Carolina Opens ACC Play With 7-4 Win Over Pitt

Friday, March 11

Chapel Hill

3 p.m.

North Carolina

12-2, 1-0

Pittsburgh

8-5, 0-1

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Pittsburgh	1	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	4	12	1
North Carolina	1	0	0	2	1	1	1	1	X	7	11	1

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March 11, 2022 | Baseball

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By: Jody Jones

CHAPEL HILL – Seven Diamond Heels each drove in a run and North Carolina posted a 7-4 win over Coastal Division rival Pittsburgh in the ACC opener for both teams at Boshamer Stadium on Friday.

Game two of the three-game conference series, which was originally scheduled for 2 p.m. on Saturday, has been moved up to 1 p.m. due to the threat of inclement weather later in the day.

Junior outfielder Angel Zarate went 3-of-4, while middle infielders Johnny Castagnozzi and Danny Serretti collected two hits each to pace the Heels 11-hit attack.

North Carolina (12-2, 1-0) had a 4-2 lead after five innings but Pitt left fielder Ron Washington, Jr. tied the game with a 437-foot two-run home run to left field in the top of the sixth.

The Panthers (8-5, 0-1) threatened to take the lead by putting runners at the corners with just one out , but UNC pitcher Kyle Mott struck out Brock Franks and then induced a fly out to center field, keeping the game knotted a 4-all.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Carolina third baseman Mac Horvath came through with a two-out base knock that plated Serretti to reclaim the lead, 5-4.

Serretti then singled in the seventh to push another run across before Zarate's base hit in the eighth inning capped the Diamond Heels' scoring.

Mott and Caden O'Brien held Pitt to two hits over the final 2.2 innings after it had collected 10 off Carolina starting pitcher Brandon Schaeffer in the first 5.1.

Mott (3-0) picked up his third win of the season and O'Brien earned his third save while Pitt starter Matt Gilbertson (1-2) suffered the loss.

NOTABLES
• Zarate walked in the top of the first to extend his on base streak on 37 games before slapping a single to center to extend his hitting streak to 14 games.
• Zarate collected multiple hits for the second straight game and the fifth time in the last seven games. He leads the Diamond Heels with seven multi-hit games this season. It was his first three-hit game of the year.
• Honeycutt hit his sixth home run of the season and first since March 1 against Longwood, snapping a string of 23 at bats with a home run.
• Castagnozzi recorded his sixth multi-hit game of the season and Serretti his fourth.
• Seven of the nine batters in the lineup each collected an RBI and had at least one hit.
• Carolina improved to 8-2 all-time at Boshamer Stadium against Pitt.

HOW IT HAPPENED
• Pitt second baseman Jeffrey Wehler singled through the right side to plate Sky Duff, who led off the game with a double (Pitt 1, UNC 0).
• Johnny Castagnozzi's RBI ground out tied the score in the bottom of the first inning (UNC 1, Pitt 1).
• Pitt retook the lead in the top of the second as Jordan Anderson singled to score CJ Funk (Pitt 2, UNC 1).
• Alberto Osuna's RBI ground out followed by Hunter Stokely's run-scoring single gave Carolina a one-run lead in the bottom of the fourth (UNC 3, Pitt 2).
• Honeycutt homered to center field in the bottom of the fifth (UNC 4, Pitt 2).
• Panthers' left fielder Ron Washington, Jr. hit a two-run home run to left field in the top of the sixth (UNC 4, Pitt 4).
• Mac Horvath singled to left field with two outs in the bottom of the sixth to plate Danny Serretti, who walked to lead off the frame (UNC 5, Pitt 4).
• Serretti singled back through the box with two outs to score Zarate (UNC 6, Pitt 4).
• Honeycutt scored from second base on a hit by Zarate after walking to lead off the inning and stealing second base (UNC 7, Pitt 6).

UP NEXT
The Diamond Heels and Panthers will be back on the field Saturday at 1 p.m. for game two of their three-game weekend series.