In their first midweek matchup of the season, the No. 12 North Carolina Diamond Heels (3-1) defeated the Radford Highlanders (2-2) 14-2 on the back of a six-run second inning.
What happened?
First year left-handed pitcher Kyle Percival earned his first start of the season on the mound for North Carolina. In the top of the first inning, he gave up one hit to right field and got out of the inning after junior catcher Tomas Frick threw out senior right fielder Zack Whitacre stealing second. The Heels then went three-up, three-down in the bottom of the first.
North Carolina’s offense came to life in the bottom of the second, with the first three batters – Frick, junior first baseman Hunter Stokely and junior designated hitter Eric Grintz – reaching base. With the bases loaded, junior second baseman Jackson Van De Brake continued his hot start to the season with a single to right field to drive in Frick and Stokely.
The stellar inning for the Diamond Heels continued when junior Patrick Alvarez hit an infield single to drive in Van De Brake, followed by first year shortstop Colby Wilkerson laying down a bunt single to load the bases. Honeycutt then hit an RBI double to left field to put the Heels up 5-0. Freshman Casey Cook then hit a sacrifice fly to give UNC a 6-0 lead before Stokely grounded out to end the second.
The Tar Heels added another run in the next frame off of an RBI groundout from Wilkerson. Radford responded with a solo home run to lead off the top of the fourth inning from Whitacre.
After a scoreless frame from the Heels, the offense picked back up in the fifth with Alvarez, Wilkerson and Horvath drawing walks before a two-run RBI single from Cook. On the next at bat, Frick drove in another two runs on a single to shallow center field, putting the Heels up 11-1.
The Heels added another run in the sixth, and Radford scored one of their own in the top of the seventh. In the eighth, North Carolina sophomore outfielder Joe Jaconski drove in the last two runs after a fielder’s choice error, putting UNC up 14-2.
