Vance Honeycutt's two home runs drive Diamond Heels past LSU in Chapel Hill Regional

A year ago, junior center fielder Vance Honeycutt could just sit and watch. 

Head coach Scott Forbes remembers the tears streaming from Honeycutt’s face when he was sidelined with a back injury for the final 10 games of the season. As the Tar Heels ended their 2023 season in the Terre-Haute Regional, Honeycutt was left powerless.

It sucked. Plain and simple.

Before the start of this year’s Chapel Hill Regional, Honeycutt said he would cherish this opportunity more with the memories of where he was last season. And in No. 1-seeded UNC’s 6-2 win over No. 2-seeded LSU on Saturday, Honeycutt made his return to the national stage with thunder. His two home runs — which tied the program record for career multi-home run games at seven — along with his four RBIs, vaulted the Diamond Heels to the regional final.

“I was hoping and praying that he would have a healthy year,” Forbes said, knocking on the table between the final two words. “And he's a big reason we've had this success.”

Forbes never would have guessed it, but as Honeycutt strolled to the batter’s box in the fifth inning, he was in the midst of a slump. Despite drawing a vital hit-by-pitch to leadoff the ninth against LIU on Friday, which ultimately ended in first-year third baseman Gavin Gallaher’s walk-off grand slam, Honeycutt sat 0-6 in the regional with four strikeouts. 

He said he was pressing and trying to do too much with each at-bat. His teammate, redshirt sophomore Casey Cook, had to remind him that this was a moment to cherish.

“Casey told me the inning before, ‘Just have fun,’” Honeycutt said. “I probably wasn't doing the best about it this time of the year, which probably pressed a little bit. So just the reminder right then just to kind of soak it in and just try to have fun.” 

Cook stood in the on-deck circle as Honecyutt came to the plate in a crucial moment in the fifth inning. With just one out, senior shortstop Colby Wilkerson stood on second, and graduate second baseman Alex Madera was stationed at third. The game was still knotted at zero.

LSU’s right-handed starting pitcher Luke Holman fooled Honeycutt in his previous two at-bats, striking him out both times. Honeycutt said he felt more comfortable facing him for the third time, and he didn’t wait long to show it.

Honeycutt sent the first pitch he saw 413 feet over the netting in left field. With one swing of the bat, the Tar Heels had a three-run lead.

“He got me the first two times, and I wasn't on the fastball,” Honeycutt said.” “So I went up there, just committed to the fastball, and got one.”

During the next at-bat, a similar story unfolded. While the bases were empty this time around, he found an 0-2 pitch he liked in the seventh inning and launched it 15 feet further than the last. 

In the words of Forbes: Boom. Just a bazooka.

With the Tigers scoring two in the top of the frame, Forbes said LSU had all the momentum. After UNC’s first two batters of the inning went down unceremoniously, the Tar Heels were staring down a quick inning and the prospects of losing their once three-run advantage.  

But as he has done throughout his entire career, Honeycutt prevented that from happening. 

“It's incredible how hard he hits the ball and how far it goes,” junior pitcher Shea Sprague said. “So it's a lot of fun to watch, and I'm glad he's in our lineup.”

Now just one win away from the super regionals, the Tar Heels will continue looking to Honeycutt as the difference-maker in their lineup. The hole he left last year may have been too much to overcome. 

But now Honeycutt is back. And on Saturday, he put the country on notice.

@brendan_lunga18

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