UNC Baseball drops mid-week game to South Carolina

The UNC Baseball team lost the annual Battle of the Carolinas game to the South Carolina Gamecocks on Tuesday in uptown Charlotte.

Boy… was I wrong on this one.

I predicted in our weekly preview that this would be an offensive shootout. Both teams rank near the top of the country in several offensive categories. However, it was the pitching that showed up in this one.

The UNC baseball program had runners on in the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh, but could never capitalize and put together hits with runners on. Meanwhile, South Carolina didn’t have many opportunities through the sixth inning.

Once the seventh inning rolled around though, the Gamecocks and one of the best offenses in the country were able to take advantage of getting runners on base. South Carolina had walked in the seventh and then hit back-to-back two-out doubles down the left field line to give the Gamecocks a 2-0 lead.

The Diamond Heels had their chance to answer in the eighth inning with the top of the order due up in Honeycutt, Horvath, and Van de Brake. However, the Tar Heels just couldn’t put together anything offensively as they went down 1-2-3.

South Carolina continued to take advantage of the Tar Heels bullpen in the bottom of the eighth. The Gamecocks hit a leadoff double, before loading the bases up with nobody out thanks to wild pitches and base hits. Before it was all said and done, the Gamecocks scored three in the eighth and took a 5-0 lead into the ninth inning.

The Diamond Heels went three up, and three down in the top of the ninth to end the game and were handed a 5-0 loss to the #6 ranked team in the country. South Carolina is a great team and they are one of the best offenses in the country for a reason.

The goal for the Diamond Heels will be to learn from this experience against a good team that will likely host a regional and possibly a super regional. They need to return focus on conference play and get the offense back going. When the top four batters in your lineup go a combined 2-16, it’s never a good sign, especially when facing a great team. Note: one of those hits was a bunt single by Honeycutt.

One weakness we have discussed before is pitching. Scott Forbes is a great pitching coach and he knows what needs to be improved there. Hopefully, that’s something the Diamond Heels will work on over the coming weeks. A baseball team in early April can be a very different team in mid-late May come tournament time.

The Tar Heels will get back on the Diamond this weekend in Atlanta at Georgia Tech for a three-game weekend series.

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