The North Carolina Tar Heels’ baseball team has been playing some of their best baseball of the season going into Thursday’s start to a series against Virginia. They entered the game at 10-2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, fresh off a big sweep over Wake Forest.
But they would stumble a little bit.
North Carolina blew a lead of five runs on Thursday and then struggled on Friday to lose the series against the Cavaliers before bouncing back with a win on Saturday to salvage something in the series. It is a tough bump in the road for the Diamond Heels in ACC play but with a lot of baseball left between now and the end of the season, things like this will happen.
And after all of that, the Diamond Heels are still in first place in the Coastal Division.
Game 1: Virginia 14, UNC 11
Thursday’s game saw the Tar Heels get out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning before the Cavaliers responded with a six-run bottom of the first inning to grab the lead. But UNC battled back.
The Tar Heels got two in the second and then exploded for seven in the third inning. They took that 11-6 lead into the fourth and it looked like it was going to be a good day overall. The Cavaliers had different plans. Virginia got one in the fourth, three in the fifth, one in the sixth, and three in the eighth.
The loss snapped UNC’s nine-game win streak.
Game 2: Virginia 7, UNC 2
Friday’s game belonged to the Cavaliers from the start as they scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning. And that was all they would need.
Vance Honeycutt hit two solo home runs for the only runs for the Diamond Heels in the game.
Game 3: UNC 12, Virginia 7
For the second time in three games, North Carolina would blow a lead of five runs. After scoring two in the first and four in the second, UNC held a 6-1 lead after two. Virginia responded with two in the third and three in the sixth to tie the game.
But UNC wasn’t going to let what happened on Thursday create the same result.
The Diamond Heels scored three runs in the seventh and eighth to seal the win.