Diamond Heels bounce back from season-opening loss to win series against Seton Hall

Opening day didn’t go as planned for the Diamond Heels.

Last season, Seton Hall lost its first dozen games. This time around, the visiting Pirates stunned No. 12 North Carolina in Friday's season opener this past Friday, 10-8. 

It was a loss that UNC quickly put in the rearview mirror, as the team's pitching staff regrouped. The Diamond Heels outscored Seton Hall by 11 runs in the last two games of the series, capped off by Sunday’s 4-2 victory.

“To give up that many runs in game one, you need guys to step up and that’s when you find out what type of (pitching) depth you do have,” head coach Scott Forbes said. “The guys that came out of our bullpen, besides a couple in game one that gave up some runs, everybody else was really, really good.”

Overshadowed by the return of sluggers Alberto Osuna, Mac Horvath and preseason All-American Vance Honeycutt  — a trio that combined for 63 home runs last year — was a max exodus within UNC’s pitching staff. Former starter Brandon Schaeffer and flame-throwing closer Davis Palermo both left after being selected in last year's MLB draft. 

With the new vacancies, Forbes welcomed 12 new pitchers this offseason, including seven first-year players. The talented, but inexperienced members of the staff have largely undefined roles to this point, and cementing a rotation is a feat Forbes said will be one of the “the hardest parts” of this season.

However, lineup configurations weren’t solely limited to pitching. First-year Austin Hawke got the nod at second base in the first two games of the series before Jackson Van De Brake earned his first start as a Tar Heel on Sunday.

The Tacoma Community College transfer quickly left his mark within North Carolina’s lineup. On the second pitch he faced, Van De Brake whacked a three-run blast to left field and was greeted by an ambush of Diamond Heels following his trot around the diamond.

“(My teammates) loved it, and that’s what fires me up the most,” Van De Brake said. “That gets me going more than the home run itself.”

The second longball of the year for North Carolina provided the winning runs as UNC’s pitchers took over in the low-scoring affair.

After UNC starting pitcher Connor Bovair’s departure from the mound, Forbes trotted out a trio of relievers who, before Sunday's game, had a combined two appearances for UNC. The fresh faces collectively shut out Seton Hall over the final six innings and tallied seven strikeouts.

Leading the group was Dalton Pence, last summer's Coastal Plain League’s Pitcher of the Year. The sophomore lefty has worked back from Tommy John surgery, and his first collegiate appearance showcased Pence’s expressive flare and control.

“(Today) was a lot of what I expected and even more,” Pence said. “It was good to look in the dugout and see all my teammates on the fence and them cheering for me because they know it’s been a long road.”

Pence noted that the pitchers met as a group Saturday morning after surrendering double-digit runs to begin the season. Over the next 18 innings, the Pirates plated just four runs.

For a weekend that began with UNC’s first season-opening loss since 2018, North Carolina — and namely its pitching staff — reaffirmed why this year could be special. 

“We don’t have any (pitchers) that we can roll out there and be like, ‘Oh well, they’re rolling him out,’” Pence said. “We have confidence in each other and the coaches have confidence in us. Everybody has confidence in us, and we feel like we’re going to have a good year.”

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