The Arkansas baseball team (43-19, 18-12 SEC) walked off UNC (42-22, 15-15 ACC), 4-3, to win the Chapel Hill Super Regional and punch a ticket to the NCAA Men’s College World Series.
What happened?
The game began with a first-pitch pop-up from redshirt junior right fielder Angel Zarate to center field. After first-year center fielder Vance Honeycutt drew a four-pitch walk, junior shortstop Danny Serretti grounded into a double play to end the first frame for the Tar Heels.
After two uneventful frames, the Razorbacks looked poised to strike in the bottom of the second inning. After loading the bases with two outs, redshirt junior Zack Gregory faced off against UNC left-handed pitcher Brandon Schaeffer in a lengthy at-bat. Schaeffer punched out Gregory with seven pitches, stranding three Arkansas runners to end the second inning.
A weather delay began shortly after the second inning and the game resumed over an hour and a half later at 3:30 p.m. Both teams failed to score in the third inning following the break.
Arkansas tacked on a run in each of the next two innings to take a 2-0 lead.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, a double down the left-field line from senior shortstop Jalen Battles scored graduate right fielder Chris Lanzilli, who reached base on a fielder’s choice earlier in the frame. In the fifth inning, the Razorbacks added another run after graduate right fielder Braydon Webb launched a solo home run on the first pitch of his at-bat.
Another scoreless inning followed before the Tar Heels evened the score at 2-2.
In the top of the seventh inning, senior left fielder Mikey Madej led off the frame with a single up the middle. In the very next at-bat, sophomore catcher Tomas Frick was hit by a pitch to put two runners on base with no outs for the Tar Heels. After sophomore Johnny Castagnozzi grounded out to advance both runners, sophomore pinch hitter Eric Grintz grounded out and scored Madej. Finally, Frick scored on a wild pitch for the second run of the inning.