Horvath Homers Twice In Diamond Heels' 18-2 Rout Of UNCW

Tuesday, April 25

Chapel Hill, N.C.

6 p.m.

North Carolina

26-15

UNCW

24-15

UNCW

North Carolina

Photo by: ANTHONY SORBELLINI

April 25, 2023 | Baseball

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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Mac Horvath homered in each of his first two at-bats and drove in a career-high eight runs, Alberto Osuna also went deep and North Carolina routed UNCW 18-2 at Boshamer Stadium on Tuesday night to snap a three-game losing streak.

Horvath connected for a three-run blast in the first inning and another three-run shot in the second – for his third multi-homer game of the season – and then drove in two more with a single in the sixth. He is the first Tar Heel to collect eight RBI in a game since Marshall Hubbard against St. Francis in 2004.

Horvath and Jackson Van De Brake each collected three hits, and Van De Brake drove home three runs, as did Alberto Osuna.

"That's a good team over there," UNC head coach Scott Forbes said. "We punched them in the mouth first, but I felt like our guys were clearing their minds and not playing like, what if we lose? I felt like they just played today."

Casey Cook was 0-for-1 with four runs scored after being walked twice and hit by a pitch twice to extend his on-base streak to 30 games. He is the third freshman since 1999 to compile a streak of 30 or more games of reaching base safely.

After the Seahawks scored in a run in the top of the first, UNC (26-15) answered with five in the bottom half. Van De Brake tied the game with an RBI double, Horvath put the Tar Heels out in front with his 15th home run of the season. Osuna followed with a two-run, 407-foot drive over the center field wall.

The Tar Heels led 9-1 after three and 15-2 following their six-run fourth. Osuna and Van De Brake each drove two runs in the frame, while Hunter Stokely knocked in one.

UNC added three more runs in the sixth for its largest run total of the season and most since scoring 19 against VCU in the 2022 NCAA Chapel Hill Regional.

Six UNC pitchers held the Seahawks (24-15) to five hits while striking out 10 and walking three. Dalton Pence (3-1) earned the victory with four strikeouts in two innings. Junior college transfer Ben Peterson made his first appearance in nearly three weeks and pitched two hitless innings.

"I felt like Ben Peterson went out there and pitched like he had something to prove," Forbes said. "That's important when you haven't pitched for a while. Ben's a worker. He's kept his nose down, being a good teammate, and he will be big for us coming out of the bullpen."

UNCW starter Ty Lawson (1-1) allowed four runs on two hits with two walks in 0.1 innings.

North Carolina returns to ACC play on Friday as its travels to Blacksburg, Va., to open a three-game series against Virginia Tech.