In the first contest of the weekend series, the North Carolina baseball team (23-15, 8-11 ACC) fell to the No. 11 Virginia Cavaliers (29-10, 11-8 ACC), 4-2, on the road Friday night.
What happened?
A first inning double by sophomore Mac Horvath got the Diamond Heels rolling with a runner in scoring position with one out. Yet, two strikeouts by UNC batters ended the early push.
Sophomore Max Carlson received the nod to start, and back-to-back fly-outs by the first two Cavalier hitters put the highly touted pitcher ahead of the side. But, Virginia bounced back as graduate student Alex Tappen sailed a ball into the right field corner, driving in the first run of the game.
To lead off the second inning, senior Mikey Madej’s solo home run soared over the left field wall and evened the game up at one a piece. And, in the bottom half of the inning, the Wahoos responded with a shot of their own regaining the lead, 2-1.
After three innings of scoreless baseball, UNC’s offense came to life in the top of the sixth.
Sophomore Johnny Castagnozzi’s infield single and sophomore Hunter Stokely’s laser to shallow left field helped the Diamond Heels load the bases. Then, first-year Vance Honeycutt skied a sacrifice fly-out to center field to help drive in the tying run.
Virginia’s offensive woes ceased in the bottom of the seventh when first-year Griff O’Ferrall laced a ball into the left field stands. The one-run blast helped the Cavaliers take the lead, 3-2.
North Carolina was unable to respond to UVA’s punch in the proceeding inning, as Honeycutt struck out looking to leave one base runner stranded. Virginia smashed its third home run of the game in the bottom of the eighth, giving the Wahoos their first two-run lead of the game.
