Lancellotti's 9th Inning Walks Off a Tar Heel Victory

Saturday, February 15

Chapel Hill, N.C.

2 p.m.

North Carolina

Middle Tennessee

Photo by: Rebecca Lawson

February 15, 2020 | Baseball

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Dylan Harris and Will Sandy Also Star for UNC

By: Steve Kirschner

Senior centerfielder Dylan Harris tied the game at 1-1 with a two-out homer in the eighth and junior Joey Lancellotti ended the game with a walk-off blast in the bottom of the ninth to give the University of North Carolina a 2-1 win over Middle Tennessee Saturday at Boshamer Stadium.

Carolina has won the first two games of the season-opening series for both teams. They play again Sunday at 1 p.m.

Lancellotti was Friday's opening-day starting pitcher and had two base hits and two RBI as the designated hitter. Today's ninth-inning blow was his first collegiate home run. He did not have a hit in 2018 and 2019.

He stroked the first pitch of the at-bat off MTSU reliever Zach Keenan deep over the fence in left field. Keenan (0-1) took the loss, while Austin Love got the win (1-0) with two innings of shutout, no-hit ball.

"I saw that he threw (Aaron) Sabato all three sliders and with (Danny) Serretti he was kind of mixing it up," says Lancellotti, whose last home run was as a high school senior at William Penn Charter in a Pennsylvania state playoff game in 2017. "He threw me a get-me-over slider, which I actually told Luca (Dalatri) I was going to swing at. And I took it. I thought he was going to flip me another one. I kind of saw in his face and body motion that he kind of tried to let that one go a little. So, at the last second I just reacted fastball."

Both starting pitchers turned in outstanding performances, although neither factored in the decisions. Carolina sophomore Will Sandy allowed a first-inning run on a sacrifice fly by Brycen Thomas, but yielded only three hits and two walks while striking out five in a career-long seven innings plus. He gave up a leadoff double in the second, then retired 15 of the next 17 hitters (batters reaching on a walk and an infield error) and didn't give up another hit until the eighth.

"It's been a long time since I've been out there," says Sandy. "I've just been itching to get back on the mound ever since the end of last season. I felt good. I knew if I just did what I can do, kept myself under control and took it pitch by pitch, inning by inning, I just felt good throughout my whole start today."

Blue Raider starter Peyton Wigginton gave up just five hits and no walks and also K'd five. He retired 13 consecutive batters from the fourth to eighth innings. His 101^st and final pitch of the day ended the streak as Harris launched a home run, his first of the season and eighth as a Tar Heel, to right field to tie game. It was the left-handed hitting Harris's third hit of the day off Wigginton, a southpaw.

Carolina out-hit MTSU, six to three, in a game that lasted two hours and 24 minutes.

"That was an incredible win for us," says head coach Mike Fox. "A lot of good things. You've got to start with Will Sandy. The only way you win like that, 2-1, is if you get a great outing on the mound. He went almost seven innings without giving up a hit. He got better as the game went on. He was around the plate, and he can move the ball to either side of the plate and just kind of flip it in there when he needs to do. We need to play better defense behind him, but he was sensational today.

"I'm going to have to make sure Joey (Lancellotti) quits talking to me about hitting because he's been doing it for two years." says Fox. "I'll admit when I'm wrong. I guess he was right; I should have had him hitting the last two years. That was a big swing of the bat. He showed us in the fall. I think it was good he was hurt in the fall and couldn't pitch, so we were just like, 'OK, we'll just let you hit.' And every day it was like, 'OK, he's gotten better and better.' He's got unbelievable power…that was a big swing of the bat.

"We're all very excited to have Dylan Harris back. He was so disappointed last year about the draft and I said, 'Well, I think there's probably a reason for that.' His attitude has been incredible, just coming back here. I think kids like that get rewarded for it. He's really determined to hit lefties better. And he's got some clutch in him, too. That was the biggest swing of the bat, obviously, left-on-left there to pop that ball out. Then the momentum just flips."

Sophomore right-hander Connor Ollio will start Sunday's series opener.