WATCH: Freshman Vance Honeycutt breaks North Carolina home run record
Vance Honeycutt is now the single season record holder for most home runs in North Carolina baseball history, blasting his 25th homer of the year. Even more impressively – he’s a true freshman.
Unfortunately for the Tar Heels, however, that’s the only positive takeaway from Saturday’s Super Regional matchup against the Arkansas Razorbacks. Not only was it the only run scored for North Carolina, but it was simply too late in the game for a real run to be made.
The Razorbacks eventually won the matchup 4-1 thanks to a three-run fifth inning led off by Peyton Stovall’s solo home run.
Game two is set for Sunday at 2 p.m. ET with ESPN carrying the national broadcast. A win for the Razorbacks would effectively end the 10-seeded Tar Heels’ season and punch their ticket to the College World Series.
UNC baseball senior Mikey Madej on regional win: ‘This isn’t the goal’
Prior to Saturday, North Carolina baseball punched their ticket to the Super Regional on Monday with their win or go-home victory against VCU. Though it’s clearly a big accomplishment for UNC, Tar Heels left fielder Mikey Madej emphasized that it was just the beginning.
“We’re not done yet, I mean, this isn’t the goal,” Madej said after the game. “We’re not going to celebrate like Coach Forbes said, we’ll celebrate in Omaha.”
The senior played a considerable role in getting the Tar Heels to the 7-3 win on Monday. Already having one run on the board, Mikey Madej stepped up to the plate for the Tar Heels with runners on the corners. Swinging on the first pitch he saw, the left fielder hit a towering home run to left field to give UNC a four-run inning.
Madej knew it was gone from the moment it left his bat. He glanced at the ball briefly before a casual bat flip and a home run trot down the first base line.