Tar Heels Stomp Seminoles on Senior Day

CHAPEL HILL, NC – The North Carolina Tar Heels (34-19 overall and 15-15 in the ACC) ensured they had to help their Seniors to take care of business against 20th-ranked Florida State (31-25 overall and 20-17 ACC).

They did just that, by shutting them out by the score of 11-0, in front of 2,486 fans at Boshamer Stadium in Chapel Hill, NC. The Tar Heels were led by Junior Leftfielder, Angel Zarate (Reidsville, NC), scoring a homer in the 1sr inning, then recording an RBI and scoring a run in the seventh. The Tar Heels swept the weekend series, by winning all three games – 7-5 on Thursday, 10-4 on Friday and finally, at last – 11-0 on Saturday.

The highlight of the game was when Zarate hit an early home run to give the Tar Heels to give an early lead. Followed by Osuna driving in two runs scored by Horvath and Zarate, in the bottom of the sixth inning.

The first three innings saw the Tar Heels come out swinging, as Zarate homered, as well as Stokely and Wilkerson scoring runs. In the fifth and sixth innings, the Tar Heels recorded runs by Honeycutt, Horvath and Zarate. The seventh inning was when the Tar Heels shut the door on the Seminoles, when Horvath homered a two-run homer after Holbrook scored, driving a run by Zarate. Finally, in the bottom of the seventh, Honeycutt did a two-run homer, where Serretti scored, to make it 11-0, which ended up being the Final Score.

The starting pitcher for Florida State was Sophomore Bryce Hubbart (Windermere, FL). Hubbart recorded the loss, pitching one inning – giving up two hits, three runs, three errors and three strikeouts. On the other hand, Sophomore Pitcher Will Sandy (Raleigh, NC) pitched three innings – giving up three hits, not allowing any runs nor errors, allowed two walks and didn’t record any errors. For Florida State, Freshman Conner Whitaker (Sarasota, FL) came in relief, allowing one hit, one run and one error, while walking and striking out two batters in three innings pitched.

Also, for relief for Florida State, Jackson Baumeister, another Freshman from Jacksonville, FL, pitched 1.2 innings where he recorded zero hits, two runs and two errors, while walking four batters and striking out two batters. Then, Redshirt Senior Jonah Scolaro (Valrico, FL) and Jackson Nezuh (St. Cloud, FL) pitched 0.1 innings each, with Scolaro recording one hit, one walk and one strikeout with no runs nor errors and Nezuh recording two hits, four runs, four errors, one walk and zero strikeouts.

Then, Sophomore Andrew Armstrong (Flowery Branch, GA), added two hits, one run, one error and zero strikeouts in 0.1 innings pitched and Redshirt Senior Kyle McMullen (Jupiter, FL) would cap it off for the Seminoles, by pitching 0.2 innings, recording two hits, one run, one error and did not record a strikeout.

For UNC, Junior Nik Pry picked up the victory in relief, by allowing no hits nor runs, while walking two batters and striking out batters three times, pitching two innings. The other pitchers who pitched in relief were Sophomore Connor Bovair (Moreau, NY) – pitching two innings, not allowing any hits, runs nor errors, while walking one batter and recording three strikeouts.

Then, the Senior from Spring Hill, TN named Gage Gillian pitched 1.1 innings, not recording any runs, hits, walks or strikeouts. After that Senior Caden O’Brien (Maiden, NC) and Junior Connor Ollio (Renfrow, PA) were the final relief pitchers, as O’Brien was the only one who recorded a strikeout.

On Tuesday, May 24th, both Florida State and North Carolina will face opponents TBD at the ACC Baseball Tournament in Charlotte, NC’s Triust Field.