University of North Carolina Athletics
Tuesday, March 23
Chapel Hill, N.C.
6 PM
North Carolina
13-6
8
vs
1
East Carolina
16-4
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
East Carolina
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
8
1
North Carolina
1
0
2
0
2
1
1
1
X
8
12
0
Photo by: ABE LOVEN
No. 11/24 Baseball Topples No. 8 ECU, 8-1
March 23, 2021 | Baseball
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – No. 11/24 North Carolina (13-6, 8-4) captured its third win over a top-ten opponent in 2021 during a midweek matchup against No. 8 ECU on Tuesday evening with an 8-1 win.
The Tar Heels claimed the first lead of the contest in the opening frame. Justice Thompson and Caleb Roberts found their way on base during their first at-bats before Danny Serretti smashed an RBI double to the right-center gap to plate Thompson.
The Pirates were quick to respond, though, putting their own run on the board to tie the game 1-1 during their next offensive opportunity.
The score remained tied at 1-1 as the game moved into the bottom of the third inning. Thompson led off the frame with a single through the left side.
During the ensuing at-bat, Roberts singled to right field and Thompson advanced to third base. With Serretti at-bat, Roberts was able to advance to second base on a wild pitch. Serretti's ground-out RBI to first base allowed Thompson to score and gave UNC a 2-1 lead.
Two batters later, Frick doubled to right field to score Roberts and push the Tar Heels' advantage to 3-1.
A pinch-hit single off of the bat of Jake Holtzapple extended the UNC lead to 5-1 later in the frame.
Johnny Castagnozzi provided the Tar Heels insurance in the sixth inning with his second dinger of the season, a solo shot to push the lead to 6-1.
The Tar Heels tacked on another run in the seventh as Frick launched his first home run of the season.
A wild pitch in the eighth inning allowed Thompson to score from third and the Tar Heels held an 8-1 advantage entering the ninth inning.
Sophomore Nik Pry was awarded his first win of the season after pitching 3.2 innings. During his time on the mound, he tallied five strikeouts, allowed only two hits, and no runs.
Frick finished with his first three-hit game of his career to lead the Tar Heels at the plate.
The Tar Heels return to Boshamer Stadium on Friday, March 26 at 6 p.m. to begin their weekend series against NC State.
NOTES
Head Coach Scott Forbes
Opening statement
"Great night to play. Good to see all the fans. We talked about it as team about it being rivalry week. Recognizing that it is rivalry week from the standpoint of-in state baseball for us. We had East Carolina first, then NC State. We talked about the importance of those games and of this week. For me, it all started with Will Sandy. Obviously, he's an older kid for us. We know the type of kid he his. He's worked and had really good side sessions and threw a lot of live at-bats during practice. He deserved to start and he got us off to a great start. I thought we had great at bats throughout the lineup. I thought we hit a lot of balls hard and could have possibly scored more runs. I was happy with our defensive play, as well. Brett [Centracchio] made some great plays at first base. Nik Pry coming in and not walking one, striking out five. He bridged a gap for us, and to do that right at 40 pitches was impressive. It was a great team win against a really good team."
Nik Pry, RHP
On defeating the top-ranked team in the state as a North Carolina native
"I had this game circled on my calendar. This is one of the biggest games of the year. Where I come from, these are the two powerhouses in the state. My high school coach went and played at ECU, and there's a lot of ECU fans like Carolina fans from where I'm from. This one's a big one. I knew if I got out there tonight, I had to have it. It feels really, really good."
The Tar Heels claimed the first lead of the contest in the opening frame. Justice Thompson and Caleb Roberts found their way on base during their first at-bats before Danny Serretti smashed an RBI double to the right-center gap to plate Thompson.
The Pirates were quick to respond, though, putting their own run on the board to tie the game 1-1 during their next offensive opportunity.
The score remained tied at 1-1 as the game moved into the bottom of the third inning. Thompson led off the frame with a single through the left side.
During the ensuing at-bat, Roberts singled to right field and Thompson advanced to third base. With Serretti at-bat, Roberts was able to advance to second base on a wild pitch. Serretti's ground-out RBI to first base allowed Thompson to score and gave UNC a 2-1 lead.
Two batters later, Frick doubled to right field to score Roberts and push the Tar Heels' advantage to 3-1.
A pinch-hit single off of the bat of Jake Holtzapple extended the UNC lead to 5-1 later in the frame.
Johnny Castagnozzi provided the Tar Heels insurance in the sixth inning with his second dinger of the season, a solo shot to push the lead to 6-1.
The Tar Heels tacked on another run in the seventh as Frick launched his first home run of the season.
A wild pitch in the eighth inning allowed Thompson to score from third and the Tar Heels held an 8-1 advantage entering the ninth inning.
Sophomore Nik Pry was awarded his first win of the season after pitching 3.2 innings. During his time on the mound, he tallied five strikeouts, allowed only two hits, and no runs.
Frick finished with his first three-hit game of his career to lead the Tar Heels at the plate.
The Tar Heels return to Boshamer Stadium on Friday, March 26 at 6 p.m. to begin their weekend series against NC State.
NOTES
- Angel Zarate extends his on-base streak to 39 games. The streak dates back to 2019 in the Chapel Hill Regional, and only one Tar Heel holds a longer streak since 1999 – Logan Warmoth (2016-2017).
- After adding Castagnozzi and Frick's two home runs tonight, the Tar Heels lead the ACC in home runs with 24. They're the first UNC team to hit 24 home runs through 18 games since the 2009 team did it with 23.
- Danny Serretti's RBI double in the first inning extended his hitting streak to 8 games
- Justice Thompson's two successful stolen bases tonight make him 10/11 on stolen base attempts this season (90.9% success rate)
Head Coach Scott Forbes
Opening statement
"Great night to play. Good to see all the fans. We talked about it as team about it being rivalry week. Recognizing that it is rivalry week from the standpoint of-in state baseball for us. We had East Carolina first, then NC State. We talked about the importance of those games and of this week. For me, it all started with Will Sandy. Obviously, he's an older kid for us. We know the type of kid he his. He's worked and had really good side sessions and threw a lot of live at-bats during practice. He deserved to start and he got us off to a great start. I thought we had great at bats throughout the lineup. I thought we hit a lot of balls hard and could have possibly scored more runs. I was happy with our defensive play, as well. Brett [Centracchio] made some great plays at first base. Nik Pry coming in and not walking one, striking out five. He bridged a gap for us, and to do that right at 40 pitches was impressive. It was a great team win against a really good team."
Nik Pry, RHP
On defeating the top-ranked team in the state as a North Carolina native
"I had this game circled on my calendar. This is one of the biggest games of the year. Where I come from, these are the two powerhouses in the state. My high school coach went and played at ECU, and there's a lot of ECU fans like Carolina fans from where I'm from. This one's a big one. I knew if I got out there tonight, I had to have it. It feels really, really good."
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Pry, Nik (1-2)
L: SMITH, Tyler (0-1)
Batting:
RBI: NEWTON, Ben 1
Base Running:
RUNS: MOYLAN, Josh 1
Batting:
2B: Serretti, Danny 1 ; Frick, Tomas 1
HR: Frick, Tomas 1 ; Castagnozzi, Johnny 1
RBI: Serretti, Danny 2 ; Frick, Tomas 3 ; Holtzapple, Jake 1 ; Castagnozzi, Johnny 1
SH: Centracchio, Brett 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Thompson, Justice 4 ; Roberts, Caleb 2 ; Frick, Tomas 1 ; Castagnozzi, Johnny 1
SB: Thompson, Justice 2 ; Castagnozzi, Johnny 1
CS: Zarate, Angel 1
Game Leaders
AB
5
R
1
H
3
RBI
3
AB
3
R
4
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
ph/dh
AB
2
R
0
H
2
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
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