University of North Carolina Athletics
Sunday, June 5
Chapel Hill
1 p.m.
North Carolina
40-20
6
vs
5
Georgia
36-23
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3rd innning3
4th innning4
5th innning5
6th innning6
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9th innning9
RunsR
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ErrorsE
North Carolina
0
1
3
0
0
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1
0
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6
9
1
Georgia
0
0
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11
1
Diamond Heels Force Winner-Take-All Regional Title Game
June 6, 2022 | Baseball
CHAPEL HILL – Needing two wins to keep its season alive after losing to VCU Saturday, North Carolina took down Georgia, 6-5, in an elimination game and then avenged its loss with a 19-8 rout of the Rams Sunday at Boshamer Stadium in the NCAA Chapel Hill Regional.
The top-seeded Tar Heels (41-20) emerged from the loser's bracket with the doubleheader sweep to force a winner-take-all regional championship game against VCU (42-19) on Monday at 6 p.m.
With the two wins, Carolina improved to 6-2 all-time in Chapel Hill Regional elimination games and recorded the 23rd 40-win season in school history.
Against the Rams Sunday night, Carolina scored seven runs in the first inning to ignite an offense that was held to three runs on Saturday. Danny Serretti drove in the Heels' first two runs with a single to centerfield and Vance Honeycutt put them ahead with a two-run home run. Johnny Castagnozzi capped the inning with a three-run home run and UNC never looked back.
VCU answered with three runs in the top of the second inning, but Alberto Osuna's towering two-run homer in the bottom of the frame and Angel Zarate's two-run blast in the third gave Carolina all the offense it needed.
The Tar Heels banged out 17 hits while tying the school record for most runs scored in a regional. Zarate and Mac Horvath collected four hits each as the top six hitters in the lineup were a combined 15-for-29 with 15 runs and 15 RBIs.
After VCU got two runs in the second, senior left-handed pitcher Caden O'Brien (3-0) came out to start the third and was masterful. In his longest outing since the 2018 College World Series, he pitched 4.0 innings and struck out a pair to earn his third win of the season, only hours after getting the final out against Georgia.
Carolina added five runs in the fifth and three in the eighth highlighted by Mike Madej's two-run triple in the fifth inning.
Connor Bovair pitched the final 3.0 innings to close out the game without allowing a run.
Earlier in the day, Bovair was the beneficiary of a spectacular catch by Honeycutt that saved the game. Georgia third baseman Josh McAllister nearly tied the game in the bottom of the ninth, but Honeycutt brought back McAllister's drive to keep the Heels in front.
Following the catch, O'Brien was brought in to face the left-handed hitting Corey Collins, who struck out looking to end the game.
Carolina held a 6-2 lead entering the ninth inning against Georgia before Chaney Rogers hit a three-run homer. Castagnozzi's second inning RBI single opened the scoring and Madej drove in two and scored a run in the third.
UNC went ahead 5-1 in the sixth inning on Tomas Frick's second home run of the regional and its final run on the seventh when Madej knocked in his third run of the night.
The Heels used seven pitchers total with Nik Pry (3-0) earning with victory without allowing an earned run in 2.1 innings pitched with a pair of strikeouts. The Bulldogs' Luke Wagner (5-3) was charged with the loss.
NOTABLES
• Carolina improved to 32-6 all-time at the Chapel Hill/Cary Regional in Super Regional era.
• The Tar Heels hit five home runs in the two games to bring their season total to 98 second-most in school history. The team record for home runs is 108, set by 2002 squad.
• Carolina's seven first inning runs against VCU were its most in the opening frame this season.
• Honeycutt tied the Carolina single-season record for home runs by hitting his 24th of the season in the first inning versus VCU.
• Osuna became the eighth player in school history to hit 20 home runs in a season. This is the first time in UNC history that multiple players have hit 20 or more homers in a season.
• Horvath recorded his second four-hit game of the season during the nightcap. He also had four hits against Georgia Tech on April 15.
• Madej matched his career high for RBIs with three against Georgia.
• Castagnozzi hit his first home run since April 26 against Liberty.
• The Tar Heels' 19 runs tied the program record for most runs in a regional game set against Houston in 2018.
The top-seeded Tar Heels (41-20) emerged from the loser's bracket with the doubleheader sweep to force a winner-take-all regional championship game against VCU (42-19) on Monday at 6 p.m.
With the two wins, Carolina improved to 6-2 all-time in Chapel Hill Regional elimination games and recorded the 23rd 40-win season in school history.
Against the Rams Sunday night, Carolina scored seven runs in the first inning to ignite an offense that was held to three runs on Saturday. Danny Serretti drove in the Heels' first two runs with a single to centerfield and Vance Honeycutt put them ahead with a two-run home run. Johnny Castagnozzi capped the inning with a three-run home run and UNC never looked back.
VCU answered with three runs in the top of the second inning, but Alberto Osuna's towering two-run homer in the bottom of the frame and Angel Zarate's two-run blast in the third gave Carolina all the offense it needed.
The Tar Heels banged out 17 hits while tying the school record for most runs scored in a regional. Zarate and Mac Horvath collected four hits each as the top six hitters in the lineup were a combined 15-for-29 with 15 runs and 15 RBIs.
After VCU got two runs in the second, senior left-handed pitcher Caden O'Brien (3-0) came out to start the third and was masterful. In his longest outing since the 2018 College World Series, he pitched 4.0 innings and struck out a pair to earn his third win of the season, only hours after getting the final out against Georgia.
Carolina added five runs in the fifth and three in the eighth highlighted by Mike Madej's two-run triple in the fifth inning.
Connor Bovair pitched the final 3.0 innings to close out the game without allowing a run.
Earlier in the day, Bovair was the beneficiary of a spectacular catch by Honeycutt that saved the game. Georgia third baseman Josh McAllister nearly tied the game in the bottom of the ninth, but Honeycutt brought back McAllister's drive to keep the Heels in front.
Following the catch, O'Brien was brought in to face the left-handed hitting Corey Collins, who struck out looking to end the game.
Carolina held a 6-2 lead entering the ninth inning against Georgia before Chaney Rogers hit a three-run homer. Castagnozzi's second inning RBI single opened the scoring and Madej drove in two and scored a run in the third.
UNC went ahead 5-1 in the sixth inning on Tomas Frick's second home run of the regional and its final run on the seventh when Madej knocked in his third run of the night.
The Heels used seven pitchers total with Nik Pry (3-0) earning with victory without allowing an earned run in 2.1 innings pitched with a pair of strikeouts. The Bulldogs' Luke Wagner (5-3) was charged with the loss.
NOTABLES
• Carolina improved to 32-6 all-time at the Chapel Hill/Cary Regional in Super Regional era.
• The Tar Heels hit five home runs in the two games to bring their season total to 98 second-most in school history. The team record for home runs is 108, set by 2002 squad.
• Carolina's seven first inning runs against VCU were its most in the opening frame this season.
• Honeycutt tied the Carolina single-season record for home runs by hitting his 24th of the season in the first inning versus VCU.
• Osuna became the eighth player in school history to hit 20 home runs in a season. This is the first time in UNC history that multiple players have hit 20 or more homers in a season.
• Horvath recorded his second four-hit game of the season during the nightcap. He also had four hits against Georgia Tech on April 15.
• Madej matched his career high for RBIs with three against Georgia.
• Castagnozzi hit his first home run since April 26 against Liberty.
• The Tar Heels' 19 runs tied the program record for most runs in a regional game set against Houston in 2018.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Pry, Nik (3-0)
L: Luke Wagner (5-3)
S: O'Brien, Caden (5)
Batting:
HR: Frick, Tomas 1
RBI: Madej, Mikey 3 ; Frick, Tomas 1 ; Castagnozzi, Johnny 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Zarate, Angel 1 ; Honeycutt, Vance 2 ; Osuna, Alberto 2 ; Frick, Tomas 1
SB: Honeycutt, Vance 1
CS: Honeycutt, Vance 1
HBP: Osuna, Alberto 1
Batting:
2B: Cory Acton 1 ; Connor Tate 1
HR: Chaney Rogers 1
RBI: Cory Acton 1 ; Chaney Rogers 4
Base Running:
RUNS: Ben Anderson 1 ; Cole Tate 1 ; Connor Tate 2 ; Chaney Rogers 1
SB: Josh McAllister 1
Game Leaders
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
AB
5
R
0
H
2
RBI
3
AB
4
R
2
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
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