By R.L. Bynum
OMAHA, Neb. — For most of the season, Carolina’s prolific scoring made it tough for anybody to beat the Tar Heels. They haven’t been able to replicate that recently in the NCAA tournament against top-level pitching, and it finally caught up with them against No. 1 Tennessee’s explosive hitting.
After a 6–1 loss Sunday night to the Volunteers (57–12) at the Men’s College World Series, the Tar Heels must win at 2 p.m. ET Tuesday against No. 8 Florida State (48–16) to keep their title hopes alive and hope to find that offense again.
“I thought they got the big hit and they capitalized and we could not do that. I thought, top to bottom, we pitched the ball pretty dang well,” UNC coach Scott Forbes said. “But they got it done with runners in scoring position and we didn’t. Credit to them. Good thing is we lost but we ain’t done. So we’ll bounce back and we’ll be ready to roll on Tuesday.”
A rally-killing pickoff in the sixth inning kept Carolina (48–15) from regaining momentum after falling behind by four runs, and Tennessee pitching was unyielding after that.
Vance Honeycutt blasted the Tar Heels’ first home run of the MCWS, but they scored three runs or fewer for the third consecutive game. Before that, UNC had only done it in consecutive games once: in mid-March losses at Miami (14–1 and 2–1). Carolina has four runs or fewer in four of the last five games.
“Hitting is contagious,” Forbes said. “I feel like the one thing that kind of lets the air out is when you get those guys on, somebody hits the ball in the gap. Somebody hits the ball over the wall. Somebody gets hit by a pitch. We just haven’t been able to have a big, big inning but we’re very capable of doing that. It can flip just like that. That’s the thing about baseball.”
The season will be on the line in the first meeting of the season between UNC and the Seminoles, who stayed alive with a 7–3 win Sunday afternoon over Virginia to eliminate the Cavaliers. With a win Tuesday, the Tar Heels would have to beat Tennessee at 2 p.m. Wednesday and on Thursday (time TBA).
“We have the pitching, I think, to compete with Florida State,” said Forbes, who expects to start Aidan Haugh (4–2, 4.53 ERA) on Tuesday. “That’s all you can focus on now. You don’t look at what you have to do; you just look at what you can do right now.”
Parks Harber, who was 2 for 4, sounded positive heading into a must-win game.
“I’m really excited,” he said. “Really, really excited to get out there for another opportunity on Tuesday. This is the most fun I’ve ever had playing baseball. I’m not going to let this loss ruin any of my experiences here. I’ll be so grateful that I have another opportunity to go out there and play and just leave it all out there and be ready to go.”
Forbes said that he probably would have had a different pitching approach after reliever Matthew Matthijs came in if the deficit had been smaller. He was able to give workhorse reliever Dalton Pence a day off.
“When you’re behind by a certain amount of runs, you want to stay in the game, but there’s some certain guys you aren’t going to bring in unless you bridge the gap, maybe within two,” said Forbes, who used four relievers. “But I thought these guys were aggressive. You’re talking one, two, three — five guys that have never pitched in the College World Series.”
Tennessee right-hander Drew Beam (winner, 9–2) retired the first 11 Tar Heels before Harber’s bloop single to right. Anthony Donofrio became the first UNC batter to see at least four pitches but struck out swinging on a 3–2 fastball to end the fourth inning.
“I thought he did a good job the first time through the order, attacked us with fastballs,” Harber said of Beam. “The second time around, he did a good job landing the off-speed pitches to get ahead in the count and kept you off balance. Credit to him and his preparation tonight.”
UNC left-hander Shea Sprague (loser, 3–2) had only allowed a walk before Blake Burke led off the fourth inning with a single to left field. After a walk and a strikeout, Kavares Tears ripped an 80 mph 2–0 pitch 390 feet off the back wall of the bullpen in right field for a three-run homer.
“Shea made that mistake with two outs,” Forbes said. “And winning games, you’ve got to have some clutch [plays] to get those two-out hits and we had a lot of that in the postseason. They had it tonight. Just a change-up up in the zone. He did what you should do with that mistake.”
Sprague’s day ended after Reese Chapman led off the fifth with a homer to right, giving the Vols a 4–0 lead. Like against West Virginia nine days earlier, Sprague gave up two home runs. Tennessee struck out six times in 4+ innings against Sprague, but collected three hits and two walks.
After a 16-minute delay because plate umpire Kellen Levy left the game with a suspected concussion, Matthijs got out of the inning without further damage, only allowing a single.
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UNC broke through in the sixth inning when Honeycutt got all of a 90-mph fastball, sending it 401 feet into the left-field stands to lead off the inning for his 64th career home run and 27th of the season, both school records. Beam (five innings, four hits, one run, two walks, seven strikeouts) exited after giving up singles to Casey Cook and Harber.
A promising two-on-one out chance went awry when reliever Kirby Connell picked off Donofrio attempting to steal and struck out Gavin Gallaher.
“Donofrio’s a really good baserunner,” Forbes said. “Him and Vance generally have the green light. We all make mistakes. Anthony made a mistake. I’ve made mistakes throughout the year as well as everybody else on the team. So, we’ll learn from it. And he’ll let it teach him and won’t let it happen again, hopefully.”
The Vols quickly got that run back in the bottom of the sixth. Matthijs issued a walk and threw a wild pitch that got Colby Backus to second, and Dean Curley scored him with a single up the middle.
Tennessee stretched the lead to five on Tears’ RBI double in the eighth inning off Connor Bovair, the fifth UNC pitcher.
NOTES — UNC will be the home team on Tuesday. … It was the fourth consecutive time UNC has won its MCWS opener, only to lose its second game. … Scott Cline, originally working second base, took over as the plate umpire for Levy, who took a foul tip off his mask earlier in the game. … Jackson Van De Brake started at DH, his first start since May 23, his 19th this season and his first at DH this season, going 0 for 3 with a walk. It’s the first time this season senior Alberto Osuna hasn’t started, either at DH or first base. … UNC shortstop Colby Wilkerson made an outstanding diving, back-handed catch in the grass on a first-inning hard grounder from Christian Moore with an exit velocity of 114 mph, and threw to first on his knees. It was No. 2 on ESPN’s Top 10 Plays segment. … The game drew 25,140 fans. … UNC is 2–3 on Father’s Day, with wins over Clemson (2–0 in 2006) and LSU (8–4 in 2008) and losses to Rice (14–4 in 2007) and N.C. State (8–1 in 2013). … UNC leads the all-time series with Tennessee 5–3. … Florida State has hit a home run in 17 straight games, the third-longest streak in program history.
No. 1 Tennessee 6, No. 4 UNC 1
Men’s College World Series
At Charles Schwab Field Omaha in Omaha, Neb.
Bracket 1
No. 1 Tennessee (3–0), No. 8 Florida State (2–2), No. 4 North Carolina (1–2), No. 12 Virginia (0–2)
Bracket 2
No. 3 Texas A&M (3–0), Florida (2–2), No. 2 Kentucky (1–2), No. 10 N.C. State (0–2)
Pool play
(All listed times are EDT)
Friday’s results
Game 1: No. 4 North Carolina 3, No. 12 Virginia 2
Game 2: No. 1 Tennessee 12, No. 8 Florida State 11
Saturday’s results
Game 3: No. 2 Kentucky 5, No. 10 N.C. State 4, 10 innings
Game 4: No. 3 Texas A&M 3, Florida 2
Sunday’s results
Game 5: No. 8 Florida State 7, No. 12 Virginia 3; Virginia eliminated
Game 6: No. 1 Tennessee 6, No. 4 North Carolina 1
Monday’s results
Game 7: Florida 5, No. 10 N.C. State 4; N.C. State eliminated
Game 8: No. 3 Texas A&M 5, No. 2 Kentucky 1
Tuesday’s result
Game 9: No. 8 Florida State 9, No. 4 North Carolina 5; North Carolina eliminated
Wednesday’s results
Game 10: Florida 15, No. 2 Kentucky 4; Kentucky eliminated
Game 11: No. 1 Tennessee 7, No. 8 Florida State 2; Florida State eliminated
Game 12: No. 3 Texas A&M 6, Florida 0; Florida eliminated
MCWS Finals
(Best-of-3 series)
No. 1 Tennessee (60–13) vs. No. 3 Texas A&M (53–15)
Game 1: Texas A&M 9, Tennessee 5
Game 2 Tennessee, 4, Texas A&M 1
Game 3: Tennessee 6, Texas A&M 5; Tennessee wins national champinship
UNC career home run leaders
| Player | Seasons | Games | Homers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vance Honeycutt | 2022–24 | 176 | 65 |
| Devy Bell | 1984–87 | 205 | 57 |
| Chris Cox | 1990–93 | 192 | 49 |
| Mac Horvath | 2021–23 | 160 | 47 |
| Alberto Osuna | 2022–24 | 176 | 45 |
| Chad Flack | 2005–08 | 267 | 42 |
| Sean Farrell | 2000–03 | 240 | 40 |
| Jarrett Shearin | 1996–99 | 241 | 40 |
| Cookie Massey | 1993–94 | 108 | 40 |
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 |
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
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