University of North Carolina Athletics
Friday, May 28
Charlotte, N.C.
7 PM
North Carolina
27-25
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NC State
29-16
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North Carolina
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NC State
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Photo by: Andy Mead
Horvath's Grand Slam, 6 RBI Lead UNC Past NC State 9-6
May 29, 2021 | Baseball
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – In front of its biggest crowd of the season, North Carolina (27-25) took advantage of an early offensive onslaught and powered past NC State (29-16) 9-6 to finish group play of the ACC Tournament.
Carolina took little time to get its offense going and turned in six runs in the first inning. Angel Zarate ledoff the contest with a double before Justice Thompson was hit by a pitch and Caleb Roberts drew a walk. Zarate scored on an RBI single to right field off of the bat of Danny Serretti to give the Tar Heels a 1-0 lead.
Mac Horvath followed with North Carolina's first grand slam since Ashton McGee hit one against Liberty on April 30, 2019.
Brett Centracchio plated Carolina's final run in the inning when a wild pitch allowed him to score.
Eleven Carolina hitters, including the first seven, made a plate appearance in the opening frame. It was the first time that the first seven batters for Carolina reached base in an inning since the third inning versus Boston College on April 20, 2019.
UNC tacked on a pair of runs in second inning to take an 8-0 lead after two innings. Horvath drove in his fifth run of the game with a single through the left side and Frick ripped a double down the left-field line to claim the eight-run lead.
Austin Love began the game on the mound for the Tar Heels and struck out five out of the first seven batters he faced, including all three batters in the second frame.
NC State answered with three runs in the third inning to pull within five runs. The Wolfpack scored on a fielder's choice, an RBI single, and a bases-loaded walk.
Horvath recorded his sixth RBI in the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly that scored Roberts. No Tar Heel had collected as many RBI since Serretti also recorded six against Boston College on April 20, 2019.
The six RBI were the most by any UNC player in a postseason game since Mike Fox became UNC's head coach before the 1999 season.
After NC State scored a run in the home-half of the fourth, both pitching staffs settled in and didn't allow another run until the Wolfpack scored two in the eighth.
With two runners on and just one out in the eighth frame, Caden O'Brien came out of the bullpen and struck out a pair of batters looking to work out of the jam to preserve the 9-6 lead.
Serretti led the Tar Heels with four hits, which tied his career-high. Tomas Frick added a trio of hits and Horvath recorded two.
Love started on the mound for UNC and threw 5.2 innings, which yielded eight hits, four runs, four walks, and nine strikeouts. Shawn Rapp tossed 1.1 and allowed one hit and one run, but struck out a pair.
O'Brien picked up his third save of the year, as he struck out four of the six batters he faced.
Carolina's postseason fate will be decided on Monday at noon, when the NCAA Baseball Selection show will be aired on ESPN2.
Carolina took little time to get its offense going and turned in six runs in the first inning. Angel Zarate ledoff the contest with a double before Justice Thompson was hit by a pitch and Caleb Roberts drew a walk. Zarate scored on an RBI single to right field off of the bat of Danny Serretti to give the Tar Heels a 1-0 lead.
Mac Horvath followed with North Carolina's first grand slam since Ashton McGee hit one against Liberty on April 30, 2019.
Brett Centracchio plated Carolina's final run in the inning when a wild pitch allowed him to score.
Eleven Carolina hitters, including the first seven, made a plate appearance in the opening frame. It was the first time that the first seven batters for Carolina reached base in an inning since the third inning versus Boston College on April 20, 2019.
UNC tacked on a pair of runs in second inning to take an 8-0 lead after two innings. Horvath drove in his fifth run of the game with a single through the left side and Frick ripped a double down the left-field line to claim the eight-run lead.
Austin Love began the game on the mound for the Tar Heels and struck out five out of the first seven batters he faced, including all three batters in the second frame.
NC State answered with three runs in the third inning to pull within five runs. The Wolfpack scored on a fielder's choice, an RBI single, and a bases-loaded walk.
Horvath recorded his sixth RBI in the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly that scored Roberts. No Tar Heel had collected as many RBI since Serretti also recorded six against Boston College on April 20, 2019.
The six RBI were the most by any UNC player in a postseason game since Mike Fox became UNC's head coach before the 1999 season.
After NC State scored a run in the home-half of the fourth, both pitching staffs settled in and didn't allow another run until the Wolfpack scored two in the eighth.
With two runners on and just one out in the eighth frame, Caden O'Brien came out of the bullpen and struck out a pair of batters looking to work out of the jam to preserve the 9-6 lead.
Serretti led the Tar Heels with four hits, which tied his career-high. Tomas Frick added a trio of hits and Horvath recorded two.
Love started on the mound for UNC and threw 5.2 innings, which yielded eight hits, four runs, four walks, and nine strikeouts. Shawn Rapp tossed 1.1 and allowed one hit and one run, but struck out a pair.
O'Brien picked up his third save of the year, as he struck out four of the six batters he faced.
Carolina's postseason fate will be decided on Monday at noon, when the NCAA Baseball Selection show will be aired on ESPN2.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Love, Austin (8-4)
L: Andrew Tillery (1-1)
S: O'Brien, Caden (3)
Batting:
2B: Zarate, Angel 1 ; Frick, Tomas 1
HR: Horvath, Mac 1
RBI: Serretti, Danny 1 ; Horvath, Mac 6 ; Frick, Tomas 1
SF: Horvath, Mac 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Zarate, Angel 1 ; Thompson, Justice 1 ; Roberts, Caleb 3 ; Serretti, Danny 2 ; Horvath, Mac 1 ; Centracchio, Brett 1
HBP: Thompson, Justice 1 ; Roberts, Caleb 1 ; Centracchio, Brett 1
PO: Centracchio, Brett 1
Batting:
2B: Tyler McDonough 2 ; Jonny Butler 1
RBI: Austin Murr 2 ; Tyler McDonough 2 ; Terrell Tatum 1 ; Jose Torres 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Austin Murr 2 ; Tyler McDonough 1 ; Devonte Brown 1 ; Vojtech Mensik 2
Game Leaders
AB
5
R
2
H
4
RBI
1
AB
4
R
0
H
3
RBI
1
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
6
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
1B/OF
/ BaseballC
/ BaseballINF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
OF/C
/ BaseballSS
/ Baseball
OF
/ BaseballOF
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