UNC baseball College World Series run ends as Florida State powers past Tar Heels
Casey Cook stepped to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the ninth on Tuesday and the North Carolina bench believed it could manifest a miracle.
He doubled-in teammate Vance Honeycutt to get North Carolina on the board earlier and his teammates trusted he could deliver again.
Weeks ago, North Carolina was among the top contenders to win a national championship after winning the ACC regular-season title. Then the offense slumped.
Carolina scrapped through Long Island, LSU and West Virginia to get to Omaha, and dramatically advanced against Virginia in the opening game of the 2024 Men’s College World Series.
But the Tar Heels couldn’t regain their regular-season form and survive beyond Tuesday as Florida State overwhelmed North Carolina in a 9-5 elimination game.
The Tar Heels’ season ended at Charles Schwab Field, just as they wished. They just weren’t the ones holding gold.
“And our end goal was to win this whole thing, but I mean we came down here, and I think the postseason sums it up,” Cook said afterwards. “We didn’t hit like we necessarily wanted to.”
North Carolina finished 29 for 130 (.223) hitting in the College World Series. With runners on base the Tar Heels were 7 for 39 (.179) in those three games.
Those numbers would be worse without junior Vance Honeycutt. He finished 7-for-17 in the CWS with three hits on Tuesday, including a three-run shot in the fifth inning against Florida State. Honeycutt’s 28th home run of the season went 400 feet into the left field stands. It wasn’t a walk off but his homer cut the deficit from six runs to three.
Team captain Jackson Van De Brake, days removed from his clutch pinch hit against Virginia, delivered an RBI single to pull the Tar Heels within two, at 7-5, in the fifth.
“That’s how this team has been all year,” Honeycutt said. “They’re just no-quit.”
That’s where the offense ended. Outside of Honeycutt’s .411 in the CWS, the Tar Heels were .194 (22 for 113). They stranded six runners on Tuesday and committed missteps like Honeycutt getting picked off trying to steal second in the seventh—when it was a two-run game. He tried to be aggressive and get into a scoring position.
North Carolina’s pitching staff also scrapped against a potent Florida State lineup featuring two projected high-first-round draft picks.
Aiden Haugh, two weeks after his disastrous start against LSU in the Chapel Hill Regional, initially escaped after falling behind batters. Florida State got to him with three runs in 2 1/3 innings. Matthew Matthijs and Dalton Pence relayed the staff into the fifth trailing 3-1.
The Seminoles chased Pence off the mound in the fifth with six hits and four runs—the most he allowed in one appearance this season—to end his 14 1/3-inning scoreless streak and take a commanding six-run lead.
Matt Poston relieved him and returned after the Tar Heels’ big fifth inning. He provided a quick stop before handing the ball to Cameron Padgett, who pitched into the ninth when the Seminoles tallied back-to-back home runs.
The Seminoles offense tallied 14 hits, 10 free passes and left 14 runners on base on Tuesday.
Ben Peterson pitched the final three scoreless outs for Carolina. He walked off the mound and the Tar Heels felt something swelling. Head coach Scott Forbes witnessed a lot of special moments from his team in the last month. They could do it again if they got the ball rolling.
“There was no doubt in my mind we get the tying run (up and) something crazy was going to happen,” Forbes said. “Unfortunately, it just didn’t.”
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This story was originally published June 18, 2024 at 5:58 PM.