UNC Baseball: Midweek recap and weekend of 3/26

After their 2-1 series victory over Boston College, the North Carolina Tar Heels (13-6, 8-4 ACC) remain deadlocked at the top of the Coastal Division standings.

Heading into a home weekend series against NC State, Carolina received a major boost with their dominant 8-1 victory over a top ten East Carolina team.

Here is the schedule versus the Wolfpack:

Below is an update on UNC in the national polls:

• D1Baseball.com: 24
• Baseball America: 11
• National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association: 27
• Collegiate Baseball Newspaper: 17
• USA TODAY Coaches Poll: 25

UNC entered the USA TODAY Coaches and D1Baseball.com polls this week. Carolina gained three spots with Baseball America, remained at No. 17 with Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, and dropped three spots with the NCBWA.

East Carolina headed into their Tuesday night in Chapel Hill with a 16-3 record and a top ten ranking across all the national polls.

The Tar Heels started the scoring early with a Danny Serretti RBI double in the bottom of the first.

The Pirates responded in the top of the second, but that was all the offense ECU could muster that evening.

Serretti added another RBI in the third, and catcher Thomas Frick drove in the first of a game-high three RBIs.

In the fifth, Frick drove in a run, and Jake Holtzapple added a RBI single of his own.

Second baseman Johnny Castagnozzi had a solo shot in the sixth, and Frick added his own in the seventh.

The final tally in the eighth was a Justice Thompson score on a wild pitch.

Will Sandy got the start, and Nik Pry earned his first win of the season while striking out five batters.

Serretti is riding a eight-game hitting streak, while Angel Zarate continues his impressive on-base streak. The left fielder has reached base in 39 games, dating back to 2019.

Carolina’s victory Tuesday night was its third win over a top ten opponent this season.

Below are some highlights from the 8-1 win over ECU:

Today, the Tar Heels host rival NC State to Chapel Hill for a weekend series.

NCSU (5-9, 1-8 ACC) had seven games canceled this season. They have only managed one conference victory this season while being swept in two of their three league series.

Despite just 14 games played, Luca Tresh is one of the top sluggers in the ACC. His seven home runs rank fifth in the conference, and .778 slugging percentage ranks fourth. Tresh leads the Wolfpack in RBIs, hits, and total bases.

Austin Murr leads NC State with a .378 batting average, while Jonny Butler has the top on-base percentage on the team at .467.

Pitching is the weak spot for this team. NC State ranks last in the ACC in team ERA.

Even with the Wolfpack playing the fewest total games in the conference, they have allowed the second-most earned runs and third-most runs in the ACC.

Below are the individual leaders for UNC:

Batting:

• Batting average: .356 - Justice Thompson
• Slugging percentage: .575 - Justice Thompson
• Home runs: 5 - Caleb Roberts (T-2nd ACC)
• RBI: 15 - Caleb Roberts (T-7th ACC)
• Hits: 26 - Justice Thompson (7th ACC)
• Runs: 20 - Justice Thompson (T-3rd ACC)
• On-base percentage: .466 - Justice Thompson

Pitching:

• ERA: 1.42 - Caden O’Brien (minimum 10 innings pitched)
• Strikeouts: 37 - Austin Love (4th ACC)
• Innings pitched: 32.0 - Austin Love (1st ACC)
• Wins: 4 - Austin Love (T-1st ACC)
• Saves: 2 - Nik Pry, Connor Ollio, Caden O’Brien (T-3rd ACC)