The No. 11 Diamond Heels (37-11, 18-7 ACC) beat the Louisville Cardinals (29-20, 13-12 ACC), 14-4, in eight innings on Friday night at Boshamer Stadium.
The Cardinals loaded the bases with one out in the top of the first inning, as first-year pitcher Jason DeCaro gave up a hit by pitch, single and walk. However, DeCaro was able to escape the inning with back-to-back flyouts with the bases loaded to keep the game scoreless.
In the bottom of the inning, junior center fielder Vance Honeycutt hit a solo shot to right field to tie the North Carolina career home run record with 57 to tie Devy Bell .
"[Bell] was really awesome,” Honeycutt said. “Told me that he wanted [me to break the record], that he was happy for me, excited for me and hoped I did it.”
With one out, senior first baseman Parks Harber singled up the middle, but UNC was unable to advance Harber and entered the second with a 1-0 advantage.
Louisville got runners on first and second with no outs to start the top of the second and loaded the bases after a walk. DeCaro then walked the next batter, bringing in the Louisville runner from third to tie the game 1-1. UNC then was able to convert a 4-6-3 double play but allowed another Louisville run.
A lengthy review awarded first-year catcher Luke Stevenson a double after the umpire ruled the ball didn’t clear the fence, senior shortstop Colby Wilkerson popped out to end the inning.
In the bottom of the third inning, Honeycutt hit his second solo home run of the game to break the all time career record at North Carolina with his 58th career home run.
“The kid’s phenomenal,” head coach Scott Forbes said. “And we just celebrated that he broke the record and gave him the ball that he broke the record with, and then I told him, I said, ‘Man, you’re gonna have a lot more cause you got one more year here at North Carolina.’ Everybody laughed.”
