‘We like expectations’: North Carolina baseball aims to be a contender in 2020

After suffering a post-season-ending 14-7 loss against Auburn during last season's NCAA Chapel Hill Super Regional that decided a spot in the College World Series, a young North Carolina baseball team is ready to compete once again in 2020. 

With a No. 18 preseason ranking from Baseball America, UNC will be returning its two leading hitters — Aaron Sabato and Danny Serretti — and a deep pitching staff with an added sense of motivation after coming one bad inning away from a possible trip to Omaha last June. 

“Those veteran players that were in that game, I’m sure that’s in the back of their mind,” head coach Mike Fox said. “If you get that close, you don’t forget.”

The motivation to get back to the top ranks of collegiate baseball was echoed by UNC’s returning players, who admitted to having an added push after last year’s results. 

“My 2018 team that went to the College World Series, they had the Davidson loss the year before in the regionals,” junior pitcher Joey Lancellotti said. “They were heartbroken, they were No. 2 in the country and didn’t make a super regional. I think playing with the 2018 guys kind of helped me going into this year.” 

After losing the bulk of its starting lineup from last year’s Super Regional team, there are lingering concerns about experience for a North Carolina team only returning a handful of position players with consistent starting experience.

“It’s just going to make our upperclassmen have to step up a lot more,” senior outfielder Dylan Harris said. “Let them know what’s coming with these games, the pressure is going to be high.”

While UNC is young, the Tar Heels are not devoid of talent by any means. Sabato, the first baseman, is coming off of a highly productive first-year campaign in which he was named Collegiate Baseball Co-National Freshman of the Year, finished with a .343 batting average and a team-high 18 home runs and was recently named to Perfect Game’s Preseason First Team All-American roster.

North Carolina’s pitching staff is also filled with talent, both young and experienced, and will look to be an anchor for the team as the batting lineup gains more reps in the regular season. 

“We should be much better defensively," Fox said. "What I’m most excited about is how good we can be defensively. You still win with pitching and defense, so we’re going to try and start with that.” 

With plenty of new faces in the lineup this season, Fox, who is entering his 22nd season at the helm for North Carolina, has faith that his roster has done the work necessary to overcome any early obstacles that come with a lack of experience. 

“We like expectations, it’s where we want to be. I like our team a lot,” Fox said. “I just like their attitude, their demeanor — they work very hard and have good chemistry — so it kind of starts with that.” 

Despite having never won a national championship, North Carolina is the second winningest team in college baseball since 2001 at 849 wins. And the bar is as high as ever in Chapel Hill entering the 2020 campaign. 

“Our expectations are always to try and make it to Omaha and try to win a national championship,” Lancellotti said. “I think people are really overlooking us if they don’t think we have a shot. Contending for a national championship is always our goal.”

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