Surrendering eight runs late in the game proved fatal as the No. 13 North Carolina baseball team (18-7), fell to Coastal Carolina (15-7) by a score of 12-7, on Tuesday evening at Boshamer Stadium.
What happened?
First-year pitcher Cameron Padgett started on the mound for the Tar Heels and held the Chanticleers scoreless for the first two frames.
In the third, Coastal Carolina struck first after a throwing error by junior catcher Tomas Frick on a failed pickoff attempt plated a runner. The Tar Heels responded in the third despite having zero hits in the frame. After getting hit by three pitches, UNC scored three runs before a double play ended the threat.
Coastal Carolina tied the game at three runs apiece in the top of the fourth thanks to a two-out rally, but North Carolina got its offense going with a two-out rally of its own in the bottom of the fifth.
Junior second baseman Jackson Van De Brake gave the Tar Heels their first hit of the game as he doubled down the left field line and was driven in on a single to left field by Frick. Later, he was plated by redshirt first-year utility player Casey Cook, who dropped a line drive into right to give his team a 5-3 lead.
After the Chanticleers scored a run in the ensuing half inning, the Tar Heels added two more runs in the bottom of the seventh to go up 7-4. The Heels did their work with two outs once again, as junior third baseman Johnny Castagnozzi double to right center and unveiled his mano a borsa celebration.
However, the lead was short lived, as the Chanticleers found their fire in the eighth by scoring eight runs on four different Tar Heel pitchers. UNC head coach Scott Forbes was ejected – an occurrence that happened in the previous year's game against the Chanticleers – which caused the Tar Heels to play the rest of the game in his absence.
North Carolina recorded two hits over the next two innings, but the deficit was too large to overcome and the team fell 12-7.
