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After a late inning collapse last Friday, the North Carolina Tar Heels (17-13, 11-10 ACC) are riding a two-game winning streak that clinched a series win against Duke over the weekend.
UNC’s bats were hot in the past two games, winning by a combined score of 32-13.
Carolina travels north this weekend for a critical matchup versus division foe Pitt.
UNC Baseball Upcoming Schedule
| Date | Time | Opponent |
|---|---|---|
| Date | Time | Opponent |
| 5/18/2023 | 6:00 PM | at Clemson |
| 5/19/2023 | 6:00 PM | at Clemson |
| 5/20/2023 | 1:00 PM | at Clemson |
The Tar Heels remain unranked this week.
Due to rain last Friday, the series against Duke ended on Monday. Carolina was scheduled to play Tuesday against UNC Charlotte, but the game was postponed due to “student-athlete welfare concerns.”
According to UNCC, “the 49ers had travel issues returning from FIU in Miami on Monday.”
Pitt (18-10, 12-9 ACC) sits ahead of UNC in the Coastal Division standings by just one game. Needless to say, this is an important series for Carolina.
Pitt is ranked in the national polls:
- D1Baseball.com: 19
- Baseball America: 17
- National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association: 19
- Collegiate Baseball Newspaper: 21
- USA TODAY Coaches Poll: 20
The Panthers rank fifth in the ACC in team batting average, eighth in team ERA, and third in fielding percentage.
Nico Popa is Pitt’s top batter. He ranks sixth in the ACC with a .364 batting average, and ranks in the top ten in the conference in home runs, runs, hits, and stolen bases.
David Yanni ranks fourth in the league with nine home runs on the season, and Jordan Anderson is ninth in the ACC with a .455 on-base percentage.
Pitt has two workhorses on the mound in Matt Gilbertson and Mitch Myers. This duo ranks first and second in the ACC in innings pitched.
Myers is tied with UNC’s Austin Love for fifth in the ACC with 55 strikeouts. Myers boasts a 3.16 ERA, which is in the top ten in the league among starting pitchers.
Below are the individual leaders for UNC:
Batting:
- Batting average: .327 - Justice Thompson
- Slugging percentage: .585 - Caleb Roberts
- Home runs: 7 - Caleb Roberts (T-10th ACC)
- RBI: 25 - Danny Serretti
- Hits: 37 - Justice Thompson
- Runs: 26 - Justice Thompson
- On-base percentage: .457 - Caleb Roberts (8th ACC)
Pitching:
- ERA: 1.08 - Gage Gillian (minimum 10 innings pitched)
- Strikeouts: 55 - Austin Love (T-5th ACC)
- Innings pitched: 49.0 - Austin Love (3rd ACC)
- Wins: 4 - Austin Love (T-4th ACC)
- Saves: 2 - Nik Pry, Connor Ollio, Caden O’Brien