Of all the reasons why North Carolina ended up on the road last season for NCAA regional play, a 5-6 record in midweek games was as big as any.
Coming off an emotional series win over East Carolina, Scott Forbes emphasized that to his players heading into a pair of midweek games against Longwood and Winthrop. And by all indications, that message was received, as the Tar Heels (8-1) jumped out to first-inning leads against both teams and never looked back on their way to a 16-1 win over the Lancers (3-6) on Tuesday and a 7-3 win over the Eagles (2-6) on Wednesday.
“You can’t host a regional or be a national seed if you don’t take care of business in the middle of the week,” Forbes said. “Yes, you have to do good in your league, but those games matter. … I told them (Tuesday), you’re not necessarily going to play well every game, but you can be ready to play every game. And that’s one thing we want to take a lot of pride in is being ready to play.”
After the ACC played a reduced nonconference schedule in 2021, this week marked the first time in two years that UNC played a pair midweek games on back-to-back days. Although every player on the roster would certainly prefer to play instead of practice this time of year, this week has been filled with adjustments for the several underclassmen who haven’t previously experienced one like it.
“It’s definitely different,” sophomore Johnny Castagnozzi said. “I wasn’t really used to it. Even last year, it was a lot of games, especially because I didn’t play my senior year because of COVID. We’ve just got to take care of our bodies, especially when we get away from here. Sleep, recover, hydrate and it should be fine. That’s just really the most important thing – we have five games a week and only two practice days. Just have to recover.”
Bovair solid on short rest
Two days removed from throwing 25 pitches in relief against East Carolina, Connor Bovair made his first start for UNC against Longwood and pitched well on short rest, giving up one run and three hits over 4 2/3 innings. The Siena transfer struck out four and walked two while throwing 74 pitches, 45 for strikes.
Forbes has said Bovair and Coastal Carolina graduate transfer Shaddon Peavyhouse are both capable of starting or relieving, and with the latter currently locked into the Sunday starter spot, the head coach said it was important to have Bovair go through a starter’s routine to keep him stretched out. Bovair said he felt prepared for the outing, adding that his arm felt well afterward.
“As soon as I started the season coming out of the bullpen, I kind of told myself I’ve got to be ready to throw every day because you don’t know when that time is going to be called,” he said. “Just kind of making sure I did my post work better and taking care of my body off the field. I think that’s going to help me make that short turnaround and throw however many I threw (Tuesday).”
Frick’s first slam
Through the first seven games of the season, seven of the Tar Heels’ eight regulars had homered. The only one who hadn’t was Tomas Frick, but that changed in a big way in the bottom of the sixth Tuesday, when the sophomore catcher sent a grand slam over the wall in right-center.
“Coach (Jesse Wierzbicki) came up to me the previous at-bat when I just missed it,” said Frick, who became the first UNC player to hit a grand slam since Mac Horvath against N.C. State on May 28, 2021. “When you’ve got guys on the mound who don’t have that velocity we normally see, you’ve got to have a mindset of, ‘I’m not trying to get too big. I’m trying to be short to the ball and stay through the middle.’ I feel like I got a little big on that one before, but I went up to the plate just thinking, ‘Do what you do. Stay short and hit it right back up the middle.’ And it went out.”
As much as Frick is celebrated for his defense, his ability to drive the ball to all parts of the field might be just as impressive. The grand slam represented his third career homer – all three have gone to about the same spot in right-center.
“I guess I just have no power to the pull side,” Frick joked. “Every time I pull it, people give me crap for it. Growing up, I’ve always been a gap-to-gap hitter. I take pride in that, and I try to be short. It’s kind of my swing – it’s always been my swing. When I can hit the ball in right-center, I know I’m going good.”
After going 2-for-4 Wednesday, Frick is slashing .355/.417/.484 on the season. He’s up to 10 RBIs – tied with Angel Zarate for the most on the team – after notching 16 in 53 games last season.
Pry bridges gap
Coming off a 2021 season in which he made a team-high 29 appearances, it wasn’t surprising to see Nik Pry emerge as the first pitcher out of the Tar Heels’ bullpen in the season opener against Seton Hall. Entering Wednesday, though, he hadn’t pitched since giving up one run and three hits without recording an out against the Pirates.
Pry’s opportunity finally arrived against Winthrop, as UNC called on him to protect a 5-1 lead with no outs and runners on first and second in the third. Not only did he do that – inducing a 1-4-3 double play and a fly out – but he turned in two more innings of work, allowing one run on two hits while striking out one.
“We thought he matched up well with Winthrop,” Forbes said. “His velocity is better, but he’s not where he needs to be and he knows that. But he still threw fairly well and got us back in the dugout and made some big pitches for us to bridge that gap a little bit. We knew we wanted him to throw two or three innings. … We knew he was fresh and we wanted to get him out there, and I thought he did a pretty good job.”
The lone blemish on Pry’s line proved to be a first-pitch, leadoff homer by Robby Taul, the Eagles’ No. 9 hitter, in the fifth. Pry has now served up 13 homers over the last two seasons, accounting for half (21 of 42) of the runs he’s surrendered in that span.
The fourth-year righty has shown he can be a weapon out of the bullpen – his average of 11.8 strikeouts per nine innings last season was the highest by a UNC pitcher who threw more than 21 innings since J.B. Bukauskas in 2016 (12.8). But his role this year will likely depend on if he can keep his fastball from leaking over the middle of the plate and subsequently cut down on his home runs allowed.
“Nik is a big-time competitor, and that’s great – I love that trait about him,” Forbes said. “But you still have to pitch when you’re a pitcher. When you throw the ball down the heart of the plate, that’s where his balls will get hit. He makes mistakes early in the count, 0-0, and sometimes late in the count. And he’s a strike thrower, so teams are looking to swing. So he’s got to do a little bit better job of not being afraid to throw a ball 0-0, not being afraid to throw a ball 0-1 because he’s got the command to come back and win the at-bat.”
Honeycutt causing havoc
As good as he’s been at the plate to start his collegiate career – slashing .414/.553/1.034 with five home runs and seven walks – Vance Honeycutt has been just as, if not more, sensational on the basepaths.
In going 3-for-3 on stolen base opportunities Tuesday and Wednesday, Honeycutt became the first UNC freshman to start a season 10-for-10 since Mike Fox became the Tar Heels’ head coach before the 1999 season. Brian Roberts holds the UNC freshman (47) and single-season (63) stolen base records.
“I haven’t coached many guys who I just tell them you have the green light and you run whenever you want, I don’t care what the catcher throws or what the pitcher throws. …” Forbes said. “Good basestealers, they’re going to try to go on the first or second pitch. They’re going to try to go ahead and get to second base and then get to third. That’s the next step for Vance: We’ve got to start getting him from second to third. I want him to get to second in one pitch and third in the second pitch.”
Around the horn
Several people have asked since the season started why the Tar Heels aren’t throwing the ball around the horn. Forbes confirmed it's to help the pitchers maintain a rhythm.
“Coach (Bryant) Gaines brought it up a little bit,” he said. “We were trying to find areas of improvement, and one thing, we felt like we were human rain delays (last season). I was big on that as a pitching coach – I was adamant about our guys working fast. We play some teams like UCLA that don’t do it, so we were like, let’s see how it works. We did it in some preseason games, and our guys loved it. The pitcher liked to get the ball and get back on the mound and go.
“I guess it goes a little bit against the conventional baseball side, but at the end of the day, if that’s something you feel like improves your team, you don’t care.”
What’s next?
The Tar Heels will welcome Coastal Carolina (7-2) to Boshamer Stadium this weekend for the first-ever three-game series between the two teams. Game 1 is slated for 4 p.m. Friday.
Tied for third in the Sun Belt preseason coaches poll, the Chanticleers are coming off a 9-4 loss to UNCW on Wednesday in Wilmington.