UNC Baseball: Midweek recap and weekend of 4/6

The North Carolina Tar Heels (20-9, 6-4) faltered down the stretch versus South Carolina during the border war on Tuesday night.

Carolina starts their Easter weekend series Thursday night down in Atlanta against Georgia Tech.

Here is the upcoming schedule versus the Yellow Jackets:

The 2-1 series win over Notre Dame produced a mixed bag for Carolina in the national polls.

The Tar Heels had the same rankings in two polls, went down in two others, and jumped up four spots in one poll.

Below are the current rankings for UNC:

• D1Baseball.com: 13
• Baseball America: 16
• NCBWA: 14
• Collegiate Baseball: 14
• USA Today Coaches Poll: 15

On Tuesday night at Truist Field in Charlotte, the Tar Heels and Gamecocks met for their annual game. South Carolina ranked in the top ten in the national polls, and their pitching depth was on display.

Through the first six innings, both teams were scoreless. For the Tar Heels, redshirt freshman Dalton Pence earned his first collegiate start. The lefty performed well, allowing no runs, two hits, and two walks, while striking out three.

True freshman Matthew Matthijs came in during the fifth and threw two hitless innings for the Tar Heels. But once again, the bullpen woes continued for UNC. Five Tar Heels appeared in the final two-half innings.

Yet, the lack of run support did not help the cause. Carolina managed just six hits in the game. Interestingly enough, each hit came with two outs in six consecutive innings.

This was the first time UNC had been shut out this season.

Georgia Tech (18-11, 6-6) has won just two of five since their 2-1 series win over a struggling Clemson team two weekends ago.

The Yellow Jackets are good at the plate. GT has racked up the most total bases in the ACC, and is second in team batting average, hits, and doubles.

Junior Jake DeLeo is the ACC hits leader and ranks in the top ten in the conference in batting average (.409), slugging percentage (.764), runs scored (34), home runs (10), and doubles (13).

Redshirt sophomore Jackson Finley is another player to watch. He is another top hitter in the league with 11 home runs, 34 RBIs, and a .821 slugging percentage, and was named to the Perfect Game Midseason All-America Third Team yesterday. The Tar Heels may face Finley on the mound as well. The righty has seven starts this season and has a 1-3 record with a 4.60 ERA.

Sophomore righty Terry Busse is tied for the ACC lead with seven saves.

Below are the individual leaders for UNC:

Batting (minimum 2 PA/G and 75% of games played):

• Batting average: .347 - Jackson Van De Brake
• Slugging percentage: .711 - Mac Horvath (10th in ACC)
• Home runs: 13 - Mac Horvath (2nd in ACC)
• RBI: 32 - Tomas Frick and Mac Horvath (T-8th in ACC)
• Hits: 36 - Tomas Frick
• Runs: 33 - Mac Horvath
• On-base percentage: .472 - Jackson Van De Brake
• Stolen bases: 15 - Vance Honeycutt (T-2nd in ACC)

Pitching (minimum 1 IP/G):

• ERA: 2.52 - Connor Bovair
• Strikeouts: 38 - Max Carlson
• Innings pitched: 39.1 - Connor Bovair
• Wins: 3 - Jake Knapp and Connor Bovair
• Saves: n/a
• Opposing Batting Average: .203 - Connor Bovair