‘Resilient’ UNC baseball team turns its attention to NCAA Tournament regional play
North Carolina baseball stumbled into its first postseason foray at the ACC Tournament, only to find its footing and nearly make a run to the final.
That gives the Tar Heels hope they can play well in their second and most important set of postseason games in the NCAA Tournament.
Coming off a run to the ACC semifinals, the Tar Heels open play Friday against Iowa at the NCAA Terre Haute Regional at Indiana State’s Sycamore Stadium.
UNC (35-22) is seeded No. 3 in the four-team, double-elimination regional. The host Sycamores (42-15) are the top seed with Iowa (42-14) at No. 2 and Wright State (39-21) the fourth seed.
Indiana State and Wright State play at 1 p.m. on Friday, with the Tar Heels and Hawkeyes meeting at 7 p.m. The winners of Friday’s games play Saturday night, while Friday’s two losing teams play Saturday at 1 p.m. in an elimination game.
UNC lost its final four regular-season games, including being swept by Clemson, before winning its two pool-play games at Durham Bulls Athletic Park to reach the ACC semifinals. That run included a 10-2 romp over Virginia, which was subsequently placed as the NCAA Tournament’s No. 7 national seed.
In Saturday’s semifinals, Clemson beat UNC, 10-4, on the way to winning an ACC championship and being named the NCAA Tournament’s No. 4 national seed.
Following the loss to Clemson at the ACC Tournament, UNC coach Scott Forbes said the team’s solid play in that event should bode well for this weekend.
“It’s a resilient group,” Forbes said. “And it’s a group that I believe in and I believe they can make some big-time noise in the NCAA Tournament.”
UNC will have to do so without star outfielder Vance Honeycutt, though. The ACC’s defensive player of the year who batted .257 with 12 home runs this season, Honeycutt is dealing with a lower back injury that’s already sidelined him for the last seven games. Forbes said Monday that Honeycutt won’t play in the regionals.
But UNC has plenty of other talented players, led by Mac Horvath. The power-hitting third baseman has slugged 22 home runs this season to go with a .305 batting average and a team-best 62 runs batted in. He’s the type of player who can get hot and lead a lower-seeded team like the Tar Heels to upset wins.
Tomas Frick (.326, 12 home runs, 60 RBIs) has also been a force at the plate for UNC.
On the mound, Forbes said Monday he has starting pitchers Max Carlson and Jake Knapp ready to go for the first two NCAA Tournament games. They’ve been two of UNC’s weekend starters all season.
Carlson is 4-2 with a 5.97 earned run average, having recorded a team-best 71 strikeouts in 69 ⅓ innings pitched. Knapp has pitched to a 4.79 ERA, compiling a 5-3 record that gives him the team lead in wins.
Iowa enters the tournament after losing 4-0 to Maryland in the Big Ten Tournament title game. The Hawkeyes placed third in the Big Ten regular-season standings. But they are No. 32 in the RPI and have a solid offense averaging eight runs per game. Iowa’s pitching staff compiled a 4.04 ERA this season.
Brody Brecht is Iowa’s top starting pitcher with a 5-2 record and 3.86 ERA. Though he didn’t post a complete game this season, Marcus Morgan was part of three Iowa shutouts on the way to a 4-2 record and a 3.88 ERA.
The Hawkeyes own two regular-season wins over teams that became top seeds in NCAA regionals. Iowa opened the season beating Indiana State, 6-2, in 11 innings and also topped LSU, 12-4, on a neutral field in February.
NCAA Terre Haute Regional
Sycamore Stadium, Terre Haute, Indiana
Friday, June 2
Game 1 - No. 1 Indiana St. vs. No. 4 Wright St., 1 p.m., ESPN+
Game 2 - No. 2 Iowa vs. No. 3 North Carolina, 7 p.m., ACCN
Saturday, June 3
Game 3: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, noon
Game 4: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 6 p.m.
Sunday, June 4
Game 5: Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, noon
Game 6: Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5, 6 p.m.
Monday, June 5 (If necessary)
Game 7: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6