UNC Baseball sweeps Coastal Carolina to improve to 11-1

The UNC baseball program put together an exciting weekend at Boshamer Stadium, as they swept Coastal Carolina to continue their hot start to the 2022 season.

It’s been a while since the fans at Boshamer Stadium got to witness a walk-off victory for the UNC baseball program.

In fact, you’d have to go back almost 750 days to the Tar Heels’ last walk-off win, courtesy of a Joey Lancellotti home run against Middle Tennessee, which came on February 15, 2020.

Well, fortunately, the walk-off victory drought is over, as fans in attendance got to witness not one, but two dramatic endings this past weekend.

In the first game of the series, the Tar Heels went into the bottom of the ninth trailing 3-2. North Carolina had their first walk-off win insight, as a trio of singles from Tomas Frick, Danny Serretti and Johnny Castagnozzi knotted up the score.

With the potential winning run on second base, Mac Horvath had an opportunity to send the Tar Heels home victorious. The sophomore has struggled early on this season, as he went into this bat hitless in his prior 13 at-bats.

Although he has had some struggles, Horvath came up big time, driving an RBI single to left field to bring home North Carolina’s first victory of the weekend series.

Saturday’s contest was not as eventful, as North Carolina’s pitching stole the show in the team’s 4-0 victory.

The duo of Max Carlson and Gage Gillian was brilliant, as they combined for seven shutout innings of work. Overall, the Tar Heels pitching staff struck out 11 held the Chanticleers to just five hits throughout the ballgame.

Offensively, the Tar Heels had just seven hits, as Hunter Stokley was the only UNC baseball player to put together a multi-hit performance.

It wasn’t as exciting as the first game of the series, but little did we know at the time that the final game of the series had more late-game drama in store for us all.

Extra innings were needed to finish out the series, but once again, the Tar Heels prevailed.

The hero in this game wasn’t a typical regular, but when his number was called, this individual was ready for the challenge.

After Frick was removed from the game for a pinch-runner in the bottom of the ninth, the Tar Heels called upon Eric Grintz to take over behind the plate.

Going into the series finale, Grintz tallied just three at-bats so far this season and managed just 28 total at-bats over the prior two seasons.

The Chanticleers decided to challenge Grintz, as they intentionally walked Angel Zarate with two outs to load the bases. After falling behind in the count 0-2, Grintz battled at the plate and laced a line drive down the left-field line for a game-winning hit.

The successful weekend for the UNC baseball program was highlighted by two dramatic come-from-behind victories. It marks the first time since 2019 that the Tar Heels managed to put together two walk-off wins in the same series.

With their 11-1 start to the season, the Tar Heels are showing their resiliency early on in the season. Scott Forbes and his staff are hopeful that the team’s success can continue to carry on.

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