UNC Baseball: Midweek Recap and Weekend of 2/26

The North Carolina Tar Heels face their first conference foe of the 2021 season this weekend in Chapel Hill.

With an unblemished 4-0 record, Carolina starts their ACC slate against no. 12 Virginia.

Below is the schedule for the weekend:

On Tuesday, UNC hosted their neighbors from a county over. Elon and Carolina were tied through three innings until center fielder Justice Thompson scored on a passed ball with the bases loaded.

Later in the inning, left fielder Angel Zarate drove in two runs on his single through the left side.

The Phoenix got one back in the sixth, but Carolina added the final tally of the game in the seventh off a Brett Centracchio RBI double. Centracchio has driven in a run in each game so far this season.

Will Sandy earned the win in five innings of work, and Nik Pry earned the save.

Looking ahead to the series against Virginia, here are the probable starters:

Friday: RHP Austin Love (1-0) vs. LHP Andrew Abbott

Saturday: RHP Max Carlson (1-0) vs. RHP Griff McGarry

Sunday: RHP Max Alba (1-0) vs. RHP Mike Vasil

Love, the reigning ACC Pitcher of the Week, kicks things off for UNC Thursday afternoon. Love has not allowed a hit or a run this season, and in six innings of work against James Madison he had nine strikeouts and two walks.

Caleb Roberts looks to continue his hot start, building off two home runs, a double, a triple and eight RBI so far in four games.

As for Virginia, the Hoos were ranked in the preseason, and remain in the Top 15 in all national polls. In fact, despite dropping a close game to UCONN last Saturday, the Baseball America poll ranks UVA second in the country.

UNC holds a 186-112-4 all-time record over UVA, and are currently on a three-game winning streak from their last meetings in 2019.

Here are some links to follow along with the action:

TV: Thursday; Friday; Saturday

Radio: Thursday; Friday; Saturday

Live Stats: Thursday; Friday; Saturday

These are the individual leaders for UNC through four games:

Batting:

• Batting average: .467 - Justice Thompson
• Slugging percentage: .933 - Caleb Roberts (10th ACC)
• Home runs: 2 - Caleb Roberts (T-2nd ACC)
• RBI: 8 - Caleb Roberts (T-1st ACC)
• Hits: 7 - Justice Thompson (T-5th ACC)
• Runs: 4 - Justice Thompson and Angel Zarate
• On-base percentage: .529 - Justice Thompson

Pitching:

• ERA: 0.00 - Austin Love and Will Sandy (minimum five innings pitched) (T-1st ACC)
• Strikeouts: 9 - Austin Love (T-2nd ACC)
• Innings pitched: 6.2 - Max Carlson (T-2nd ACC)
• Wins: 1 - Austin Love, Will Sandy, Max Carlson. Max Alba (T-1st ACC)
• Saves: 1 - Nik Pry, Connor Ollio, Joey Lancellotti (T-1st ACC)