Tar Heels silenced by top-seeded Tennessee as UNC baseball drops College World Series game

Sometimes, in baseball, you don’t come through.

First baseman Parks Harber remembered watching the moment from the dugout. Vance Honeycutt delivered a home run yet again in the postseason and the Tar Heels stacked consecutive base hits after it.

But, with runners on first and third with one out, Anthony Donofrio got caught stealing. Gavin Gallaher struck out. Casey Cook stranded on third and North Carolina never got that close to scoring again on Sunday night.

North Carolina starter Shea Sprague and a four-man bullpen held No. 1 Tennessee and the nation’s second-best slugging percentage to three extra-base hits. It was good enough to win, head coach Scott Forbes said. Only the Tar Heels managed just five hits and were held to one run for the first time in over two months in a 6-1 loss.

It’s the fifth time in the last six games that North Carolina scored four runs or less. Now the Tar Heels are a game away from elimination in Men’s College World Series with a potent Florida State lineup looming on Tuesday at 2 p.m..

“I thought they got the big hit and they capitalized and we could not do that,” Forbes said. “They got it done with runners in scoring position and we didn’t.”

Tennessee starter Drew Beam went through the North Carolina lineup in order his first time through on just 21 pitches—19 of them strikes. Beam largely relied on his high-90s fastball the first time through the lineup before implementing more off-speed selections to get ahead in counts and keep batters off-balance.

North Carolina finally jumped on Beam the third time through the order. Vance Honeycutt sent Beam’s offering 401 feet into left field at 111 miles per hour. Casey Cook followed with a single into right and Tennessee third baseman Billy Amick couldn’t handle a sharp hit from Harber.

That ended Beam’s day with four hits, two walks and seven strikeouts in over four innings. Tennessee reliever Kirby Connell inherited runners on first and second with no outs but North Carolina couldn’t get anyone across.

Tennessee’s combined to allow one hit and two walks in four innings.

“Sometimes I feel like we have kind of been on our heels recently,” Harber said. “We need to go out there aggressive, let it all out there and play with no regrets.”

Sprague did what he could to battle the potent lineup with a mix of high-80s fastballs and sweeping off-speed pitches. The lefty struck out four of the first 12 batters he faced while just two of them reached safely. Eventually, however, the nation’s leader in home runs finally showed up.

Sprague tried to sneak in a changeup on a 2-0 count against Kavares Tears with runners on first and second. Tears sent it 390 feet into the North Carolina bullpen for his 20th homer of the season to give Tennessee a 30 lead in the fourth.

The left-handed junior came back out for the fifth and was greeted by the bat of Reese Chapman. Tennessee’s designated hitter jumped on a 1-0 pitch and sent it 411 feet into right field. Those were Tennessee’s 176th and 177th home runs, respectively, of the season.

Sprague’s night ended there after four runs on three hits, two walks and six strikeouts in just over four innings. Matthew Matthijs, Ben Peterson, Cameron Padgett and Connor Bovair combined to allow four hits and two runs in the final four innings.

Some of them may be available for Tuesday’s elimination game. With Sunday’s loss still fresh, Harber shared his excitement for a chance at redemption.

“This is the most fun I’ve ever had playing baseball,” he said. “I’m not going to let this loss ruin any of my experiences here. I’ll be so grateful that I have another opportunity to go out there and play and just leave it all out there and be ready to go.”