Diamond Heels Open Five-Game Homestand With VCU, Longwood

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – North Carolina begins a stretch of five games in six days this week when it welcomes VCU and Longwood to Boshamer Stadium on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. Both games are set for a 4 p.m. first pitch and will be streamed on ACC Network Extra.

UNC and VCU are meeting in the regular season for the second straight year and third consecutive season after playing three times in the 2022 NCAA Chapel Hill Regional. The Tar Heels have won four straight over the Rams and own a 25-7 all-time series lead.

Carolina is 3-0 all-time against Longwood, posting wins over the Lancers in 2009, 2022, and 2023. The Tar Heels have outscored Longwood 26-1 combined the past two seasons, with Vance Honeycutt and Casey Cook both homering.

Pitching Matchups

	VCU \| Tuesday \| 4 p.m. (ACCNX)	LONGWOOD \| Wednesday \| 4 p.m. (ACCNX)
Opponent	RHP Zachary Peters (1-1, 1.50 ERA)	RHP Owen Simmons (0-0, 22.50 ERA)
Carolina	RHP Jason DeCaro (0-0, 10.80 ERA)	RHP Boston Flannery
Links	WATCH \| LISTEN \| LIVE STATS	WATCH \| LISTEN \| LIVE STATS

In The Rankings
Entering the third week of the season, the Tar Heels are ranked inside the top 17 by Baseball America, D1 Baseball, Perfect Game, and the USA Today Coaches poll, peaking at No. 16 in the NCBWA rankings.

Last Week
The Tar Heels posted a 2-2 record last week, winning a pair of home games over Elon (8-7) and East Carolina (2-1) before losing a neutral site (4-7) and road game (9-10) to ECU.

Scouting The Rams And Lancers
VCU enters Tuesday's game with a 4-3 record after winning its home opening series with Merrimack, winning 2-of-3. Former Tar Heel Brandon Ike leads VCU with a .375 batting average, 1.514 OPS, four home runs and 12 RBIs. Ethan Iannuzzi has hit two home runs and driven in seven. The Rams lost two of three to start the season at NC State before beating Longwood in their home opener.

Longwood is coming off a three-game sweep of Iona over the weekend and owns a 6-1 record. The Lancers opened the year with a three-game sweep of Sienna before losing at VCU; Willie Havens has 15 RBIs through seven games, while Drew Camp and Tanner Thomas have 10 each. The Lancers have outscored their opponents 98-53.

Honeycutt Named ACC Player Of The Week
Vance Honeycutt was named ACC Player of the Week on Monday. He posted a monster week at the plate, crushing home runs in each of the Tar Heels' first three games of the week. The Salisbury native went 6-for-15 at the plate and slashed .400/.500/1.000 with three home runs and eight RBIs. He hit a go-ahead grand slam for the Tar Heels in Tuesday's win over Elon before recording four more hits against No. 11 East Carolina over the weekend, including the game-winning home run in Friday's 2-1 victory. Additionally, Honeycutt became just the second player in UNC history to join the 40 home run and 50 stolen bases club.

Pinch-Hit Homer Gallaher
Freshman Gavin Gallaher has two pinch-hit home runs in the first seven games of the season with a total of three hits. His first homer as a Tar Heel was a pinch-hit long ball in the series finale against Wagner. A week later he was summoned to pinch-hit in the seventh inning against East Carolina and blasted a three-run shot. He is the first Tar Heel to belt two pinch-hit homers in the same season since Benji Johnson and Bryan Steed in 2007.

Follow the Diamond Heels
For the latest information on the UNC baseball team, check out GoHeels.com. You can also find the team on social media, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Fans can also receive updates on UNC Athletics by downloading the GoHeels App from both the App Store and the Google Play Store.

Scoreboard Slider

University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Casey Cook

Jason DeCaro

Boston Flannery

Gavin Gallaher

Vance Honeycutt

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