The Diamond Heels of UNC remained at #2 in the rankings for the second straight week, but the team seems a little more vulnerable now than they did this time last week, when they were coming off a series win against Georgia Tech. They held serve against Duke over the weekend with a 2-1 series win, but an underwhelming performance in the second-game loss made it taste just a little sour. It did not help matters that in this week’s midweek action, the Heels lost their first midweek game of the season
in emphatic fashion as Coastal Carolina came to Boshamer Stadium and absolutely knocked them around in a 12-2 rout.
Jackson Rose was given the start against the Chanticleers but was pulled pretty early after it became clear that he didn’t quite have what he needed; it took him nearly 50 pitches to get 5 outs. Walker McDuffie came in to limit the damage to just 1 run to Rose’s name, and proceeded to shoved for four innings. He got some run support with a Cooper Nicholson 2-run homer in the bottom of the second, but the UNC bats couldn’t do much more as we got a pitchers’ duel into the sixth. McDuffie gave up a couple of RBI hits in the sixth to give Coastal the lead back, and after a quick 1-2-3 inning for UNC’s offense, the wheels fell off. Matthew Matthijs took over from McDuffie and immediately gave up a double, a bunt single, and an RBI double, so he was pulled without recording an out. Folger Boaz, who did not start against Duke, gave up an RBI single and a free base via wild pitch, so Scott Forbes took him out as well. Cam Seagraves finally recorded the first out of the inning, albeit via sac bunt, before he gave Coastal another run via wild pitch followed by a walk and a single, at which point it was Cam Padgett’s turn. Coastal got Seagraves’ runners across, but Padgett managed an infield out and a strikeout to finally get out of a nightmare 7th in which Coastal scored 6 runs.
It was the kind of inning, feasting on opponent mistakes and balls on the ground, that UNC has lived on this season, and more importantly the kind that their pitching and defense has so far been able to avoid. Again, the Heels went down in order in the bottom of the inning and it was pretty much over from there. Coastal tacked on 3 runs in the 9th due to some sloppy fielding, and that was that. Among other offensive disappointments, Owen Hull’s on-base streak was snapped. Nicholson has been a bright spot lately, recently becoming the first Heel to reach 10 home runs (he has 11 now) and gaining the team lead in OPS.
A second midweek game that had been scheduled against Queens College was cancelled, nominally due to weather concerns, and because it is finals week, UNC is not playing an ACC series this weekend — so they have some time to regroup before the final stretch of the regular season and into the postseason. That doesn’t mean they’re going to be completely idle, as they will actually play Duke for a fourth time on Sunday — due to some scheduling quirks, this will be a nonconference game. I don’t need to tell you about Duke’s roster, because I already did that. Expect Jason DeCaro to start, since he hasn’t thrown in a game since last Thursday, and Ryan Lynch and Caden Glauber to pitch in relief — they’ll be the primary arms for UNC that would otherwise have missed out on live action this weekend.
Batting Leaders
- Batting Average: CF Owen Hull, .380 (5th ACC)
- On-Base Percentage: Hull, .491 (8th ACC)
- Slugging Percentage: 3B Cooper Nicholson, .600
- Home Runs: Nicholson, 11
- Runs Batted In: Hull, 55 (t-5th ACC)
- Hits: Hull, 65 (t-6th ACC)
- Walks: C/DH Macon Winslow, 41 (t-4th ACC)
- Runs: 2B Gavin Gallaher, 56 (5th ACC)
- Stolen Bases: SS Jake Schaffner, 21 (6th ACC)
Pitching Leaders
- Earned Run Average: Caden Glauber, 2.13 (1st ACC)
- Strikeouts: Walker McDuffie, 65
- Innings Pitched: Ryan Lynch, 60.2 (6th ACC)
- Wins: Jason DeCaro, 7 (t-4th ACC)
- Saves: McDuffie, 4 (1st ACC)
- Batting Average Against: McDuffie, .181 (2nd ACC)
