On a day when the UNC baseball program honored former head coach Mike Fox, the Diamond Heels did what they had done so often under his regime: soundly defeating a ranked opponent at Boshamer Stadium. Carolina defeated No. 20 Florida State for the second time in as many days Friday night, but there was no walk-off needed this time. A late-inning barrage helped the Tar Heels claim a 10-4 win.
Carolina fell behind briefly after the Seminoles tallied a pair of runs in the top of the first against UNC starter Brandon Schaeffer, but the Tar Heels found an answer right away in the form of a two-run blast off the bat of Vance Honeycutt in the bottom of the inning. The freshman phenom is now in sole possession of second place on the team with 16 home runs this season.
A Mac Horvath sacrifice fly in the second gave UNC the lead for good, before the red-hot Alberto Osuna provided some loud insurance with a solo shot in the fifth. It was Osuna’s third home run in two nights, and gave him a team-best 19 on the season.
But with a 6-4 lead entering the bottom of the eighth, the Tar Heels weren’t keen on giving Osuna another shot at a walk-off. Instead, Danny Serretti stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and launched a grand slam off the Boshamer Stadium scoreboard to blow the game open. Serretti finished the night 2-4 at the dish, moving his team-best batting average even higher to .374. His OPS of 1.008 is also by far the best on the team.
Carolina’s top five hitters of Angel Zarate, Horvath, Serretti, Honeycutt and Osuna combined for eight of UNC’s 10 hits and drove in eight of the team’s 10 runs. That core of bats has been a driving force behind Carolina’s late-season surge, one which has seen the team win 10 of its last 12 games and likely secure a spot in the NCAA Tournament. On the mound, Schaeffer recovered from his shaky first inning to toss another quality start, going 6.2 innings and allowing just three runs. The performance gave him his sixth win of the season, most among all pitchers on the team with at least nine starts.
The Diamond Heels will go for their first three-game sweep since March on Saturday in the regular-season finale against the Seminoles. First pitch at Boshamer Stadium is scheduled for 2 p.m.
Featured image via UNC Baseball on Twitter
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