Baseball Pulls Away From Wagner With Six-Run Sixth – University of North Carolina Athletics

Freshman Folger Boaz (1-0) earned the victory while making his Tar Heel debut, surrendering one run with five strikeouts against one walk in 5.0 innings pitched. Senior Matt Poston struck out a pair on one inning of relief before Aidan Haugh struck out the side in the ninth to close the game.

UNC (1-0) collected 11 hits, seven off the bats of four newcomers. Georgia transfer Parks Harber went 3-for-4 with an RBI, and graduate transfer Anthony Donofrio was 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Freshmen Gavin Gallaher and Luke Stevenson recorded their first hits, donning Carolina Blue.

Colby Wilkerson, who collected two hits and a pair of RBIs, ignited the sixth inning with a double inside the right field line, which plated Stevenson and Gallaher, pushing the Tar Heels to a four-run lead. Vance Honeycutt followed with a two-run homer.

Donofrio tripled to center field to bring home Harber in the sixth before scoring on a fielding error to cap the outburst.

Carolina tacked on an additional run in the seventh.

Wagner starter Frankie Wright (0-1) took the loss after he allowed three runs in five innings pitched. 

The series resumes Saturday, Feb. 17, at noon inside Boshamer Stadium, with UNC senior right-hander Ben Peterson slated to face off against Wagner junior right-hander Connor Hayden.

NOTABLES:
• Boaz became the first Tar Heel to make his Carolina debut as the opening-day starting pitcher since Ryan Snare in 1998. 
• Honeycutt homered on opening day for the second time in his career. He hit two home runs as a freshman against Seton Hall in the first game of the 2022 season. He hit his 38th career home run and is two home runs shy of becoming the fourth member of UNC’s career 40-40 club.
• Honeycutt made his third consecutive opening-day start, while Wilkerson and Casey Cook made their second straight.
• Eight players made their Tar Heel debuts: Boaz, Eliot Dix, Donofrio, Gallaher, Harber, Aidan Haugh, Parker Haskin, and Stevenson.

HOW IT HAPPENED:
• Cook scored the game’s first run on a base hit to left field by Donofrio in the bottom of the first. Jackson Van De Brake drove home the second run of the game with a sacrifice fly in the inning (UNC, 2-0).
• Connor Roche plated Xavier Baker in the top of the fifth with a base hit to right field (UNC, 2-1).
• Honeycutt scored on a sac fly by Harber in the bottom of the fifth inning (UNC, 3-1).
• Gallaher and Stevenson scored on a double to right field by Wilkerson in the sixth inning (UNC, 5-1).
• Wilkerson scored on Honeycutt’s sixth-inning two-run homer (UNC, 7-1).
• Donofrio tripled to center field, scoring Harber from first base (UNC, 8-1).
• Donofrio scored on a fielding error for the Tar Heels’ final run of the sixth inning (UNC, 9-1).
• Roche homered for the Seahawks in the seventh (UNC, 9-2).
• After being hit by a pitch and stealing second, Honeycutt scored on a fielding error in the eighth inning (UNC, 10-2).
• Wagner’s David Melfi homered in the top half of the eighth inning to score the game’s final run (UNC, 10-3).