North Carolina
Honeycutt delivers again as North Carolina sweeps West Virginia to grab spot in College World Series
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Vance Honeycutt hit a home run on the game’s first pitch after ending the opener of the best-of-three series with a walk-off two-run shot, and North Carolina held off West Virginia 2-1 on Saturday night, sweeping the best-of-three Chapel Hill Super Regional and grabbing a berth in the College World Series.
North Carolina (47-14) will play in its 12th CWS looking to win it for the first time. The Tar Heels finished second in back-to-back seasons, losing both times to the Oregon State Beavers in 2006-07. North Carolina, Florida State and Virginia have clinched berths in the Series with five spots still up for grabs.
Honeycutt, who homered in the ninth inning of the Tar Heels’ 8-6 victory in the opener, homered off West Virginia starter Tyler Switalski leading off the game. Honeycutt’s home run was his school-record 26th of the season, moving him one past the single-season record he set two seasons ago. It was also the school-record 63rd of his career.
The Tar Heels scored their final run on three singles in the third. Honeycutt got it started when he bunted with two away and beat it out. Casey Cook followed with a base hit up the middle to put runners at the corners and Parks Harber plated Honeycutt with a single through the left side of the infield for what proved to be the winning run.
The Mountaineers scored their lone run in the bottom of the seventh. Reed Chumley singled with one out, took second on a two-out walk to Spencer Barnett and raced home on a Kyle West single through the left side.
West Virginia (36-24), which advanced to the first super regional in school history, loaded the bases against Tar Heels reliever Dalton Pence with two outs in the ninth, but Ben Lumsden was retired on a groundout to end the game and earn Pence his eighth save of the season.
Jason Decaro (6-1) pitched 6 1/3 innings in a start for North Carolina to get the win, allowing one run on two hits and two walks while striking out five. Pence yielded two hits and three walks in pitching the final 2 2/3 innings.
Switalski (5-3) took the loss for the Mountaineers. He gave up two runs on five hits and a walk with four strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.
The game turned out to be the last for West Virginia (36-24) head coach Randy Mazey, who announced he would step down after the season and turn the reins over to longtime associate head coach Steve Sabins. Mazey retires with a 541-424-2 record with head coaching stops at Charleston Southern (1994-96) and East Carolina (2003-05) before taking the job with the Mountaineers in 2013. Mazey won conference coach-of-the-year honors in the Big South and Conference USA before earning the award in the Big 12 in 2019 and last season.
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North Carolina
11 firefighters and 2 others injured after North Carolina house fire and explosion
SALISBURY, N.C. — Eleven firefighters and two other people were injured in a house fire explosion in the Piedmont region of North Carolina, officials said.
Salisbury Fire Chief Bob Parnell said firefighters did not have life-threatening injuries but were getting treated for contusions, concussions and smoke inhalation following the fire Monday evening. Two other people were taken to the hospital, but Parnell said he didn’t know their conditions and couldn’t confirm whether they were in the house at the time of the fire.
The Salisbury Fire Department responded to the single-family home around 5 p.m. and found it engulfed in flames.
Eleven of the 22 firefighters at the scene went inside the house to search for occupants and “get water on that fire,” which preceded the explosion, Panell said at a news conference.
“It was enough force that the outside walls blew out, the roof came up and went back down,” Parnell said.
An investigation of the fire and explosion is continuing.
North Carolina
Harrison Bertos scores in OT to help Washington beat N.C. State 3-2 and win first Men’s College Cup
CARY, N.C. (AP) — Harrison Bertos scored 1:54 into overtime after Washington blew a two-goal lead in the second half, and the Huskies beat North Carolina State 3-2 to win the Men’s College Cup at First Horizon Stadium on Monday night.
It was the first national championship for unseeded Washington (16-6-2), who became the first team to win six road matches in the tournament — beating six seeded teams along the way under the guidance of coach Jamie Clark. The Huskies won in their second trip to the final after losing 2-0 to Clemson in 2021.
No. 15 seed N.C. State (16-3-4) made the final for the first time behind coach Marc Hubbard. The Wolfpack were aiming for the school’s first national championship since Jim Valvano led the men’s basketball team to the title in 1983.
Zach Ramsey scored unassisted with 1:12 remaining in the first half and Washington took a 1-0 lead into the break. It was only the second time this season that N.C. State trailed at halftime.
Ramsey scored into an empty net after Wolfpack goalkeeper Logan Erb couldn’t corral the ball at the top of the box. It was Ramsey’s second goal of the tournament.
Richie Aman sent a cross to the center of the goal and Joe Dale knocked it in for a 2-0 lead in the 62nd minute.
Donavan Phillip answered in the 66th, scoring with an assist from Nikola Markovic to cut it to 2-1 with his fourth goal of the tournament. The Wolfpack entered 11-0-1 when Phillip scores.
Taig Healy scored the equalizer with 3:28 remaining with assists from Justin Mclean and Calem Tommy.
Egor Akulov had an assist on Bertos’ winner.
Huskies keeper Jadon Bowton, the only remaining player from the 2021 squad, had five saves.
Erb saved six shots for N.C. State, which was the last school to concede a goal this season.
The temperature was 28 degrees when the match between two teams that had never faced each other began.
North Carolina
North Carolina Shows Encouraging Signs Against USC Upstate
It was a closer matchup than expected, but the North Carolina Tar Heels eventually separated themselves in an 80-62 win over the USC Upstate Spartans on Saturday at the Dean E. Smith Center.
There were times of lapses and lack of attention to detail, which led to the Spartans scoring easy baskets in transition and in the half-court offense.
While speaking with the media during his postgame press conference, head coach Hubert Davis explained what he was seeing on the court from his players.
- “It’s a tremendous lesson,” Davis said. “I told them, I’m a visual learner. I can remember things, but if I see it, I remember for the rest of my life, and my hope is that they could clearly see that there is a connection between how you prepare and how you practice in relation to how you play. And I identify the areas that have to be there every day. It’s not missed shots. It’s not the turnovers. Everybody misses shots, everybody turns the ball over, everybody makes mistakes.”
- “I just think the things that you have control over; I think those are the things that are non-negotiable,” Davis continued. “You have to bring it every day. That’s energy, effort, attention to detail, enthusiasm, and can’t use the excuse that we have final exams. I’m married and I’ve got three kids. I got prepared for this game early.”
With that being said, here are reasons the Tar Heels should be encouraged following Saturday’s performance.
Luka Bogavac is Playing with Confidence
These are the types of games for role and bench players to build confidence and find their footing in the offense. It was the second consecutive game in which Bogavac shot the ball efficiently, but this was the first time this season that it felt like he was playing with full confidence and rhythm.
The overseas transfer went 6-of-11 from the field, including 3-of-6 from three-point range, totaling 15 points, five rebounds, and five assists.
If Bogavac plays anywhere remotely close to this level during conference play, the Tar Heels will have a chance to compete for the ACC regular season title.
Could Depth be a Strength?
Just a couple of weeks ago, we were questioning how deep this roster was. Without Seth Trimble, North Carolina’s guard play looked suspect, but over the last few weeks, a couple of players have emerged as potential impactful players.
Freshman guard Derek Dixon has been the standout bench player in the previous two games, averaging 11.5 points, while shooting 53.3 percent from the field and 44.4 percent from three-point range.
Sophomore forward Jonathan Powell had his breakout game on Saturday, scoring 17 points while shooting 6-of-9 from the field, including 3-of-6 from beyond the arc.
It appears North Carolina has at least two bench players who can produce double-digit points on a moment’s notice. With Trimble returning to the lineup soon, which will slide Bogavac back to the bench, the Tar Heels have the flexibility to incorporate eight players into the rotation.
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