The No. 10 overall seed Diamond Heels began the NCAA Tournament with a win Friday afternoon, soundly defeating the Hofstra Pride 15-4 at Boshamer Stadium. It’s the fourth straight tournament in which Carolina has won its first game.

“I was just straight up with the guys today and said, ‘I know what you feel like right now,'” said head coach Scott Forbes. “‘You can say whatever you want to say. It’s a different feeling in the postseason… it’s OK to have those nerves, and OK to have to take a deep breath, because I had to do the same thing.'”

The ball was flying out of Boshamer Stadium all day, as Carolina clubbed five home runs, including one in each of the first three innings. Mac Horvath accounted for two, going deep in each of his first two at-bats.

“Even if you miss some balls, you can’t go up there with the bat on your shoulder,” Forbes said. “You have to be ready to hit.”

Tomas Frick, Danny Serretti and Vance Honeycutt provided more fireworks, with Honeycutt’s three-run blast in the bottom of the seventh putting a stamp on a seven-run inning and giving him a team-high 22 on the season. Just another day at the office for the reigning ACC Tournament MVP. The Tar Heels’ 91 home runs are the most by the team since 2002.

UNC’s seven-run seventh came after the team had scored runs in each of the first five innings, answering the Pride’s runs in the first and second and building a lead in the third, fourth and fifth. Second baseman Colby Wilkerson had his fingerprints all over a rally in the fourth, laying down a perfect bunt to score Frick and beating out the play at first base. The sophomore from Oxford, N.C. finished 3-4 with two RBI and a walk.

Carolina starter Max Carlson found himself laboring early, giving up runs in each of the first two innings, but settled down to give head coach Scott Forbes 5.2 innings, while allowing just those two runs. It’s Carlson’s third straight win, after picking up two in the ACC Tournament.

“It’s always relieving to see when the offense has your back,” Carlson said.

Gage Gillian, Connor Bovair and Connor Ollio combined to go the rest of the way for the Tar Heels. The win came in front of a standing-room only crowd at Boshamer Stadium, and sent the light-blue clad fans home happy.

“That’s why you play,” said Horvath. “You want to be able to play at home, in front of your own fans. That’s personally part of the reason why I wanted to come here, to be able to see that. It’s a great place to play.”

The win is also Carolina’s 16th in its last 18 games, snaps Hofstra’s nine-game winning streak and improves UNC’s overall record to 39-19. The Tar Heels will have the chance to win 40 games for the fourth time in the last five completed seasons when they take the field Saturday. Brandon Schaeffer is in line to start that game, against the winner of VCU and Georgia.

 

Featured image via UNC Baseball on Twitter

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