A tale of two nights at the old ballpark in the pines.
Boshamer Stadium, which opened in 1972, continues to get facelifts in great play on the field and fan support that might have reached its peak over the weekend.
Fourth-year coach Scott Forbes is also shooting for the stars with a team fully capable of reaching the College World Series and, dad gum, winning it this time. The two NCAA Tournament victories, with one win needed to be back at The Bosh for the Super Regional, were among the most compelling baseball played there in years with sold-out crowds padded by hundreds of standing room-only patrons.
Forbes has rolled his personal style into the team-oriented approach that permeates Carolina athletics. His kids have fun, for sure, but pull for each other and celebrate even harder when “27 outs” are made by the opponent.
Despite the score, no one leaves because they know of their team’s late-inning drama. Dozens more who can’t get in are watching from the top row of the field hockey stadium beyond the right field fence like Wrigley Field fans of yore. Athletes and coaches from other UNC teams are there along with notable alums like Mark Maye, father of the newly minted millionaire NFL quarterback.
The Diamond Heels personify how college baseball gets it right. Sure, high school stars can turn pro as bonus babies, but those who sign up for college must stay for three years before their next eligibility to enter the MLB Draft. So the free agency that has created chaos and instability in football and basketball is minimized.
And like his mentor Mike Fox, Forbes uses the splendor of the campus and tradition of his program to dominate in-state recruiting and keep his players’ collective eyes of the tiger focused until the last of those 27 outs are recorded.
In Saturday evening’s 6-2 win over defending NCAA champion LSU, Carolina used the timely hitting of a clutch offense and the tight pitching and defense down the stretch to keep a stranglehold on the regional and the super-regional in view. The Heels entered Sunday night’s game with a chance to advance.
Vance Honeycutt, a junior from Salisbury with a swing to kill for, swatted two long homers that broke a scoreless tie and then provided an important insurance run. The highly rated All-American Honeycutt will likely turn pro after the season and carry the school record for career home runs (61 and counting).
If you had just dropped in from another planet or visiting from a far-away land and wanted to witness American baseball and somehow was at Boshamer Friday night, you never have to see another game.
Forget that it was an important contest, the opener of the 2024 NCAA Tournament, you were watching an exemplar of our National Pastime as good as it gets. It was David and Goliath from 1 Samuel 17 until Goliath flipped the script from the NIV bible.
The team from the University of North Carolina won for the 33rd time in 35 games of the current season on its home field. The Tar Heels nearly did lose by allowing underdog Long Island University to score four runs in the ninth inning and take an 8-5 lead going into the bottom of the ninth, the last chance for Goliath.
After Forbes decided to intentionally walk a lefthanded batter against righthanded Carolina relief pitcher Matt Poston, a player named Jacob Pipercic (who never played high school baseball) beat the odds by belting Poston’s fastball over the left field fence for a three-run homer that stunned the 3,800 in attendance.
The visiting Sharks, who now smelled blue blood in the water, needed three outs to win the game and severely damage Carolina’s dream of making it back to the College World Series for the first time since 2018.
Honeycutt, a future high draft choice, was hit by a pitch to lead off the ninth. Casey Cook, who had just four home runs fewer than Honeycutt this season, singled up the middle to put runners on first and second and reignite the crowd. With one out, Anthony Donofrio blooped a single to center, loading the bases. Fifth-year player Alberto Osuna reached on an infield single to make the score 8-6 and keep the bases loaded. Luke Stevenson, who leads the team in walks, took another and the Tar Heels trailed by only one run.
Now, pretend you are the family of Gavin Gallaher, a freshman from nearby Apex, sitting in the stands. Your boy has hit six home runs this season but already had one in the fourth inning and doubled in the sixth to give Carolina a 5-3 lead. The Gallahers are nervous but confident their kid could do it again.
And he did. Gallaher, who was playing in prep school a year ago, launched the second pitch from a jittery LIU hurler so far into the Carolina night that the crowd exploded in revery at the crack of the bat. The Gallahers were likely in tears over the walk-off grand slam.
The Diamond Heels celebrate after Gavin Gallaher’s walk-off grand slam to beat Long Island 11-8 at Boshamer Stadium on May 31, 2024. (Image via UNC Baseball on Twitter)
All his Tar Heel teammates had raced to home plate to engulf Gallaher when he arrived with the sixth run of the inning and a final score of 11-8. The striking victory sent UNC into the second round Saturday against LSU, the 2023 national champs and SEC powerhouse, as ecstatic fans streamed from the stadium.
If you were among them, you saw something you may never see again.
So it’s the top of the seventh 24 hours later and Carolina holds a 3-2 lead over LSU, whose all seven hits on the nights are singles. The Tar Heels have allowed two runs by walking batters with the bases load, and the sacks are still jammed when fifth-year slugger Hayden Travinski steps to the plate. He had already been hit by a pitch in the fifth inning and another clunker would tie the game.
Dalton Pence, the lefty workhorse of Forbes’ bullpen who walked a .232 pinch hitter to force in the second run, bore down and got Travinski on a sharp grounder to shortstop, where Colby Wilkinson flipped to Alex Madera and on to first.
After the crowd roared and belted out Take Me Out to The Ball Game, the Heels got three insurance runs on Honeycutt’s second dinger and Gallaher’s line shot to left. “I told them I don’t want to hear, ‘one more, one more,’” Forbes said.
Carolina could play another game Monday, but is more than likely to win a 35th home game Sunday by keeping eyes straight ahead.
Featured image via UNC Baseball on Twitter
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
