Baseball Erupts For Eight After Delay To Beat N.C. A&T

Tuesday, March 26

Chapel Hill

6 p.m.

North Carolina

22-4

North Carolina A&T

17-7

N.C. A&T

North Carolina

Photo by: ANTHONY SORBELLINI

March 26, 2024 | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: UNC Athletics Communications

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Parks Harber hit two home runs and drove in four runs, and No. 14 North Carolina defeated North Carolina A&T 10-5 at Boshamer Stadium on Tuesday.

Alberto Osuna homered, and Gavin Gallaher collected three hits for the Tar Heels (22-4), who won their sixth straight and extended their home winning streak to 24 games.

Matthew Matthijs (10-1) won his NCAA-leading 10th game waiting out an 85-minute weather delay. He pitched two relief innings, striking out a pair.

Isaiah Brewington (0-1), who replaced Aggies' starter Jake Delsi after the delay, allowed three runs and two hits and issued a pair of walks in an inning of relief.

The Aggies loaded the bases with nobody out just before the lightning strikes were detected, halting play in the top of the third.

When play resumed, Matthijs induced a ground ball back to himself to record the out at home before Canyon Brown lifted a sacrifice fly to right, tying the game at 2-2. AJ Jones flew out to end the inning, and the Aggies stranded two.

"Matthijs got us out of a big jam," UNC head coach Scott Forbes said. "That was a big plus. You can't give a good team like A&T extra outs and we did, but we still managed to get out of it.

"We got some big swings of the bat. Two home runs by Parks Harber and one by [Osuna]. That was a good win for us against a good team."

The Tar Heels scored three runs in the third off Brewington. Vance Honeycutt laced an RBI triple into the left-field corner and scored on Osuna's sacrifice fly. Anthony Donofrio, who drew a four-pitch walk, scored the third run on an errant throw by the shortstop after stealing second and taking third on a throwing error by the catcher.

Osuna and Harber, who belted a two-run homer in the second, hit back-to-back home runs in the fifth to make it 7-3 after N.C. A&T (17-7) got a run in the top half of the inning.

Carolina scored three more runs in the sixth. Gallaher came home on a wild pitch, and Casey Cook and Donofrio each had an RBI single to make it 10-3.

Brown and Jones each drove in a run in the seventh for the Aggies before Cameron Padgett and Ben Peterson pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth inning.

The Tar Heels return to ACC play at No. 11 Wake Forest this weekend. The first game of the three-game series is scheduled for Friday, March 29, at 6 p.m. at David F. Couch Ballpark in Winston-Salem.

NOTABLE
• The Tar Heels' 24 consecutive wins at Boshamer Stadium is the second-longest home winning streak in school history. Carolina is 20-0 at home this season.
• UNC improved to 9-2 all-time against North Carolina A&T.
• Harber hit two home runs for the first time as a Tar Heel and the second time in his career. He blasted two home runs against Auburn on March 25, 2023, while at Georgia.
• Matthijs is the first 10-game winner at UNC since Austin Love won 10 games in 2021.
• Honeycutt tripled for the first time this season.
• Gallaher recorded his fourth multi-hit game (all three or more hits) in the past seven contests.
• The Tar Heels' next seven games are on the road against ranked opponents (three at No. 11 Wake Forest, three at No. 9 Virginia, one vs. No. 18 South Carolina).