Tar Heels Hold off Hofstra, Open NCAA Tournament Play With a Bang
Mac Horvath, Colby Wilkerson turned in great performances
In the days leading up to Friday’s Chapel Hill Regional opener, the first home NCAA Tournament game for all but eight players on North Carolina’s roster, every Tar Heel who spoke with the media talked about treating it like any other game.
Scott Forbes didn’t expect anything different. Nor should he have after watching them go from on the NCAA bubble to the No. 10 overall seed and ACC Tournament champs while embracing such an approach. But having been a part of 16 other regional teams as part of the UNC coaching staff, Forbes knew his players might be slightly nervous, despite their remarks. So, experiencing some nerves himself ahead of his first home regional as head coach, he comforted them by saying they should feel that way.
“I’ll be the first tell you, I was straight up with the guys today,” Forbes said, “and said, ‘I know what you feel like right now. You can say whatever you want to say, but it’s a different feeling in this postseason, even than it was in the ACC Tournament. So it’s OK to have those nerves, OK to take a deep breath, because I have to do the same.’”
It didn’t take long for Forbes’ advice to come into play, as Hofstra’s Kevin Bruggeman and Santino Rosso each hit solo home runs over the first two innings. Both times, the Tar Heels could’ve allowed their nerves — of which there were surely some — to get the best of them. But they didn’t, as Mac Horvath and Tomas Frick each responded immediately with solo shots of their own.
Then, in the third, Horvath came to the plate again and crushed a two-run homer over the left-center wall. The blast gave the Tar Heels all the cushion they needed, as Max Carlson settled in and their bats never cooled down on the way to a 15-4 win.
All nine starters ultimately finished with a hit for UNC, which received two more homers from Vance Honeycutt and Danny Serretti. The Tar Heels’ five total homers were their most in an NCAA Tournament game since clubbing five against Liberty in the 2019 Chapel Hill Regional.
“Hitting is contagious,” said Horvath, who became the first Tar Heel to hit multiple homers in an NCAA regional game since Garret Gore had two against Kansas in the 2009 Chapel Hill Regional. “Once one guy kind of gets going, the next guy behind him follows. That kind of showed today. I hit one home run and then everyone else kind of started barreling up balls. It was just a recipe for success.”
UNC has now won 16 of its last 18 games. It’s averaging 8.2 runs in that span.
Carlson adjusts
Entering Friday, Carlson’s fastball had been the main reason for his recent success, as he’s not only getting it up to 96 mph — faster than anyone within the team expected it to be a year after he underwent elbow surgery — but commanding it.
That, apparently, wasn’t lost on Hofstra, which came out sitting on the pitch. Both of the Pride’s early homers came on Carlson’s fastball. It also did a good job fouling off a few more, forcing him into a lot of deep counts.
By the end of the second, Carlson was already at 44 pitches, and it looked like the Tar Heels would have to go to their bullpen early. But the righty came out in the third and struck out the leadoff batter on three straight sliders, and from there, he continued to mix his pitches effectively and keep Hofstra off balance — a formula that helped him pitch into the sixth.
Carlson ultimately allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits and three walks while striking out six in 5 2/3 innings. The performance brought his ERA to 3.18 over his last eight starts. In that span, he’s pitched five or more innings five times, and two of the three games in which he didn’t were his spot start against Liberty entering the final exam break and his rain-shortened outing at N.C. State.
“Carlson didn’t have his best stuff but he recovered and made big pitches when he needed to, and that’s what you have to do,” Forbes said. “He realized quickly he can’t throw that heater by those guys today because they’re on it, and he made some really good off-speed pitches.”
Wilkerson wows
Since assuming the starting second-base on May 11, Colby Wilkerson had given the Tar Heels steady defense but hadn’t been much of a factor offensively, going 4-for-34 with two sacrifice bunts and four walks compared to seven strikeouts. He turned in a great performance out of the nine-hole Friday, though, going 3-for-4 with two RBIs, two runs scored and a walk. The three hits were the second most of his career; the sophomore went 4-for-4 against Duke on April 12, 2021.
The most notable of Wilkerson’s three hits was an RBI bunt single to the right of the mound on a safety squeeze in the fourth. As Forbes said postgame, “he couldn’t have put it down better.”
As impressive as that was, Wilkerson’s best play of the day came in the field, when he ranged far to his left to snag a grounder in the hole between first and second and then fired to first to get the second out in the second. Had the ball gotten past him and into the outfield, the runner on second would’ve surely scored, extending Hofstra’s lead to 3-1.
“We hadn’t made that play,” Forbes said. “We didn’t make plays like that during that (5-14) stretch. That’s why we put Colby in there. That’s not giving a team that’s seeing the ball well an extra out.”
What’s next?
The Tar Heels will face VCU, the No. 3 regional seed, at 7 p.m. Saturday. The Rams (41-18) advanced to the Chapel Hill Regional winners’ bracket with an 8-1 win over No. 2 regional seed Georgia on Friday, extending their winning streak to 16 games.
Brandon Schaeffer (7-2, 3.70 ERA) will get the start for the Tar Heels in his first outing since his complete-game shutout against Virginia Tech in the ACC Tournament. He’ll be opposed by fellow lefty Campbell Ellis (4-4, 3.45). Because NCAA rules require that the institution that has been the home team the fewest number of times in a regional shall be designated the home team, the Rams — the designated away team Friday — will be the home team and UNC — the designated home team Friday — will be the away team.
Click here for more info on VCU.
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