The No. 22 North Carolina baseball team (20-9, 6-6) fell to South Carolina (14-14, 3-6) 15-2 at Truist Field in Charlotte on Wednesday evening.
What happened?
South Carolina came out strong and never looked back, scoring a run at the top of the first inning. The Gamecocks grabbed ahold of this momentum and carried it through the next few innings. They scored two runs in the second, and three more in the third.
The Tar Heels remained scoreless through the first five innings. As the Gamecocks scored two more runs in the fifth, North Carolina was in desperate need of a run come the bottom of the fifth. Though it took them till the bottom of the sixth to score, it was sophomore Johnny Castagnozzi who was able to put up the first run for the Tar Heels. The ball soared over the fence near left-center field as Castagnozzi hit a home run.
In the seventh inning, junior Angel Zarate doubled to left-center. After Castagnozzi grounded out to second, Zarate was able to advance to third and later score after junior Danny Serretti singled up the middle.
With runs posted in the sixth and seventh innings, it briefly appeared that the momentum had flipped in North Carolina’s favor. The Gamecocks remained scoreless in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings to put the score at 8-2. However, South Carolina scored a whopping seven runs in the final inning. This brought the score to 15-2 before the Tar Heels stepped up to bat for the last time.
But following a strikeout from sophomore Brandon Eike and two ground outs by sophomores Patrick Alvarez and Colby Wilkerson, the game ended with a score of 15-2 as the Tar Heels made no come back in the final inning.
Who stood out?
Josiah Sightler and Kevin Madden both stood out for the Gamecocks. Each player scored two runs over the course of the game. Jack Mahoney also stood out as the only Gamecock to hit a home run the entire night.
