University of North Carolina Athletics
Friday, March 4
Chapel Hill
4 p.m.
North Carolina
9-1
4
vs
3
Coastal Carolina
7-3
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Coastal Carolina
1
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
3
6
0
North Carolina
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
2
4
12
1
Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati
Heels Walk-Off Chanticleers
March 4, 2022 | Baseball
CHAPEL HILL – Sophomore Mac Horvath hit a walk-off single and North Carolina rallied to beat Coastal Carolina, 4-3, at Boshamer Stadium on Friday.
The No. 24 Tar Heels (9-1) hit four consecutive one out singles in the bottom of the ninth to earn their first walk-off win in over two years
Tomas Frick started the rally with a base hit up the middle and Danny Serretti followed hit a hit through the right side, which moved pinch runner Mikey Madej to third base. Johnny Castagnozzi then hit back through the box to drive in the tying run and move Serretti into scoring position.
Horvath then looped a base hit into left field to plate Serretti, who easily beat the throw home.
"We have the type of lineup that it's no big deal if we're down," UNC Head Coach Scott Forbes said. "We've power throughout, we've got speed, so scoring a couple of runs isn't that big of a deal. We just have to keep playing.
"There's nothing better than a walk-off at the Bosh."
CCU (7-3) loaded the bases with no one out in the top of the first and threatened to score multiple before the Heels even hit. Eric Brown's sacrifice fly to right field plated a run, but after Angel Zarate made the catch, he then threw out the runner trying to advance from first to second base for the double play. The batter grounded out to third and Carolina suffered incurred no further damage.
Dale Thomas put the Chanticleer up 2-0 with a solo home run in the third inning, but the Diamond Heels rallied to score one run in the fourth and another in the fifth inning to tie the game.
Carolina starting pitcher Brandon Schaeffer tossed 6.1 innings and struck out seven and yielded just two hits in his final 4.0 innings of work.
Matt McDermott laid down a squeeze bunt in the top of seventh to break a 2-2 tie and give Coastal Carolina a 3-2 lead after Kyle Mott was brought on in relief. Mott then struck out the next two batters to minimize the damage.
It was the only hit Mott allowed as he proceed to strike three of the next five batters he faced and kept the Chanticleers off the scoreboard to set the stage for the Heels' ninth inning heroics.
Mott picked up his second win of the season, while Jack Billings suffered his second loss for Coastal Carolina.
NOTABLES
• Today's walk-off victory was Carolina's first since March 1, 2020 when Clemente Inclan doubled to drive in the game-winning run against Purdue in Minneapolis.
• Zarate extended his hitting streak to 10 games. It's the third-longest hitting streak of his career. He had a 12-game hitting streak in 2021 and an 11-game streak in 2020. He also extended his on-base streak to 33 consecutive games. He also recorded his fourth multi-RBI game of the season, tops on the squad.
• Zarate recorded his fifth multi-hit game of the year, while Alberto Osuna and Hunter Stokely posted their second.
• Stokely collected two hits for the second straight game and extended his hitting streak to three games. He is 5-of-8 at the plate in those three games.
• Mott posted career-highs for innings pitched (2.2) and strikeouts (5).
• Shawn Rapp made his NCAA leading eighth appearance of the season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Eric Brown lifted a sacrifice fly to right field that plated leadoff batter Austin White from third base in the top of the first (CCU 1, UNC 0).
• Dale Thomas extended the Chanticleers' lead with a solo home run to left field in the third inning (CCU 2, UNC 0).
• The Diamond Heels got a run back in the fourth inning after Honeycutt drove in Osuna from third base (CCU 2, UNC 1).
• Osuna scored the tying run in the very next inning as Stokely singled to left with two outs to bring him home from third (UNC 2, CCU) in the bottom of the fifth.
• Matt McDermott laid down a squeeze bunt in the top of the seventh to score Billy Underwood and reclaim the lead for the Chanticleers (CCU 3, UNC 2).
• Johnny Castagnozzi singled through the right side with one out in the ninth to score pinch runner Mickey Madej from third base and tie the game (UNC 3, CCU 3).
• Horvath singled to left field and Danny Serretti easily beat the throw home, scoring the game-winning run from second base (UNC 4, CCU #).
UP NEXT
The Diamond Heels and Chanticleers will continue their three-game series Saturday with game two. The first pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.
The No. 24 Tar Heels (9-1) hit four consecutive one out singles in the bottom of the ninth to earn their first walk-off win in over two years
Tomas Frick started the rally with a base hit up the middle and Danny Serretti followed hit a hit through the right side, which moved pinch runner Mikey Madej to third base. Johnny Castagnozzi then hit back through the box to drive in the tying run and move Serretti into scoring position.
Horvath then looped a base hit into left field to plate Serretti, who easily beat the throw home.
"We have the type of lineup that it's no big deal if we're down," UNC Head Coach Scott Forbes said. "We've power throughout, we've got speed, so scoring a couple of runs isn't that big of a deal. We just have to keep playing.
"There's nothing better than a walk-off at the Bosh."
CCU (7-3) loaded the bases with no one out in the top of the first and threatened to score multiple before the Heels even hit. Eric Brown's sacrifice fly to right field plated a run, but after Angel Zarate made the catch, he then threw out the runner trying to advance from first to second base for the double play. The batter grounded out to third and Carolina suffered incurred no further damage.
Dale Thomas put the Chanticleer up 2-0 with a solo home run in the third inning, but the Diamond Heels rallied to score one run in the fourth and another in the fifth inning to tie the game.
Carolina starting pitcher Brandon Schaeffer tossed 6.1 innings and struck out seven and yielded just two hits in his final 4.0 innings of work.
Matt McDermott laid down a squeeze bunt in the top of seventh to break a 2-2 tie and give Coastal Carolina a 3-2 lead after Kyle Mott was brought on in relief. Mott then struck out the next two batters to minimize the damage.
It was the only hit Mott allowed as he proceed to strike three of the next five batters he faced and kept the Chanticleers off the scoreboard to set the stage for the Heels' ninth inning heroics.
Mott picked up his second win of the season, while Jack Billings suffered his second loss for Coastal Carolina.
NOTABLES
• Today's walk-off victory was Carolina's first since March 1, 2020 when Clemente Inclan doubled to drive in the game-winning run against Purdue in Minneapolis.
• Zarate extended his hitting streak to 10 games. It's the third-longest hitting streak of his career. He had a 12-game hitting streak in 2021 and an 11-game streak in 2020. He also extended his on-base streak to 33 consecutive games. He also recorded his fourth multi-RBI game of the season, tops on the squad.
• Zarate recorded his fifth multi-hit game of the year, while Alberto Osuna and Hunter Stokely posted their second.
• Stokely collected two hits for the second straight game and extended his hitting streak to three games. He is 5-of-8 at the plate in those three games.
• Mott posted career-highs for innings pitched (2.2) and strikeouts (5).
• Shawn Rapp made his NCAA leading eighth appearance of the season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Eric Brown lifted a sacrifice fly to right field that plated leadoff batter Austin White from third base in the top of the first (CCU 1, UNC 0).
• Dale Thomas extended the Chanticleers' lead with a solo home run to left field in the third inning (CCU 2, UNC 0).
• The Diamond Heels got a run back in the fourth inning after Honeycutt drove in Osuna from third base (CCU 2, UNC 1).
• Osuna scored the tying run in the very next inning as Stokely singled to left with two outs to bring him home from third (UNC 2, CCU) in the bottom of the fifth.
• Matt McDermott laid down a squeeze bunt in the top of the seventh to score Billy Underwood and reclaim the lead for the Chanticleers (CCU 3, UNC 2).
• Johnny Castagnozzi singled through the right side with one out in the ninth to score pinch runner Mickey Madej from third base and tie the game (UNC 3, CCU 3).
• Horvath singled to left field and Danny Serretti easily beat the throw home, scoring the game-winning run from second base (UNC 4, CCU #).
UP NEXT
The Diamond Heels and Chanticleers will continue their three-game series Saturday with game two. The first pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Mott, Kyle (2-0)
L: Billings, Jack (0-2)
Batting:
2B: Underwood, Billy 1
HR: Thomas, Dale 1
RBI: Thomas, Dale 1 ; Brown, Eric 1 ; McDermott, Matt 1
SH: Lucky, Nick 1
SF: Brown, Eric 1
Base Running:
RUNS: White, Austin 1 ; Thomas, Dale 1 ; Underwood, Billy 1
Batting:
2B: Zarate, Angel 1 ; Osuna, Alberto 1
RBI: Honeycutt, Vance 1 ; Castagnozzi, Johnny 1 ; Horvath, Mac 1 ; Stokely, Hunter 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Madej, Mikey 1 ; Serretti, Danny 1 ; Osuna, Alberto 2
HBP: Frick, Tomas 1 ; Castagnozzi, Johnny 2
Game Leaders
rf/lf
AB
5
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
1
AB
5
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
INF
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C
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INF
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1B/3B
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2B
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1B/DH
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LHP
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LHP
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SS
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1b/OF
/ Baseball
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