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Standout freshman Vance Honeycutt celebrates with North Carolina teammate Patrick Alvarez, left, after the Tar Heels defeated VCU in Monday night’s regional championship game to advance in the NCAA Tournament.
The sellout crowd at Boshamer Stadium supporting in high gear, Gillian couldn’t help but appreciate the moment and the path that has allowed him such an experience.
“Coming out of junior college and coming to a place I never thought that I’d really get to,” Gillian said, “it’s indescribable, really, just to have the opportunity to be out there and to feel all that energy.”
The Tar Heels (42-20), the No. 10 overall seed in the NCAA’s 64-team field, aren’t finished with the comforts of home in this tournament.
A best-of-3 series in the Super Regionals is up next starting at 11 a.m. Saturday (ESPN) in Chapel Hill against Arkansas (41-19), with the winner bound for the College World Series. The second game of the series is at 1 p.m. Sunday (ESPN or ESPN2), and the third game will be played Monday if necessary.
Arkansas defeated regional host Oklahoma State on Monday night to eliminate the Cowboys and advance to the Super Regional round, which will be held later this week at UNC’s ballpark. Had Oklahoma State, the No. 7 national seed, beaten Arkansas in that winner-take-all game, North Carolina would’ve been playing on the road at Oklahoma State in the Super Regionals.
The Tar Heels improved to 33-7 at Boshamer Stadium with Monday’s victory, their third straight win after dropping to the losers bracket of the Chapel Hill Regional. It became an eventful ride to the regional title, including coach Scott Forbes serving a two-game suspension stemming from an ejection in Saturday night’s loss to VCU.
Standout freshman Vance Honeycutt celebrates with North Carolina teammate Patrick Alvarez, left, after the Tar Heels defeated VCU in Monday night’s regional championship game to advance in the NCAA Tournament.
Times-News
Photo courtesy of UNC athletics
Danny Serretti belted a two-run homer, Mikey Madej homered and drove in three runs, and UNC got clutch pitching from starter Brandon Schaeffer (who went 3⅔ innings on one day of rest) and Gillian in relief (4⅓ scoreless innings) with Forbes back at the helm Monday.
“Pure joy and happiness for our players,” he said. “We talk about being in the moment and creating memories, and I could just see it in these guys’ eyes as soon as that last ball was caught, and that’s why you coach. Or at least that’s why you should coach.”
Last year, North Carolina’s season ended in a regional hosted by Texas Tech. Gillian said that scene in Lubbock, Texas, reinforced the value of homefield for teams in the NCAA Tournament.
“One of the biggest things is having a home crowd,” he said. “Not having thousands of fans against you. It’s nice to have them cheering for you. In the Texas Tech game last year, I couldn’t even hear myself think. And coming in (Monday) and not being able to hear myself think for the right reason was really nice.”
Chapel Hill super regional schedule, TV and start times
Adam Smith is a sports reporter for the Burlington Times-News and USA TODAY Network. You can reach him by email at asmith@thetimesnews.com or @adam_smithTN on Twitter.
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