Saturday, March 12
Chapel Hill
1 p.m.
North Carolina
13-2, 2-0
4
vs
3
Pittsburgh
8-6, 0-2
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9
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Pittsburgh
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North Carolina
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Photo by: ANTHONY SORBELLINI
Castagnozzi's Home Run Walks Off Pitt
March 12, 2022 | Baseball
CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina sophomore infielder Johnny Castagnozzi blasted a walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth to give the Diamond Heels a 4-3 win over Pittsburgh at Boshamer Stadium on Saturday. It was their third walk-off win in the last six games.
The victory also gave No. 15 North Carolina (13-2, 2-0 ACC) its fourth straight series win to start the season.
"It was a great team win," UNC Head Coach Scott Forbes said. "It wasn't pretty, but it doesn't have to be. We played hard nosed. Our pitcher made great pitches when they needed to.
"Our guys positionally aren't pressing as much because they feel like with the depth we have on the mound we can hold them, chip back and we'll be able take the lead."
The Diamond Heels trailed 3-0 until the bottom of the sixth when sophomore third baseman Mac Horvath hit a three-run homer with two outs to tie the game. After Castagnozzi flied out to start the frame, Danny Serretti was hit by a pitch and moved to second on a wild pitch. Hunter Stokely then drew a two-out walk before Horvath deposited the 1-0 pitch over the left field fence.
Pittsburgh (8-6, 0-2) put the potential go-ahead runs on base in the top of the ninth.
With one down in the inning, UNC lefty reliever Caden O'Brien was brought in to face the left-handed hitting Tatem Levins, the reigning ACC Player-of-the-Week, and got him to foul out to first base.
Right-handed pitcher Shaddon Peavyhouse (1-0) was then summoned from the bullpen to face right-handed hitter Ron Washington, Jr., whom the promptly struck out on four pitches to keep the game tied heading to the bottom of the ninth.
Peavyhouse earned his first win of the season, while Hayden Summers (1-1) was tagged with the loss.
NOTABLES
• Zarate singled in the top of the first to extend his hitting streak to 15 games and his on base streak on 38 games. He collected multiple hits for the third straight game and the sixth time in the last eight games. He leads the Diamond Heels with eight multi-hit games this season.
• Castagnozzi collected two hits for the second straight game and posted his seventh multi-hit game of the year.
• Horvath hit his second home run of the season and first since Feb. 25 against East Carolina.
• Shawn Rapp made his 11th appearance of the season and struck out two batters in 1.0 inning of work
• Carolina extended its home winning streak to 17 games, dating back to the final four games of the 2021 season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Pitt's Jordan Anderson's sacrifice fly broke a scoreless tie in the top of the fourth inning (Pitt 1, UNC 0).
• The Panthers added two runs in the fifth inning when Jeffrey Wehler and Johnny Long each scored on an error the by UNC second baseman (Pitt 3, UNC 0).
• Carolina third baseman Mac Horvath hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game (UNC 3, Pitt 3).
• Johnny Castagnozzi hit a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth (UNC 4, Pitt 3).
UP NEXT
The Diamond Heels and Panthers will be wrap up their three-game series Sunday at 1 p.m.
The victory also gave No. 15 North Carolina (13-2, 2-0 ACC) its fourth straight series win to start the season.
"It was a great team win," UNC Head Coach Scott Forbes said. "It wasn't pretty, but it doesn't have to be. We played hard nosed. Our pitcher made great pitches when they needed to.
"Our guys positionally aren't pressing as much because they feel like with the depth we have on the mound we can hold them, chip back and we'll be able take the lead."
The Diamond Heels trailed 3-0 until the bottom of the sixth when sophomore third baseman Mac Horvath hit a three-run homer with two outs to tie the game. After Castagnozzi flied out to start the frame, Danny Serretti was hit by a pitch and moved to second on a wild pitch. Hunter Stokely then drew a two-out walk before Horvath deposited the 1-0 pitch over the left field fence.
Pittsburgh (8-6, 0-2) put the potential go-ahead runs on base in the top of the ninth.
With one down in the inning, UNC lefty reliever Caden O'Brien was brought in to face the left-handed hitting Tatem Levins, the reigning ACC Player-of-the-Week, and got him to foul out to first base.
Right-handed pitcher Shaddon Peavyhouse (1-0) was then summoned from the bullpen to face right-handed hitter Ron Washington, Jr., whom the promptly struck out on four pitches to keep the game tied heading to the bottom of the ninth.
Peavyhouse earned his first win of the season, while Hayden Summers (1-1) was tagged with the loss.
NOTABLES
• Zarate singled in the top of the first to extend his hitting streak to 15 games and his on base streak on 38 games. He collected multiple hits for the third straight game and the sixth time in the last eight games. He leads the Diamond Heels with eight multi-hit games this season.
• Castagnozzi collected two hits for the second straight game and posted his seventh multi-hit game of the year.
• Horvath hit his second home run of the season and first since Feb. 25 against East Carolina.
• Shawn Rapp made his 11th appearance of the season and struck out two batters in 1.0 inning of work
• Carolina extended its home winning streak to 17 games, dating back to the final four games of the 2021 season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Pitt's Jordan Anderson's sacrifice fly broke a scoreless tie in the top of the fourth inning (Pitt 1, UNC 0).
• The Panthers added two runs in the fifth inning when Jeffrey Wehler and Johnny Long each scored on an error the by UNC second baseman (Pitt 3, UNC 0).
• Carolina third baseman Mac Horvath hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game (UNC 3, Pitt 3).
• Johnny Castagnozzi hit a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth (UNC 4, Pitt 3).
UP NEXT
The Diamond Heels and Panthers will be wrap up their three-game series Sunday at 1 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Peavyhouse, Shaddon (1-1)
L: Hayden Summers (1-1)
Batting:
2B: Sky Duff 1 ; Ron Washington, Jr. 1
RBI: Jordan Anderson 1
SF: Jordan Anderson 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Jeffrey Wehler 1 ; Ron Washington, Jr. 1 ; Johnny Long 1
SB: Ron Washington, Jr. 1 ; Kyle Hess 1
HBP: Bryce Hulett 1 ; Johnny Long 1
Batting:
HR: Castagnozzi, Johnny 1 ; Horvath, Mac 1
RBI: Castagnozzi, Johnny 1 ; Horvath, Mac 3
Base Running:
RUNS: Castagnozzi, Johnny 1 ; Serretti, Danny 1 ; Stokely, Hunter 1 ; Horvath, Mac 1
SB: Madej, Mikey 1
HBP: Serretti, Danny 1 ; Stokely, Hunter 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
lf/rf
AB
5
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
2b/1b
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
5
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
INF
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
SS
/ Baseball
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