By R.L. Bynum
CHAPEL HILL — One of the best offenses in the ACC has looked average so far this weekend against No. 15 North Carolina’s daunting combination of pitching and defense.
Virginia Tech leads the league in homers, is fourth in batting average, and came into the series averaging 8.9 runs per game. But the Hokies have scored three or fewer runs in back-to-back games for the first time this season after losing 6–3 Saturday at Boshamer Stadium.
The Tar Heels (33–10, 17–6 ACC), who won Friday’s opener 8–1, earned their fifth league series win with back-to-back errorless games, a season-high four double plays and consecutive outstanding starts.
Oh, and center fielder Vance Honeycutt made outstanding defensive plays while stealing a season-high five bases.
“Our infield has been pretty dang good all year,” said UNC coach Scott Forbes, who leads the ACC Coastal by 3½ games over second-place Virginia. “Obviously, we had a stretch where we had a couple of games we didn’t play well, but we turned four double plays, and that’s a killer for any team.”
Junior transfer left-hander Shea Sprague (winner, 3–1) subdued the Hokies, allowing four hits, one run and two walks while striking out two in 6⅔ innings.
“He’s just tough, and he raises it a level in the bigger situations and usually makes that big pitch,” Forbes said.
Sprague has allowed two or fewer earned runs in five of his last six starts and seven of his nine starts on the season. He admitted that he didn’t have his best stuff, but it was more than good enough Saturday.
“I think the fastball was really good just going in and out and throwing the slider and changeup off of it,” Sprague said. “I wasn’t as sharp as I wanted to be, but I threw some big pitches. But groundball double plays help; they go a long way and are momentum-killers.”
Carolina’s pitching depth has been crucial. That has allowed the Tar Heels to weather the loss of ace Jake Knapp before the season and then the likely season-ending elbow injury to freshman left-hander Folger Boaz, who had taken over the Friday starting slot.
“We love our depth; we feel like it’s a big strength of our team and you got to have it,” Forbes said. “We’ve had guys step up.”
Sprague, who came out of the bullpen for his first two appearances this season, has been one of those guys to come through.
“It’s just been next man up for the entirety of season,” Sprague said. “We have plenty of starters to step up and just continue to eat innings.”
The starts from Jason DeCaro on Friday and Sprague on Saturday have also allowed the Tar Heels’ bullpen to be well-rested.
UNC’s defense was unrelenting, helping Sprague with three double plays in the first five innings. Second baseman Alex Madera made a terrific play to start the third-inning double play. First baseman Parks Harber made an impressive back-handed play on a fourth-inning liner. UNC right fielder Anthony Donofrio caught a drive from shortstop Clay Grady at the wall to lead off the second inning.
“We work on all that stuff during the week and then go out there and trust that and go out and play,” Honeycutt said. “There’s been a lot of good plays made this weekend, and it’s what we’ve been practicing. Just go out there, make plays, and make it easy for pitchers.”
When the Hokies (26–14, 12–11) were trying to stage a comeback and scored two in the eighth inning, Honeycutt caught a drive at the warning track from Chris Cannizzaro; then, the Tar Heels turned their fourth double play to avoid further damage.
Forbes marveled at Honeycutt’s day, which included the four steals, a 2-for-2 day at the plate and terrific defensive plays.
“Vance — he’s a freak, let’s be honest,’ Forbes said. “I’ve never seen anything like it. His speed is unreal, and his defense is unreal. But we also have other guys who can get those bags, and that’s gonna be important for us, putting pressure on other teams.”
Virginia Tech loaded the bases with no outs on Sprague in the first inning on two soft singles and a hit batsman. He elicited a double play that scored the only run against him but struck out first baseman Gehrig Ebel with runners at the corners to get out of trouble.
Left fielder Casey Cook gave the Tar Heels a 2–1 lead in the third inning, reaching out to pull an outside pitch for a towering 384-foot shot over the right-field wall and a two-run homer.
Carolina pulled away with a three-run sixth inning. That’s when Virginia Tech ace right-hander Brett Renfrow (loser, 5–2) came out of the game with two on and one out, trailing 2–1 after throwing 95 pitches. Madera and third baseman Gavin Gallaher greeted reliever Davis Shoemaker with back-to-back RBI singles before Colby Wilkerson made it 5–1 with a sacrifice bunt.
Sophomore right-hander Matthew Matthijs relieved Sprague with two outs in the seventh inning and struck out catcher Henry Cooke to get out of the inning.
Honeycutt pushed the lead to five runs when he led off the seventh inning with a walk, stole second, took third on a groundout and scored on Harber’s sacrifice fly.
Second baseman Christian Martin hit only the Hokies’ second homer of the series, a two-run shot to right field in the eighth inning to cut UNC’s lead to 7–3. It was only the third homer this season off Matthijs, who pitched ⅔ of an inning and struck out one.
Senior right-hander Connor Bovair pitched a scoreless eighth, but redshirt sophomore left-hander Dalton Pence relieved him in the ninth with one out after a single and a walk. Honeycutt caught a drive from Hokies slugger Henry Cooke for the second out and Pence struck out pinch hitter David McCann swinging to end the game for his team-high fifth save.
NOTES — UNC goes for its fifth ACC sweep of the season as the series concludes at 1 p.m. Sunday (ESPN3), with Carolina right-hander Aidan Haugh (3–0, 3.06 ERA) taking on Hokies right-hander Griffin Stieg (3–2, 4.79 ERA). … Virginia Tech has been swept only once in the ACC season, against Wake Forest at home April 5–7. … Honeycutt is the first Tar Heel with four steals in a game since Brian Miller in 2016. … UNC’s five steals were the most since the Heels stole six against Princeton on March 3. … In the fifth inning, Donofrio was caught attempting to steal a base for the first time in 17 attempts. … Forbes said Boaz has sprained UCL in his pitching elbow. … Nearly two dozen former players and staffers from the 1984 ACC championship team attended a 40-year anniversary celebration, including Olympians Scott Bankhead and All-ACC picks Jeff Hubbard and Todd Wilkinson. Former head coach Mike Roberts threw out the ceremonial first pitch. … UNC has won six of the last seven games with Virginia Tech and leads the all-time series 83–32–3, including 49–16–2 in Chapel Hill.
No. 15 UNC 6, Virginia Tech 3
ACC standings
| League | GB | Overall | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No. 16 Georgia Tech | 19–11 | — | 39–16 |
| No. 6 Florida State | 17–10 | ½ | 37–13 |
| No. 3 North Carolina | 18–11 | ½ | 39–12 |
| No. 22 N.C. State | 17–11 | 1 | 33–18 |
| No. 14 Clemson | 18–12 | 1 | 41–15 |
| Virginia | 16–11 | 1½ | 32–17 |
| Duke | 17–13 | 2 | 36–18 |
| Wake Forest | 16–14 | 3 | 36–19 |
| Miami | 15–14 | 3½ | 31–23 |
| No. 21 Louisville | 15–15 | 4 | 35–20 |
| Notre Dame | 14–16 | 5 | 32–20 |
| Virginia Tech | 12–18 | 7 | 30–24 |
| Boston College | 11–19 | 8 | 26–28 |
| Stanford | 11–19 | 8 | 27–24 |
| Pittsburgh | 10–20 | 9 | 27–26 |
| California | 9–21 | 10½ | 22–30 |
Thursday-Saturday series
No. 16 Georgia Tech at Duke: Thursday: GT 7–6; Friday: Duke 14–4 (7 innings); Saturday: GT 8–2
No. 14 Clemson at Pittsburgh: Clemson swept 6–1, 11–2 and 13–6
Virginia at Virginia Tech: Thursday: Va. 12–2; Friday: VT 5–4; Saturday: Va. 3–1
Stanford at No. 22 N.C. State: Thursday: State 7–2: Friday: Stanford 4–3, 10 innings; Saturday: Stanford 6–3
Wake Forest at Louisville: Thursday: WF 14–4; Friday: WF 5–4; Saturday: UL 14–9
No. 3 North Carolina at No. 6 Florida State: Thursday: UNC 8–3: Friday: UNC 11–1, 7 innings; Saturday: FSU 5–4
Notre Dame at Miami: Thursday: ND 3–2; Friday: Miami 15–1, 7 innings: Saturday: ND 12–2
Boston College at California: Thursday: Cal 8–6; Friday: BC 10–9; Saturday: Cal 4–3, 10 innings
UNC scores
| Date(s) | Day/ month | Scores | Opponent (current rank) | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February | ||||
| 14–15 | Fri.-Sat. | W, 5–1; W, 8–3; W, 4–2 | vs. Texas Tech | 3–0 |
| 18 | Tuesday | W, 12–9 | vs. Kansas State | 4–0 |
| 22–24 | Sat.-Mon. | W, 2–0; W, 11–6; W, 6–4 | vs. East Carolina (DBAP, CH, G’ville) | 7–0 |
| 25 | Tuesday | W, 7–4 | vs. VCU | 8–0 |
| 26 | Wednesday | W, 13–4 | vs. N.C. A&T | 9–0 |
| 28 | Friday | W, 16–2 | vs. Stony Brook | 10–0 |
| March | ||||
| 1–2 | Sat.-Sun. | W, 6–1; W, 9–5 | vs. Stony Brook | 12–0 |
| 4 | Tuesday | W, 6–4 (11) | vs. No. 11 Coastal Carolina | 13–0 |
| 7–9 | Fri.-Sun. | L, 13–9; W, 11–1 (7); L, 7–0 | vs. Stanford | 14–2, 1–2 ACC |
| 11 | Tuesday | W, 7–3 (10) | at UNCW | 15–2 |
| 14, 16 | Fri., Sun. | L, 8–7; W, 6–4; L, 5–0 | at Louisville | 16–4, 2–4 |
| 19 | Wednesday | L, 5–1 | vs. UConn | 16–5 |
| 21–23 | Fri.-Sun. | W, 5–1; L, 3–2; W, 10–0 (7) | at Boston College | 18–6, 4–5 |
| 25 | Tuesday | W, 13–8 | vs. South Carolina in Charlotte | 19–7 |
| 28–30 | Fri.-Sun. | W, 2–0; W, 4–2; L, 4–2 | vs. Miami | 21–7, 6–6 |
| April | ||||
| 1 | Tuesday | W, 11–1 (7) | vs. Gardner-Webb | 22–7 |
| 3–5 | Thur.-Sat. | W, 4–3; L, 9–5; W, 8–7 (14) | vs. Duke | 24–8, 8–7 |
| 8 | Tuesday | W, 12–10 | at Elon | 25–8 |
| 11–13 | Fri.-Sun. | W, 11–1 (7); W, 17–1 (7); W, 3–2 | vs. Wake Forest | 28–8, 11–7 |
| 15 | Tuesday | W, 14–4 (8) | vs. Charlotte | 29–8 |
| 18–20 | Fri-Sun. | W, 9–6; L, 10–6: W, 7–5 | at Virginia Tech | 31–9, 13–8 |
| 25–27 | Fri.-Sun. | W, 15–5; L, 4–2; W, 6–0 | at Pittsburgh | 33–10, 15–9 |
| 29 | Tuesday | W, 13–4 | vs. George Mason | 34–10 |
| 30 | Wednesday | W, 14–3 | vs. Queens | 35–10 |
| May | ||||
| 6 | Tuesday | W, 10–1 | vs. Campbell | 36–10 |
| 8–9 | Thurs.-Fri. | W, 8–1; L, 8–5 | vs. N.C. State | 37–11, 16–10 |
| 15–17 | Thurs.-Sat. | W, 8–3; W, 11–1 (7); L, 5–4 | at No. 7 Florida State | 39–12, 18–11 |
| ACC tournament | Durham | |||
| 23 | Friday | Quarterfinal: W, 7–3 | Boston College | 40–12 |
| 24 | Saturday | Semifinal: W, 7–5 | No. 7 Florida State | 41–12 |
| 25 | Sunday | Final: W, 14–4 | No. 14 Clemson | 42–12 |
| Chapel Hill Regional | ||||
| 30 | Friday | W, 4–0 | Holy Cross | 43–12 |
| 31 | Saturday | W, 11–5 | Oklahoma | 44–12 |
| June | ||||
| 1 | Sunday | L, 9–5 | Oklahoma | 44–13 |
| 2 | Monday | W, 14–4 | Oklahoma | 45–13 |
| Chapel Hill Super Regional | Best-of-3 series | |||
| 6 | Friday | W, 18–2 | No. 21 Arizona | 46–13 |
| 7 | Saturday | L, 10–8 | No. 21 Arizona | 46–14 |
| 8 | Sunday | L, 4–3 | No. 21 Arizona | 46–15 |
Photos courtesy of UNC Athletics by Ainsley Fauth
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