The Diamond Heels’ conference season is off to a flying start.

Carolina took care of business against visiting Pittsburgh at Boshamer Stadium over the weekend, completing a three-game sweep of the Panthers with a walk-off win on Sunday.

All three games were competitive, starting with a 2-1 UNC win on Friday night. Georgia transfer Parks Harber’s first home run in a Carolina uniform opened the scoring in the bottom of the second, but Pittsburgh tied the game at 1-1 in the fifth. It stayed that way until the bottom of the eighth, when a sacrifice fly from Alberto Osuna drove in the game-winning run. Matt Poston closed the door in the ninth for his second save of the season.

Matthew Matthijs earned his fifth win with 1.1 innings of perfect relief. Freshman Folger Boaz continued to impress in the starting spot, going 4.2 innings, allowing only one run and striking out four. Dalton Pence pitched two no-hit innings before yielding to Matthijs in the seventh.

On Saturday, Carolina waited until the fifth to break a scoreless tie, as Casey Cook singled to bring in two runs. Pittsburgh tied the game in the seventh, but a five-run salvo from the Diamond Heels in the bottom of the inning broke the game open. Colby Wilkerson scored on an error to give UNC a 3-2 lead before Cook brought everybody home with a three-run home run. Osuna added an RBI single for the inning’s fifth run.

Jason DeCaro, another freshman pitcher for UNC, lasted 6.1 innings while striking out six and allowing only two runs on three hits. Matthijs earned yet another win by getting the final two outs of the seventh.

Carolina looked like it would cruise to victory in Sunday’s finale, taking a 5-1 lead into the top of the seventh. But Pittsburgh scored a run in the seventh and three in the eighth to tie the game and send it to extra innings. It only took one frame of bonus baseball to decide it, as Cook was hit by a pitch and then scored all the way from first base on a ringing double down the right field line by Anthony Donofrio. It’s UNC’s first walk-off win of the season.

Aidan Haugh pitched a scoreless top of the 10th to earn the win. Shea Sprague, a junior transfer from Elon, started the game and pitched well, lasting six innings while allowing only two runs on four hits and striking out two. It was his longest outing of the young season.

The three-game sweep extends UNC’s home winning streak to 17 games and its overall winning streak to nine games. The Diamond Heels are 14-2 overall and 3-0 in ACC play, but will return to non-conference action when Rutgers visits Boshamer Stadium for a two-game series on Tuesday and Wednesday. First pitch for Tuesday’s opener is scheduled for 6 p.m.

 

Featured image via UNC Baseball on Twitter

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