The North Carolina Tar Heels’ baseball team is doing exactly what programs crave all season: playing its best baseball at the right time.
On Sunday, May 12, UNC (39-11, 20-7) won its sixth-consecutive game and clinched its first ACC Coastal Division title since 2018. These win totals have North Carolina atop the ACC as a whole – both in overall and conference victories.
The Diamond Heels are hitting .315 as a team, which ranks 16th in the nation. Eight hitters are mashing a minimum .300 – when was the last time you saw that?
There’s also several former UNC standouts enjoying their pro ball seasons. Arizona Diamondbacks ace Zac Gallen might be the most easily recognizable name, but all the attention this week is on Mac Horvath, who starred in Chapel Hill from 2021-2023.
Horvath, selected 53rd overall (second round) by the Baltimore Orioles in the 2023 MLB Draft, was named to the MLB Pipeline’s latest Prospect Team of the Week.
Three Top 100 prospects — including a red-hot slugger who just leaped into the top five — headline the latest Team of the Week: https://t.co/gUi94k4WCv pic.twitter.com/1Yn8AVqN8T
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) May 13, 2024
Horvath, a member of the Aberdeen IronBirds (Baltimore’s High-A affiliate), earned his spot by going 5-for-13 over games from May 7-11. He scored six times, added a home run, two RBIs and four walks.
Horvath started to gain some MLB Draft attention before North Carolina’s 2022 campaign, but didn’t solidify himself as a top prospect until his breakout season in 2023, mashing a career-best .305 while adding 24 home runs and 66 RBIs.
Can Horvath climb up the Oriole ranks this year like fellow top prospect Jackson Holliday?
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