Diamond Heels Open Series At Miami
Friday’s series opener and Sunday’s finale will be televised on Bally Sports with all three games streaming on ACC Network Extra. Friday and Saturday’s games are slated for 7 p.m. starts with Sunday’s game scheduled for a 1 p.m. first pitch.
The Diamond Heels are tied atop the Coastal Division standings with Virginia at 5-1, while the Canes are a game back alongside Georgia Tech at 4-2. Both teams won their lone midweek contest and both teams captured conference road series wins this past weekend with UNC taking two of three at Duke and Miami winning two of three at Clemson.
Carolina has won eight of the last 10 meetings in the series, including two of three in Coral Gables in 2018, but still trails the all-time series 36-41-1. The Diamond Heels sport just a 12-25 road record in the series.
UNC entered week six ranked among the top 15 in five polls, peaking at No. 6 in the Collegiate Baseball poll. The Diamond Heels moved up two positions in the D1 Baseball and NCBWA poll to No. 13 and jumped five spots USA Today Coaches and Baseball America polls, rising to No. 12 and No. 14. Perfect Game bumped the Heels up one spot in their poll to No. 17.
MIDWEEK REVIEW
Mac Horvath delivered a one-out RBI-double in the bottom of the eighth inning to drive home the game-winning run and propel Carolina to a 4-2 win over Appalachian State at Boshamer Stadium on Tuesday. Later in the inning Horvath also stole home to add an insurance run giving closer Caden O’Brien a two-run cushion in the ninth inning. O’Brien struck out the side to seal his first win of the season. UNC used seven pitchers on the night and fanned 11 batters while scattering 10 hits.
HORVATH’S HEROICS
Sophomore third baseman Mac Horvath has personified clutch this season and has given UNC the lead or pushed its lead to two in the sixth inning or later six times in 2022 – most recently Tuesday night against Appalachian State with a go-ahead double in the eighth. He also singled in the bottom of the ninth to give UNC a 4-3 walk-off win in the series opener against Coastal Carolina and slapped a single to left field to plate the game-winning run in the game two of the Pittsburgh series.
PITCHING STAFF AMONG NATION’S BEST
With an ERA of 2.07, North Carolina has the second-lowest team ERA in country, behind Tennessee, heading into the third weekend of ACC play. The Diamond Heels also rank 14th in fewest hits allowed per nine innings (6.98), 16th-best strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.46) and 18th in fewest walks issued per nine innings (3.03) in D1.
HOT HITTERS
• Angel Zarate has hit safely in all 21 games this season and has collected multiple hits in six of the last nine games (.459, 17×37); Zarate has reached safely in his initial plate appearance in each of the last 10 games … He leads the Diamond Heels with 11 multi-hit games.
• Johnny Castagnozzi has collected multiple hits in five of the last eight games; he is hitting .343 (11×32) over the last nine games … Castagnozzi has driven in a run in five of the last eight games and has homered in four of the last seven games … He has six home runs in 73 at-bats, surpassing his 108 at-bat total a year ago.
• Tomas Frick drove in his 19th run of the season on Friday, surpassing his 2021 53-game total of 15 … Horvath has drawn 15 walks in 21 games this year, equaling his 2021 season total of 15 (46 games).
• Vance Honeycutt has hit safely in each of the last four games and has gotten a hit in eight of the last nine games with 11 runs, three home runs and five RBIs … Honeycutt leads the ACC with 15 stolen bases, eighth-most in D1 and most among all freshmen.
