Thompson, Carlson Lead UNC Past JMU 7-4

Saturday, February 20

Chapel Hill, N.C.

2 PM

North Carolina

2-0

James Madison

0-2

James Madison

North Carolina

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

February 20, 2021 | Baseball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Aury St. Germain

CHAPEL HILL – First-year Tar Heels Max Carlson and Justice Thompson led North Carolina (2-0) over James Madison (0-2), 7-4, on Saturday evening inside a brisk Bryson Field at Boshamer Stadium on Saturday.

Carlson, who made his Tar Heel debut, pitched an immaculate 6.2 innings, which yielded three hits, two earned runs and eight strikeouts. His eight punchouts were the most by a UNC freshman in his first start since A.J. Bogucki had 10 vs. North Carolina A&T on April 8, 2014.

At the plate, Thompson was on fire, as he finished 4-for-5 with two doubles, a home run and three RBI.

Scoreless through the first two innings, James Madison took advantage of a North Carolina errant throw and score the game's first run.

The Tar Heels' offense came alive in the third inning and scored three runs behind an RBI groundout from Roberts and RBI doubles from Thompson and Brett Centracchio.

Thompson belted a two-run 408-foot home run in the fifth inning to give UNC a 5-1 lead over five frames.

With the game within one run in the eighth inning, 5-4 in favor of the Tar Heels, Friday's hero Caleb Roberts launched an RBI triple which plated Danny Serretti and Johnny Castagnozzi to put the game out of reach for the Dukes.

David Palermo, Nik Pry, Shawn Rapp and Joey Lancellotti all saw action out of the bullpen.

Lancellotti, who made his first appearance out of the bullpen since the 2019 season, earned his first save of the 2021 slate.

Castagnozzi made his Tar Heel debut and impressed, as he finished the contest 2-for-3.

Game three of the series begins tomorrow (Feb. 21) at 1 p.m. inside Boshamer Stadium.

Notes

Max Carlson's eight punchouts were the most by a UNC freshman in his first start since A.J. Bogucki had 10 vs. North Carolina A&T on April 8, 2014.
Justice Thompson smashed his first career home run.
Johnny Castagnozzi recorded his first hit as a Tar Heel, a leadoff single to center field in the third inning.
David Palermo, Nik Pry, Shawn Rapp and Joey Lancellotti all recorded their first appearance of the season.
Lancellotti recorded his first save of the season and fifth of his career.
Tomas Frick made his first start as a Tar Heel at catcher.
Angel Zarate extended his on-base streak to 21, dating back to Feb. 14, 2020 against Middle Tennessee State.

Quotes

Scott Forbes
On the 7-4 win…

I thought that was just the game we needed after an emotional opener yesterday. When you have a game like we did yesterday (8-1 win), you know that it is going to be close the next day. That's just the way the game of baseball works. I have to give James Madison a lot of credit, they have a great program, and fought hard to pull the game within one. I am looking forward to good one tomorrow.

On Max Carlson's debut…
I thought Max Carlson set the tone just like Austin Love did yesterday. We want to hang our hat on pitching and defense, and although we have to improve our defense because of a couple of errors today, I thought Max was really good.