Baseball Heads To Charlotte To Face The Gamecocks

Wednesday, April 6

Charlotte, NC

7 p.m.

North Carolina

South Carolina

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Gage Gillian
University of North Carolina Baseball v Winthrop
Boshamer Stadium
Chapel Hill, NC
Wednesday, March 2, 2022

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

April 5, 2022 | Baseball

By: Jody Jones

CHAPEL HILL – The North Carolina baseball team travels to Charlotte for a mid-week matchup against South Carolina at Truist Field on Wednesday, April 6. The Diamond Heels have won four of the five games played at the Queen City's downtown ballpark.

Last season, UNC squeaked out a 3-2 10-inning victory at Truist Field over the Gamecocks as Angel Zarate scored on a base hit up the middle in the top half of the frame and Caden O'Brien tossed a scoreless bottom half.

O'Brien threw the final 3.0 innings, issued just one walk, and struck out a pair to earn the win as part of the Heels' five-man relief effort.

Gage Gillian, Davis Palermo, Nik Pry, and O'Brien combined for eight and two-thirds innings and allowed just three hits and one run. Gillian threw 2.2 innings, which yielded one hit, no runs, no walk and three strikeouts. Palermo tossed 0.2 innings with a pair of walks, while Pry turned in 2.1 innings with one hit, one run, one walk and three strikeouts.

UNC leads the all-time series with its border state rival, 65-38-1.

Pitching Matchup

	Wednesday \| 7 p.m. (ACCNX)
South Carolina	RHP Eli Jones (0-0, 27.00 ERA)
North Carolina	RHP Gage Gillian (1-1, 3.57 ERA)
Links	WATCH \| LISTEN \| STATS

LAST TIME OUT
Eric Grintz went 3-for-4 with a home run and four RBIs to help North Carolina defeat Virginia Tech, 10-6, at Boshamer Stadium on Sunday, ending the Diamond Heels' five-game ACC losing streak. UNC trailed 4-2 heading into the bottom of the third inning but pushed four runs across in the frame to take the lead. A two-run home run by Mac Horvath in the sixth put the Heels up 10-5.

CAROLINA RANKED IN THE TOP 25
Despite losing two of three at home to Virginia Tech over the weekend, North Carolina is ranked among the Top 25 in five recognized collegiate baseball polls, peaking at No. 20 in the Baseball America and USA Today Coaches polls. Collegiate Baseball and D1 Baseball both have UNC ranked at No. 22 in their polls. The Diamond Heels are ranked No. 21 in the National Collegiate Baseball writer's poll.

D1 POSITION POWER RANKINGS
Last week D1 baseball updated its power rankings after six weeks of play. Johnny Castagnozzi was ranked No. 7 among DI second baseball, Angel Zarate was listed at No. 43 among outfielders, Max Carlson came in at No. 55 among starting pitchers, while Vance Honeycutt was ranked No. 66 among outfielders. Caden O'Brien (32), Davis Palermo (45) and Shawn Rapp (61) were each list among the outlet's top 75 relief pitchers, making North Carolina the only team with three players on the list.

STRENGTH IS IN THE PEN
The Diamond Heels relievers are a combined 16-3 this season with seven saves and an ERA of 2.66 to go along with 188 strikeouts in 145.2 innings pitched. Shawn Rapp has made 20 relief appearances this season, most among all Division I pitchers.

DOUBLE DIGIT SUCCESS
Carolina has collected 10 or more run in half its games this season (14) and has compiled a 13-1 record in those games. The Heels are 5-0 this season when scoring 10 or more runs this season.