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Mac Horvath’s two homers and four RBI were part of North Carolina’s hit parade against Hofstra on Friday in the Chapel Hill Regional of the NCAA baseball tournament.
Times-News
Photo courtesy of Helen McGinnis / UNC athletics
CHAPEL HILL — Coach Scott Forbes said as the North Carolina baseball staff prepared for Friday’s opener in the NCAA Tournament, the thought occurred that Mac Horvath might match up favorably against Hofstra starting pitcher Brad Camarda.
“We felt like Camarda’s off-speed was OK, but he could land it,” Forbes said. “So if we stayed on the fastball and stayed on time for it, we felt like we could do some damage.”
Horvath delivered right on cue with two home runs and four RBI during the Tar Heels’ 15-4 trouncing of Hofstra in the first game of the Chapel Hill Regional at Boshamer Stadium.
He took Camarda deep in each of his first two at-bats. Horvath’s second home run, a two-run shot that marked his 18th homer of the season, put UNC ahead to stay at 4-2 in the third inning.
North Carolina (39-19), the No. 10 overall seed in the tournament’s 64-team field, meets VCU at 7 p.m. Saturday. The Tar Heels hammered out 17 hits while pounding Hofstra to collect their eighth straight victory, and 16th win across the last 18 games.
Horvath said his approach at the plate early on was to pick out fastballs and try to hit line drives. Forbes said UNC’s coaches suspected the flatter swing planes possessed by Horvath and designated hitter Alberto Osuna would benefit North Carolina against Camarda and Hofstra (30-22), the CAA Tournament champion.
“We felt like those two guys really matched up with this pitcher well,” Forbes said. “I thought obviously Mac showed that, but I felt like Alberto just missed hitting two balls out of the yard as well.”
Mac Horvath’s two homers and four RBI were part of North Carolina’s hit parade against Hofstra on Friday in the Chapel Hill Regional of the NCAA baseball tournament.
Times-News
Photo courtesy of Helen McGinnis / UNC athletics
Tar Heels starting pitcher Max Carlson said Horvath’s two blasts provided a steadying effect and injected a dose of confidence after Hofstra took early leads of 1-0 and 2-1.
Later, Horvath added a single during UNC’s seven-run seventh inning and picked up another RBI when he was beaned by a pitch in the eighth inning.
“Hitting is contagious,” Horvath said, “so once one guy kind of gets it going, the next guy behind them follows. That kind of showed (Friday). I hit one home run and then everyone else kind of started barreling up balls. It was just a recipe for success.”
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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