Four North Carolina baseball players earned All-ACC honors earlier this week after the completion of the regular season.
First-year Aaron Sabato was named Freshman of the Year, first team All-ACC and is a member of the All-Freshman team. Danny Serretti was also named to the All-Freshman team, while juniors Michael Busch and Tyler Baum were named first and third team all-conference, respectively.
Sabato is the seventh Tar Heel in program history to be named Freshman of the Year. The last North Carolina player to earn this honor was Ashton McGee, Sabato’s teammate, who won the award in 2017.
Sabato lead the Tar Heels in many offensive categories: batting average, hits, doubles, home runs and RBIs. He finished the regular season with a .339 batting average, and a .358 average in ACC play, the only first-year to lead North Carolina in this category since 2011.
Throughout the regular season, Sabato hit 13 home runs and became the first rookie since 2009 to hit more than 10 home runs in a season. Sabato had 20 multi-hit games this season and against N.C. State, he became the first Tar Heel to hit for the cycle since Colin Moran in 2012.
Busch was also named to the All-ACC first team as an outfielder. Prior to this season, Busch had never played an inning for North Carolina in left field. In 2018, Busch was named to the All-ACC second team as a first baseman. Busch’s versatility on the field along with his play at the plate caught the eye of many.
Busch is third on the team in batting average at .279, leads the team with 64 runs scored and leads the team in walks with 54. Busch hit 12 home runs in the regular season along with 50 RBIs.
Baum, a pitcher, earned All-ACC honors for the first time in his career, named to the third team. Baum has started 13 games for the Tar Heels, he has a 3.91 ERA and a 7-3 record, with four of his wins coming against ACC opponents. Against Duke, Baum pitched a career high 8.2 innings, gave up two hits, and zero runs.
First-year Serretti became a staple in the Tar Heels’ infield, playing both second base and shortstop. Throughout the regular season, Serretti had the third best batting average on the team.
