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Baseball

Honeycutt, Tar Heels Walk It Off in 3-2 Win Over Virginia

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Vance Honeycutt’s single brought home Jackson Van De Brake from third with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, and North Carolina pulled out yet another win in its last at-bat, a 3-2 walk-off victory over Virginia in the College World Series opener on Friday.

The Tar Heels (48-14) advanced to play Sunday against the winner of Friday night’s Bracket 1 game between Florida State and Tennessee. Virginia (46-16) meets the Florida State-Tennessee loser in an elimination game Sunday.

Four of North Carolina’s six wins in the NCAA Tournament have come on its final at-bat. Honeycutt accounted for a walk-off win in the super regional opener last week against West Virginia, homering in the bottom of the ninth.

“You shouldn’t feel like he’s going to come through every time, but that’s how I felt,” said Casey Cook, who watched from the on-deck circle as Honeycutt delivered the winning hit. “That’s how it’s been going lately. Everybody in the dugout knew he was going to come through.”

The outcome was another disappointment for Virginia, which has lost five straight CWS games since 2021, each of the last three by one run.

Postgame Notes
  • North Carolina improved to 19-23 all-time at the MCWS, and 5-7 all-time in MCWS openers. Both teams to reach the MCWS Championship Finals (2006, 2007), won their Omaha opener.
  • Today marked UNC’s first walk-off victory ever at the Men’s College World Series in 42 games. Before today, there had not been a walk-off win in a MCWS opener since 1996 (Alabama's Chris Moller homered to beat Oklahoma State).
  • North Carolina is the first team since at least 1999 to win in walk-off fashion in Game 1 of a Regional, Super Regional and MCWS in the same year.
  • North Carolina’s 48 wins are its most since finishing 48-14 in 2017.
  • North Carolina remained 43-4 this year when scoring at least five runs, and improved to 5-13 when scoring less than five times.
  • North Carolina is now 17-2 when allowing two runs or less this year.
  • North Carolina is 25-4 this year when scoring in the first inning and 32-4 when scoring before its opponent this season. UNC’s 32-4 mark when scoring first is tied with Lamar for the third-best mark nationally.
  • North Carolina owns a program-record 113 round-trippers this season, but did not homer on Friday. The Tar Heels are the third team since 1999 to hit two walk-off homers on their way to the MCWS, joining Mississippi State in 2018 and UC Santa Barbara in 2016.

Up Next
The Tar Heels advance to the winner’s portion of Bracket 1 with their next contest on Saturday, June 16, at 7 p.m. on ESPN2. UNC will meet the winner of Florida State and Tennessee, who play at 6 p.m. tonight (Friday) on ESPN.