North Carolina opens ACC Tournament game vs. Pitt with 4 HRs from first 5 batters

North Carolina had to wait a couple of days to get underway in the ACC Baseball Tournament, but once the Tar Heels started play they came out swinging — literally.

UNC blasted back-to-back-to-back home runs to open the game against Pitt on Thursday. In total, four of the first five North Carolina batters homered against the Panthers.

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Anthony Donofrio, Casey Cook, Parks Harber and Alberto Osuna all homered in the first inning to give North Carolina a 4-0 lead to start the game.

You can watch the four home runs below:

For the second time this season, we hit four jacks in an inning 🤯 pic.twitter.com/6103jLMuiM

— Carolina Baseball (@DiamondHeels) May 23, 2024

The start to the ACC Tournament was an impressive one for North Carolina, but it doesn’t really matter as far as the Tar Heels’ chances of advancing to the semifinals.

Since Wake Forest beat Pitt earlier this week, the winner of Wake Forest and UNC will advance to the ACC Tournament semifinals.

Because Thursday’s game against Pitt wasn’t a make or break game, UNC junior Vance Honeycutt didn’t play.

Honeycutt is the leadoff hitter for North Carolina but he was scratched due to back spasms on Thursday. Tar Heels coach Scott Forbes provided an update on Honeycutt while speaking with the ACC Network during Thursday’s game.

Forbes said that while every game is important, Honeycutt probably would have played if more was on the line.

“Every game means something, but to advance we have to win tomorrow night,” Scott Forbes said. “So I just wanted to give him some time to get those spasms under control. He looks pretty good moving in the dugout. So he could probably pinch hit tonight if we need him to.”

Even without Honeycutt, North Carolina’s offense was impressive.

UNC won the ACC regular season, finishing with a 41-12 (22-8) record. The Tar Heels got off to a strong start in the ACC Tournament and just continue to find ways to get it done.

Forbes spoke with the ACC Network about his talented group.

“It’s an unbelievable group. Just player-led. The backbone of these guys has been their hard work,” Forbes said. “They’re really together. We’ve got great leadership by older players but also the new guys fit in really well, which is a credit to all these new guys.”

UNC got a strong start from freshman pitcher Jason DeCaro against the Panthers. DeCaro entered Thursday’s game with a 4-1 record and 3.93 ERA. He appears set to move to 5-1 after Thursday’s outing.

“He graduated a year early. He just turned 18 not long ago, so that’s super impressive,” Forbes said. “But he’s ultra-competitive, works his tail off. He’s been able to hold his stuff all season. And that comes through hard work. You can’t do that if you don’t get in the weight room.”