A pair of home runs from Mac Horvath helped the Diamond Heels cruise past Longwood, 10-0, at Boshamer Stadium Wednesday night. It was the team’s fourth win in a row.

Horvath’s two home runs gave him three on the young season. He’s the only member of the team to have more than one through the first five games.

It was a two-run home run from Casey Cook which opened the scoring in the bottom of the third. Cook, a redshirt freshman who missed most of 2022 with an injury, is making the most of his second chance so far: he’s batting .350 and leads the team with nine runs batted in.

Reece Holbrook extended the lead in the bottom of the fifth with a two-RBI single before Horvath’s first home run, a two-run shot, blew the game open in the sixth. Tomas Frick kept the onslaught going with an RBI double later in the inning, and then came around to score himself on a wild pitch. Horvath homered once again in the eighth, but by then the game was well in hand.

On the mound, Jake Knapp gave a solid start in his first appearance for the Diamond Heels. The transfer from Walters State tossed 5.2 shutout innings, scattering just two hits in the process and striking out four. Kevin Eaise, a transfer from Penn, contributed three more shutout innings out of the bullpen and earned the save. He struck out five of the 12 batters he faced.

Carolina sits at 4-1 after its opening five-game homestand. The team’s first road trip of the season will take it over to Greenville to visit No. 11 East Carolina. The Diamond Heels won two of three games against the Pirates last season, but both of those wins came in Chapel Hill.

 

Featured image via UNC Baseball on Twitter


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