UNC Baseball keeps UNCW Seahawks at bay with 14-9 victory

The UNC baseball team (25-22, 17-16 ACC) defeated the UNCW Seahawks 14-9 Tuesday afternoon as the team hit a remarkable 11-for-32 at the plate.

After a weekend sweep of a stout Louisville team, North Carolina hosted the UNC Wilmington Seahawks in front of a lively crowd at Boshamer Stadium. As this was the last home game of the season for UNC—the team gave the fans a show.

Caleb Cozart started on the mound for UNC with a one-two-three inning before turning it over to the Tar Heels offense. With a leadoff triple in the bottom of the first, North Carolina grabbed the 1-0 lead.

The Tar Heels assaulted the opposition in the bottom of the second as a leadoff single from Mac Horvath followed by a two-run bomb by Danny Serretti pushed the lead to 3-0. Despite two quick outs, North Carolina continued the barrage as a single and three walks drove in the fourth run while two wild pitches added a pair of runs that ballooned the lead to 6-0. Horvath stepped in the box again as the Tar Heels batted around—he walloped a three-run homer that gave UNC a 9-0 advantage.

Quick to respond, the Seahawks loaded the bases with one out in the top of the third. A single followed by a fielder’s choice plated two runs in their favor that made it 9-2.

With a scoreless fourth inning, UNCW opened the top of the fifth with a double before two ground outs scored another run for the Seahawks to shrink the 9-3 deficit. But the Tar Heels put runners on second and third with one out in the bottom of the fifth. Despite a strikeout, UNC added another run on a wild pitch that made it 10-3.

Angel Zarate led off the bottom of the sixth with a walk. A wild pitch drove him to second, a throwing error from the catcher pushed him to third and another wild pitch brought him home to push the UNC lead to 11-3.

UNCW rallied in the top of the seventh as they scored three runs before an out was recorded in the inning. With two outs, the Seahawks drew even closer as they singled in another two runs that made the game 11-8.

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In the top of the eighth, the Seahawks scored another run that made it 11-9, but the Tar Heels pulled away in the bottom of the inning. A leadoff walked followed by a double from Zarate gave UNC runners on second and third with no outs. Justice Thompson hit a sacrifice fly while Caleb Roberts hit an RBI single that made it 13-9. Horvath smacked a two-out RBI single that gave North Carolina the 14-9 lead, which was the eventual final Tuesday evening.

Cozart pitched in his second game since Notre Dame on May 1, in his limited work of 4.1 innings over two games he surrendered two runs on four hits and one walk.

Head Coach Scott Forbes said Cozart continued to improve and helped the team because they are not playing from behind.

“I think he can get you off to a good start, and that’s what we’ve been missing, you know with our starters,” Forbes said. “Not necessarily pitching seven innings, but just getting us off to a good start because when you start behind right out of the gate it’s an uphill climb.”

Forbes later emphasized the importance of wins given the final stretch of the season.

” I don’t care what it looked like that’s where we are—that’s point  of the season we are,” Forbes said. “We talk about this, talk about that, but at the end of the day, we got to play it like it’s a postseason game, and our guys did and they got they win, so it’s a credit to them.”

UNC takes on Georgia Tech in a weekend series that is the regular season finale with first pitch scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday evening.

For coverage of this weekend series and all things UNC sports check out Keeping It Heel!