UNC pounds Hofstra, 15-4, in opening game of NCAA regional baseball tournament
North Carolina used five home runs from four different players to bully its way to a 15-4 win over Hofstra — which was making its first NCAA baseball tournament appearance — to start regional play on Friday.
The Tar Heels, the No. 10 overall seed, will face the winner of VCU-Georgia on Saturday at 7 p.m. Hofstra will play the loser in an elimination game on Saturday at 1 p.m.
It was a tad ironic that the Pride was the newcomers to postseason, yet UNC coach Scott Forbes mentioned to his team that it was OK to have nervous energy before the game. The Heels were designated as regional hosts for the 11th time and they are one of eight programs to get at least 20 NCAA bids since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1999.
Those nerves showed up early as UNC starting pitcher Max Carlson got off to a shaky start. Hofstra batters aggressively jumped his fastball, with catcher Kevin Bruggeman sending a home run to left field in the first inning.
And after throwing 27 pitches in that opening inning, Hofstra second baseman Santino Rosso delivered the first pitch he saw in the second inning over the right center field wall.
“Carlson didn’t have his best stuff, but he recovered and he made big pitches when he needed to and that’s what you have to do,” Forbes said. “He realized quickly that he can’t throw that heater by those guys today because they’re on it and he made some really good off-speed pitches.”
It also helped that the Heels had an answer for both of those early runs allowed.
UNC third baseman Mac Horvath pulled a would-be home run foul to left field in the first inning. On the very next pitch, he straightened it out with a solo shot to center field.
UNC catcher Tomas Frick had just his second homer of the season when he drove a fastball to right center field in the bottom of the second inning.
“That’s always relieving to see, when your offense has your back,” Carlson said. “It gives you confidence that you know that your team is behind you so you can just keep going after them.”
Carlson (4-2) was throwing on four days of rest after throwing five innings in their win over N.C. State in the ACC Tournament championship game on Sunday. He settled down to go 5.1 innings, relying mainly on locating his off-speed pitches after the Pride had success against him early.
Forbes said he believed Horvath and Alberto Osuna matched up well with Hofstra starting pitcher Brad Camarda (8-2) because they had flat swings.
“If we stayed on the fastball and stayed on time for it, we felt like we could do some damage,” said Forbes, who added that Osuna “just missed hitting two balls out of the yard as well.”
In Horvath’s second at-bat, he put the Heels ahead for good 4-2 in the third inning with a two-run home run to left center. It was the second time this season the sophomore from Rochester, Minn., had a two homers in a game. The first time happens to coincide with the game most of the Heels view as what started their hot streak, a 4-3 10-inning win over Charlotte on May 3.
Carolina (39-19) scored in each of the first five innings before breaking the game completely open with a seven-run seventh inning. The top four batters in its lineup accounted for 11 of its 15 runs. Horvath led the charge going 3-for-4 with four RBI.
“Hitting is contagious so once one guy kind of gets it going the next guy behind him follows and that kind of showed today,” Horvath said. “I hit one home run and then everyone else kind of started barreling up balls and it was just a recipe for success.”
Angel Zarate went 3-for-6 with two RBI, Danny Serretti was 1-for-5 with two RBI and cleanup hitter Vance Honeycutt was 2-for-6 with three RBI including his team-leading 22nd homer this season.
The home runs brought Carolina’s total to 91 this season, which is the most since the program record of 102 was set in 2002.
While the top of the lineup accounted for most of Carolina’s runs, the bottom of the lineup held its own, too, accounting for six runs.
UNC second baseman Colby Wilkerson had his best game of the season hitting ninth. Wilkerson, who previously had only 43 at-bats before Friday and was hitting .116, was 3-for-4 with two RBI to match his season total.
“That kid’s a grinder, he’s gonna go 100 percent every game,” Horvath said. “It’s not like a surprise that he did that because he’s worked so hard so it was just a matter of time when it would happen. Obviously, that helps the team out and, hopefully, it keeps going.”
This story was originally published June 3, 2022 at 6:28 PM.