UNC Baseball: One to Remember

What a postseason it was for the Diamond Heels.

Ever since the ACC No. 1 seed arrived in Charlotte for the conference tournament, it has been a heavy dose of fireworks, drama, and nail-biting if you’ve been following along. But through all of the ups and downs of an unhinged postseason, North Carolina rallied the support of the university and fans all over in what was a season to remember.

The antics started when the Tar Heels hit back-to-back-to-back home runs to lead off the opening pool play game of the ACC Tournament. The following day, the Diamond Heels had a winner-take-all contest with Wake Forest and arguably the best pitcher in the country, Chase Burns. North Carolina looked lifeless through six innings as the star right-hander had struck out 15, until the postseason magic began. After chasing Burns (no pun intended) from his start, everything clicked again. The Diamond Heels rallied, took the lead, and extended the game to extra innings. It was a special, electric comeback.

The Tar Heels did not win that game, but the identity was already in motion. Something felt different about this group, and days later Scott Forbes was given the keys to another regional and potential super regional host landing the No. 4 national seed in the NCAA Tournament. Chapel Thrill took it from there.

It was a show from first pitch to last. North Carolina trailed in four of their six postseason wins. They were the first team in college baseball history to hit a walk-off in the regional, super regional, and College World Series. Vance Honeycutt put himself on the pedestal of historic Tar Heel athletes with six home runs and representing the heartbeat for this teams success. And that’s just scratching the surface.

The storylines just didn’t ever stop. Gavin Gallaher hit a walk-off grand slam off of his picture on the scoreboard as the Tar Heels escaped pesky Long Island as ten run favorites in the opening round. Was there a game better than the regional-clinching comeback over LSU? North Carolina looked defunct and on the brink of elimination and somehow rallied in the ninth behind a Colby Wilkerson (ninth in the order) single to score the tying run.

Actually, Chapel Hill might’ve outdone themselves just a week later. West Virginia was well on their way to a 1-0 super regional lead as pitcher Derek Clark trotted onto the field with 130+ pitches and three outs away from a statement win. His first pitch of the ninth was sent off the batters eye by Luke Stevenson to tie the game, and just a few batters later was the iconic call of “Honeycutt launches...left field...goodnight!” Can you hear it? If you can’t, you clearly haven’t watched the clip enough.

Here’s a reminder:

How about the bullpen? Dalton Pence and Matthew Matthijs were nails in every appearance. So many of the Tar Heels wins wouldn’t have been in reach if it wasn’t for the consistency of mid-inning work from relievers.

It wasn't always pretty or cohesive for all nine (or more) innings. But they just continued to find a way. Chapel Thrill was reinvented for the national stage to see, as the Diamond Heels put a new expectation on what to expect when throwing around that term. The sports world took notice of what North Carolina was accomplishing and how they were doing so, and it felt like destiny was on the side of the Tar Heels.

All good things must come to an end, as Scott Forbes and his group went 1-2 in Omaha after opening the weekend with another Honeycutt walk-off. North Carolina didn’t accomplish the ultimate goal, but they ended their season exactly where they wanted to. As we say goodbye to another Tar Heel athletic season and year, this was one that will be spoken of for quite some time.

North Carolina finished 48-16. They won the loaded ACC who sent four teams to Omaha and reached the College World Series for the first time since 2018. Future first-round pick Vance Honeycutt will forever be in the running for best Tar Heel to ever wear the uniform. All of this and lots more was accomplished with two Friday night starting pitchers sidelined for the year. This season was so much deeper than a few dramatic weeks in May and June, but that is exactly how this edition of Carolina Baseball will be remembered.

Thank you, Diamond Heels. You put on a show.