UNC Baseball: Honeycutt named ACC Defense Player of the Year, three other Heels also honored

The college baseball regular season wrapped up over the weekend. This week will see North Carolina compete in the ACC Tournament as we close in on the NCAA Tournament and the College World Series.

However as the postseason festivities get underway across the country, as is the case in other sports, the beginning of this week is a big time for wards. Such was the case for ACC baseball, which saw several Tar Heels honored on Monday.

The biggest of the honors belonged to Carolina outfielder Vance Honeycutt, who was named ACC Defensive Player of the Year.

It’s a well-earned distinction for Honeycutt, who seemed to make a highlight catch just about every weekend.

The award was the first time a Tar Heel has ever received that particular honor since it was established in the 2017 season.

Beyond that honor, Honeycutt was also named to the All-ACC third team for that plus his exploits at the plate. Over the season, Honeycutt put up a .910 OPS with 12 home runs, which was good for second on the team.

Honeycutt wasn’t the only Carolina player to get honored this week, though. Mac Horvath and Jackson Van De Brake both made the second team in the All-ACC honors.

As mentioned in the Tweet above, Horvath had a season where he’s filled up the stat sheet all over the place. He led Carolina with 21 home runs, 22 stolen bases, two triples, 61 RBI, and tied for the team lead with 20 doubles.

Meanwhile, Van Der Brake hit .323/.450/.513 and drove home 45 runs on the season. In addition to that, he also played a nice second base.

Last, but not least, is Casey Cook who was named to the All-Freshman team.

In his first year in college baseball, Cook hit .333/.449/.429, while starting 52 games. His 66 hits trailed only Horvath on the UNC leaderboard. His patience at the plate also impressed, as he drew 33 walks, which was among the team lead.

Those four and the rest of the Tar Heels will next be in action at the ACC Tournament this week. Their opener in the pool play portion of the tournament will be played today at 3 PM ET against Georgia Tech. Hopefully by the end of the week, we’ll be talking about some of the Tar Heels getting some ACC Tournament honors.