Osuna's Late Homer Lifts Heels Over UNCW

Tuesday, March 29

Chapel Hill

7 p.m.

North Carolina

19-6

UNCW

13-11

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
UNCW	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	4	1
North Carolina	3	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	X	6	10	1

Box Score (PDF)

March 30, 2022 | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: Jody Jones

CHAPEL HILL – Alberto Osuna hit a two-run home run through the stratosphere in the bottom of the seventh to help No. 18 North Carolina post a 6-4 win over visiting UNCW on Tuesday.

Osuna's 437-foot home run over the center field batter's eye marked the longest home run hit by a UNC player this season, besting the previous high of 429 feet set when Johnny Castagnozzi homered against Elon in a 5-1 Carolina win on February 26.

"It was kind of like a blackout moment," Osuna said. "I hit, I saw it and I knew it went far, but then I put my head down and I didn't hear it hit the batter's eye and that's when I knew I hit it pretty far."

The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Diamond Heels, who were swept at Miami over the weekend.

"The story of the game for us was Davis Palermo," UNC Head Coach Scott Forbes said. "He shut them down completely. I thought he took a big step at Miami when he came in Sunday and held that lead at 2-1. That was a tight moment because they had the momentum. He just keeps getting better."

After Carolina (19-6) scored four runs across the first and second innings, UNCW (13-11) posted a four spot in the third inning to tie things up.

Palermo entered the game with a runner on and two outs in the third and struck out Seahawk right fielder Ethan Baucom to end the inning.

He then retired the side in order in the fourth, fifth and sixth inning while striking out five of the 10 batters he faced.

Shaddon Peavyhouse (3-2) pitched a hitless seventh to earn the win and Kyle Mott picked up the save, yielding just one hit with three strikeouts in the final two innings.

Noah Overton (0-1) was charged with the loss after giving up the home run to Osuna.

NOTABLES
• North Carolina won its 21^st consecutive game at Boshamer Stadium and improved to 17-0 at home this season.
• The Diamond Heels' posted their fifth straight win over UNCW.
• Danny Serretti collected three hits for the third time in the last eight games. He has eight multi-hit games this season.
• Hunter Stokely recorded the first three-hit game of his career, singling in each of his first three at-bats.
• Palermo struck out five batters in 3.1 innings pitched, matching his career-high strikeouts.
• Angel Zarate walked in the bottom of the second inning to extend his on-base streak to 48 games but went 0-for-3 at the plate ending his hitting streak at 24 games.
• Vance Honeycutt swiped his ACC-leading 18^th base of the season.
• Kyle Mott earned his first career save.
• Osuna homered for the second time in four games and the fourth time in the last eight games.

HOW IT HAPPENED
• Serretti hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the first inning (UNC 3, UNCW 0).
• Tomas Frick lifted a sacrifice fly to left field to plate Zarate in the bottom of the second (UNC 4, UNCW 0).
• John Newton scored UNCW's first of four runs in the top of the third inning on a fielding error at home plate. Taber Mongero then scored on a balk before Matt Suggs hit a two-run home run (UNC 4, UNCW 4).
• Osuna hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh (UNC 6, UNCW 4).

UP NEXT
North Carolina host Virginia Tech in an ACC Coastal Division series this weekend beginning Friday, April 1 at 6 p.m.