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Center fielder Vance Honeycutt did it all at UNC, from hitting a school-record 65 home runs and consistently saving runs with his outstanding range on defense to becoming the only Power 5 conference player in NCAA history with at least 60 home runs and at least 70 steals (76). Those numbers impress MLB scouts, but their reservations have Honeycutt curiously falling from a projected top-5 pick a year ago to between the middle and the bottom of the first round for Sunday’s MLB Draft.
Set your DVRs! It will be all Tar Heels victories on ACC Network on Friday topped by the thrilling victory over Northwestern in the NCAA field hockey championship game and RJ Davis’ Smith Center-record 42 points in a men’s basketball victory over Miami.
Two North Carolina baseball players entered the transfer portal this week, including designated hitter Alberto Osuna, who has no remaining Division I eligibility and couldn’t return for another season.
Right-handed pitcher Camron Seagraves, the Gatorade North Carolina Baseball Player of the Year and the nation’s No. 160 prospect with a 94 mph fastball, has committed to North Carolina.
Carolina right-handed pitchers Jason DeCaro and Matthew Matthijs and catcher Luke Stevenson earned roster spots Friday on the United States team that will go on a Summer League Tour.
After making a thrilling run to the Men’s College World Series, North Carolina moved up one spot to a season-high No. 5 in the final D1 Baseball Top 25 released on Wednesday as the honors keep rolling in for junior outfielder Vance Honeycutt. UNC slipped one spot to No. 4 in the final Baseball America poll and remained at a season-high No. 5 in the final USA Today coaches poll.
North Carolina’s tradition of overall athletics excellence continued as the Tar Heels earned their fifth consecutive top-10 finish in the Learfield Directors’ Cup standings. UNC’s run to the College World Series and fourth consecutive top-five finish in the NCAA Men’s Golf Championships helped the Tar Heels finish seventh for the eighth top-10 finish in the last nine seasons.
When UNC coach Scott Forbes lured a Division III transfer and a transfer first baseman, both worked out well. He’s accomplished both with the commitment of Monclair State first baseman Sam Angelo, who D1 Baseball named to its Division III first-team All-American team. The 6–0, 210-pound left-handed hitter, a graduate student last season, made his decision known Monday on X (formerly Twitter).
OMAHA, Neb. — The lineup will look drastically different when North Carolina opens the 2025 baseball season in February. Coach Scott Forbes must replenish his roster with transfers and freshmen for the Tar Heels to return to Omaha because most of his 2024 lineup will be gone. Even before UNC’s first Men’s College World Series opener, Forbes said that he had already secured a couple of transfer commitments and was working to get more.
OMAHA, Neb. — Baseball is designed to break your heart, and Omaha delivers a unique version of emotional pain to all but one team. When many of the elements that get you there fail to come together at the Men’s College World Series, teams leave frustrated but proud that they got to the big stage.
OMAHA, Neb. — North Carolina showed plenty of heart after falling behind by six runs and shook off its offensive funk, but it wasn’t enough to extend the Tar Heels’ stay in Omaha. In likely his career-finale, center fielder Vance Honeycutt had three hits — including a two-run homer that gave UNC life — in a 9–5 loss to Florida State at Charles Schwab Field Omaha to end the Heels’ Men’s College World Series run.
OMAHA, Neb. — The mission for No. 4-seed North Carolina is daunting: Win three games in as many days — including two against No. 1 Tennessee — to make the Men’s College World Series Finals or go home. Coach Scott Forbes’s mission is to get his Tar Heels (48–15) to focus on beating No. 8-seed Florida State (48–16) at 2 p.m. ET Tuesday (ESPN) and proceed from there with the knowledge that the program has met a similar challenge before
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.
OMAHA, Neb. — The Shea Sprague that No. 1-seed Tennessee will face is a dramatically different pitcher than the one who struggled to get his North Carolina teammates out during preseason practice.
OMAHA, Neb. — After spending most of the season watching from the dugout, the college baseball world watched Jackson Van De Brake come through with a huge hit on the sport’s biggest stage. And Vance Honeycutt added yet another.
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