University of North Carolina Athletics
Friday, February 25
Chapel Hill
4 p.m.
North Carolina
vs
East Carolina
Photo by: Joe Bray
Diamond Heels Open Weekend Series With ECU
February 25, 2022 | Baseball
CHAPEL HILL - For just the second time in series history, which dates back to 1958, North Carolina and East Carolina will play a three-game weekend series. The Tar Heels will host the Pirates Friday and Saturday at Boshamer Stadium before heading to Greenville for Sunday's contest at Clark-LeClair Stadium in Greenville. UNC and ECU are also scheduled to play a three-game series next season with two games at ECU and one at UNC. The instate foes played their first weekend series four years ago with ECU winning in Greenville and Chapel Hill and Carolina claiming the victory in the middle game in Durham.
The teams split their season series a year with each winning on its home field. Carolina leads the all-time series 56-31.
FOUR STRAIGHT DUBBs TO START
North Carolina opened the season with a three-game sweep of Seton Hall and then defeated Elon on Tuesday night ... The Tar Heels are off to a 4-0 start for the fourth consecutive season and the fifth time in the last six years ... UNC ran off eight consecutive wins to open the 2019 campaign and six straight in each of the previous two seasons.
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CASTAGNOZZI DRIVES IN FOUR AGAINST ELON
Sophomore Johnny Castagnozzi drove in a career-high four runs in the Tar Heels' 5-1 win over Elon Tuesday night ... Castagnozzi doubled off the top of the wall to plate two runs in the fourth and then hit a home run over the scoreboard in left field in drive to drive in another pair of runs ... He leads the team in hits (9), doubles (3) and is tied for second in total bases (15) and RBIS (5) ... Castagnoozi has recorded multiple hits in each of the first four games after recording just three multi-hit games in 42 contests last season ... Only Tar Heel this millennium to collect multiple hits in each of the first four games ... His nine hits are the most by a Tar Heel player in the opening four games since Levi Michael collected nine hits in the first four games of the 2011 campaign.
GETTING THINGS STARTED
Junior outfielder Angel Zarate has reached safely in all four of his leadoff appearances this season ... He homered to leadoff the bottom of the first inning on opening day, doubled up the middle Saturday against Seton Hall, was hit by pitch to start Sunday's series finale and led off with a single against Elon ... Zarate has reached baseball in 27 consecutive games dating back to last season ... He has hit safely in 24 of those games, including the first four of this season ... He earned a walks against UCLA (6/6), Louisville (5/15) and Charlotte (4/27) to keep the streak alive ... The streak began on April 4, 2021 at Florida State ... He has hit in the leadoff spot in 16 straight games datng back to the first game (5/14) of the Louisville series last season ... Zarate batted in the leadoff position a total of 34 times last season ... Carolina is 24-14when he hits first the past two seasons.
WHAT A RELIEF
The Tar Heels' bullpen was outstanding in its first four games of the season, recording a 0.49 ERA (1 ER in 18.1 IP), .179 opponents' average with 27 strikeouts and only four walks ... Three Carolina relievers combined for nine strikeouts in the final four innings of Tuesday's game against Elon , holding the Phoenix scoreless and allowing just two hits ... A Tar Heel reliever has earned the win in each of the last three games: Connor Bovair was the winning pitcher against Elon, while Davis Palermo and Shawn Rapp picked up victories in the final two games of the Seton Hall series ... Rapp has appeared in three games with seven strikeout in 4.2 innings ... He has not allowed a run and has yielded just one hit ... He struck out three of the five batters he faced in the finale of the Seton Hall series ... He was brought into the game in the fourth inning with two outs and the tying run at the plate and struck him out looking ... Bovair tossed three innings Tuesday against Elon and fanned seven of 11 batters faced and did not allow the ball to leave the infield .. He made his Carolina debut two days earlier against Seton Hall, induced two ground balls and recorded his first strike out the season in an inning of work.
RUNNING AROUND THE BASES
UNC has scored 45 total runs in its first four, the most since scoring 47 in 2012 ... Carolina didn't score its 40th run of the 2021 season until the 10th game of the year ... The Tar Heels plated 40 total runs in the series against Seton Hall, the most they've scored in a series since 2017 at Boston College (48) ... It was also the most runs the Diamond Heels scored in their initial three games since 2003 when they scored 43 total runs (19 vs. Delaware State, 18 vs. Seton Hall, 6 vs. Seton Hall)
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HEELS IRONMEN
Junior Danny Serretti has started 111 consecutive games at shortstop and made 125 consecutive starts overall; his first game as the starting shortstop was versus UNCG on April 9, 2019 ... Prior to that he had made 27 starts at second base ... Tomas Frick has made 47 consecutive starts, including 25 straight at catcher ... His streak was interrupted after 21 consecutive starts behind the plate when he started at DH at Pittsburgh (4/18/21) after catching both ends of a doubleheader the day before.
AFTERNOON DELIGHT
Friday marks the fifth of 14 consecutive day games to start the season with nine of those games slated for a 4 p.m. first pitch. The Tar Heels are slated to play 36 more games under the sun this season.
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The teams split their season series a year with each winning on its home field. Carolina leads the all-time series 56-31.
FOUR STRAIGHT DUBBs TO START
North Carolina opened the season with a three-game sweep of Seton Hall and then defeated Elon on Tuesday night ... The Tar Heels are off to a 4-0 start for the fourth consecutive season and the fifth time in the last six years ... UNC ran off eight consecutive wins to open the 2019 campaign and six straight in each of the previous two seasons.
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| Pitching Matchups | Friday | 4 p.m. (ACCNX) | Saturday | 2 p.m. (ACCNX) | Sunday | 4 p.m. (ESPN+) |
|---|---|---|---|
| East Carolina | RHP Garrett Saylor | LHP Jake Kuchmaner | RHP Jake Hunter |
| North Carolina | LHP Brandon Schaeffer | RHP Max Carlson | RHP Shaddon Peavyhouse |
| Links | WATCH | LISTEN | STATS | WATCH | LISTEN | STATS | WATCH | LISTEN | STATS |
CASTAGNOZZI DRIVES IN FOUR AGAINST ELON
Sophomore Johnny Castagnozzi drove in a career-high four runs in the Tar Heels' 5-1 win over Elon Tuesday night ... Castagnozzi doubled off the top of the wall to plate two runs in the fourth and then hit a home run over the scoreboard in left field in drive to drive in another pair of runs ... He leads the team in hits (9), doubles (3) and is tied for second in total bases (15) and RBIS (5) ... Castagnoozi has recorded multiple hits in each of the first four games after recording just three multi-hit games in 42 contests last season ... Only Tar Heel this millennium to collect multiple hits in each of the first four games ... His nine hits are the most by a Tar Heel player in the opening four games since Levi Michael collected nine hits in the first four games of the 2011 campaign.
GETTING THINGS STARTED
Junior outfielder Angel Zarate has reached safely in all four of his leadoff appearances this season ... He homered to leadoff the bottom of the first inning on opening day, doubled up the middle Saturday against Seton Hall, was hit by pitch to start Sunday's series finale and led off with a single against Elon ... Zarate has reached baseball in 27 consecutive games dating back to last season ... He has hit safely in 24 of those games, including the first four of this season ... He earned a walks against UCLA (6/6), Louisville (5/15) and Charlotte (4/27) to keep the streak alive ... The streak began on April 4, 2021 at Florida State ... He has hit in the leadoff spot in 16 straight games datng back to the first game (5/14) of the Louisville series last season ... Zarate batted in the leadoff position a total of 34 times last season ... Carolina is 24-14when he hits first the past two seasons.
WHAT A RELIEF
The Tar Heels' bullpen was outstanding in its first four games of the season, recording a 0.49 ERA (1 ER in 18.1 IP), .179 opponents' average with 27 strikeouts and only four walks ... Three Carolina relievers combined for nine strikeouts in the final four innings of Tuesday's game against Elon , holding the Phoenix scoreless and allowing just two hits ... A Tar Heel reliever has earned the win in each of the last three games: Connor Bovair was the winning pitcher against Elon, while Davis Palermo and Shawn Rapp picked up victories in the final two games of the Seton Hall series ... Rapp has appeared in three games with seven strikeout in 4.2 innings ... He has not allowed a run and has yielded just one hit ... He struck out three of the five batters he faced in the finale of the Seton Hall series ... He was brought into the game in the fourth inning with two outs and the tying run at the plate and struck him out looking ... Bovair tossed three innings Tuesday against Elon and fanned seven of 11 batters faced and did not allow the ball to leave the infield .. He made his Carolina debut two days earlier against Seton Hall, induced two ground balls and recorded his first strike out the season in an inning of work.
RUNNING AROUND THE BASES
UNC has scored 45 total runs in its first four, the most since scoring 47 in 2012 ... Carolina didn't score its 40th run of the 2021 season until the 10th game of the year ... The Tar Heels plated 40 total runs in the series against Seton Hall, the most they've scored in a series since 2017 at Boston College (48) ... It was also the most runs the Diamond Heels scored in their initial three games since 2003 when they scored 43 total runs (19 vs. Delaware State, 18 vs. Seton Hall, 6 vs. Seton Hall)
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HEELS IRONMEN
Junior Danny Serretti has started 111 consecutive games at shortstop and made 125 consecutive starts overall; his first game as the starting shortstop was versus UNCG on April 9, 2019 ... Prior to that he had made 27 starts at second base ... Tomas Frick has made 47 consecutive starts, including 25 straight at catcher ... His streak was interrupted after 21 consecutive starts behind the plate when he started at DH at Pittsburgh (4/18/21) after catching both ends of a doubleheader the day before.
AFTERNOON DELIGHT
Friday marks the fifth of 14 consecutive day games to start the season with nine of those games slated for a 4 p.m. first pitch. The Tar Heels are slated to play 36 more games under the sun this season.
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