The UNC baseball team (21-12, 7-8 ACC) fell to North Carolina A&T (12-19, 1-8 Big South) in a 7-6 loss at Boshamer Stadium on Tuesday night.
What happened?
After two quick innings for both teams, the Tar Heels were the first to get a runner in scoring position in the bottom of the third. That runner was sophomore first baseman Hunter Stokely, who reached base on a ground rule double to the far corner of left field.
Sophomore catcher Eric Grintz was up next, as he reached first base on a walk to put runners at first and second. This brought up first-year Vance Honeycutt, who lined a sac fly to center field to advance Stokely and Grintz. On a single from left fielder Angel Zarate, the two Tar Heels scored to bring North Carolina ahead to a 2-0 lead.
A&T was quick to respond, and did so with force. The top of the fourth inning saw the Aggies score six runs on six hits and one error.
The highlight of all this? A grand slam.
In a dramatic turn of events, sophomore left fielder Camden Jackson reached first on a bunt to load the bases, bringing up first baseman Cort Maynard. Maynard made the Tar Heels pay for the misplay on the bunt, as his grand slam off the top of the scoreboard brought the score to a decisive 5-2.
The Aggies still weren’t done. A pair of hits from sophomore Alex Reyna and first-year Canyon Brown would score one more, to elevate the score to 6-2 after the top of the fourth.
This score didn’t budge until the bottom of the sixth inning, which saw the Tar Heels bounce back with three runs on a double and two bombs. Zarate started the inning with a line-drive double to right center field, and was subsequently scored by junior shortstop Danny Serretti as he took A&T’s Michael Crayton yard on a hanging outside pitch.
