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CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina baseball poured out the frustration, bashing its way within one victory of advancing in the NCAA Tournament.
The Tar Heels hit four home runs and stormed past VCU 19-8 on Sunday night at Boshamer Stadium, completing the two-step that was required to keep their season alive and extending the Chapel Hill Regional to a winner-take-all matchup Monday.
UNC held off Georgia 6-5 on Sunday afternoon, before unloading an onslaught that featured two-run homers from Angel Zarate, Vance Honeycutt and Alberto Osuna, and Johnny Castagnozzi’s three-run blast, to stop the red-hot Rams’ 17-game winning streak.
A loss in either game would’ve ended North Carolina’s season, with coach Scott Forbes absent while serving the two-game suspension stemming from his ejection during VCU’s eventful defeat of the Tar Heels on Saturday night.
Now, these teams will meet for a third time in as many nights at 6 p.m. Monday for the regional title. And Forbes will be back in charge of UNC, after assistant coach Byrant Gaines performed fill-in duty.
VCU (42-19) had won 25 of its previous 28 games, before UNC (41-20) erupted Sunday night. North Carolina’s 19 runs marked the most the Rams have allowed this season. VCU suffered its first loss since May 4.
Zarate supplied four hits, and Caden O’Brien provided four innings of steadying relief out of the bullpen, delivering in a needed spot with UNC piecing together its pitching. North Carolina used seven pitchers earlier in the day against Georgia.
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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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This article originally appeared on Times-News: UNC baseball bashes VCU in NCAA Tournament, forces winner-take-all matchup for regional
