 during the three-game series and collected nine runs batted in, including three on Thursday night’s walk-off home run. Osuna has at least one hit and one RBI in eight of his last nine games.

The roughly two-and-a-half hour delay did nothing to cool off the UNC bats, as Zarate smacked an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh before Horvath and Vance Honeycutt each slugged two-run home runs to give Carolina an 11-0 lead. Horvath and Honeycutt now have 16 and 17 home runs apiece, good for third and second on the team, behind only Osuna.

Six Tar Heel pitchers combined to shut out the Seminoles, including Nik Pry, who got the win by tossing two innings of no-hit relief. Veteran Caden O’Brien made one final appearance on the mound at Boshamer Stadium on his Senior Day, striking out the only batter he faced in the top of the ninth. O’Brien is the only member of the Tar Heels to have appeared in the College World Series, having done so as a freshman in 2018.

UNC closed the regular season as winners of 11 of 13  games, and finish with a record of 34-19 (15-15 in ACC play). In the process, the Tar Heels clinched a spot in next week’s ACC Tournament in Charlotte. Carolina is the No. 8 seed in the field and is one of three teams in Pool A, along with No. 1 Virginia Tech and No. 12 Clemson. UNC went 1-2 against the Hokies this year and did not face the Tigers.

 

Featured image via Inside Carolina

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