CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WNCN) — The Tar Heels were without star Vance Honeycutt Thursday afternoon, but that didn’t stop their hot bats, as they started the game against Pitt with back-to-back-to-back home runs.
Tonight, Honeycutt is back in the lineup as No. 1 seed North Carolina (42-12 overall, 22-8 ACC) will play ACC Pitcher of the Year Chase Burns and No. 8 Wake Forest (37-19, 15-15) to determine the winner of Pool A. First pitch has been pushed back to 7:35 p.m. at Truist Field in uptown Charlotte.
The Demon Deacons were the preseason favorite to win the ACC and were No. 1 in the preseason rankings for all of Division I baseball, but it was the Tar Heels who ended up with the best conference record in the regular season. UNC swept the season series, which was played in late March in Winston-Salem. The last game was a high-scoring affair, ending in a score of 14-10.
The winner of tonight’s game moves on to play fifth-seeded Florida State, who topped No. 4 Virginia earlier Friday, in the first semifinal game on Saturday. Even if UNC loses, their record and status as a top-10 team in the country guarantees the Tar Heels will host regionals of the NCAA Division I tournament at Boshamer Stadium.