North Carolina Walks Off Virginia 3-2 in Opening Game of College World Series

Matt Newton | Jun 30, 2024

Chase Hungate delivers a pitch during the Virginia baseball game against North Carolina at the College World Series in Omaha. / Virginia Athletics

For the third time in as many games in Omaha, Virginia loses a College World Series game by one run.

A brilliant start from Evan Blanco gave the Cavaliers a great chance to win, but the bats never showed up and a perhaps ill-advised decision to pitch to UNC's best player with first base open led to Vance Honeycutt punishing UVA with a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the ninth as No. 12 Virginia (46-16) suffered a 3-2 loss to No. 4 North Carolina (48-14) in the opening game of the 2024 College World Series on Friday afternoon at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha.

It feels almost safe to say at this point that Virginia's season-long trends of strong offense and weak pitching have completely reversed themselves in the NCAA Tournament. If the Cavaliers have one of the best batting lineups in the country, they didn't show it, registering just five total hits in the game and stranding 10 runners on base.

Those missed opportunities started in the top of the first, as North Carolina starter Jason DeCaro loaded the bases and threw 30 pitches in the first frame, but got out of the jam unscathed. Evan Blanco threw half as many pitches in the bottom of the first, but UNC got a couple of hits and scored a run on an RBI groundout by Anthony Donofrio.

DeCaro breezed through the second, but then had trouble on his second time through the UVA batting order. In the top of the third, Ethan Anderson singled and Casey Saucke hit a chopper over third base for a double. Henry Ford then hit a bloop single into right field to score Anderson to tie things up at 1-1.

READ MORE: Virginia vs. North Carolina Live Updates | College World Series

Blanco recovered after giving up the early run and put zeroes on the board in the next five innings. DeCaro, meanwhile, made it only four innings after that early 30-pitch frame and was pulled in the top of the fifth after throwing 88 pitches. Virginia took the lead in the top of the sixth, as Henry Godbout drew a leadoff walk, advanced to third on a double by Eric Becker to the left field wall, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Griff O'Ferrall. That gave the Cavaliers their first lead of the game at 2-1, but they couldn't manage to bring Becker home from third.

"Certainly North Carolina's pitching is good. They went to two of their best relievers, for sure," said UVA head coach Brian O'Connor. "And we didn't make enough of an adjustment. I think we left 10 runners on base and just couldn't capitalize, runners on second and third, no outs, and only got one run to show for it on Griff O'Ferrall's fly ball to center field. Just couldn't get anything going to have a multiple-run inning."

Blanco had retired seven of the last eight batters he faced going into the seventh, but then gave up a leadoff single to Alex Madera, who moved into scoring position on a bunt. Vance Honeycutt, who did not reach base a single time against Blanco, grounded out to short for the second out, but then Casey Cook hit a single into left field. It looked as if there would be a play at the plate, but Didawick yanked his throw towards the third base dugout and Madera scored uncontested to tie the game. Cook had himself a day, going 3 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored.

Chase Hungate replaced Blanco, who finished with a statline of two earned runs on seven hits and four strikeouts in 6.1 innings of work, and retired Parks Harber to end the seventh. UNC reliever Dalton Pence and Hungate both worked 1-2-3 innings in the eighth and then Pence shut down the top of the Virginia lineup in order in the top of the ninth.

Hungate remained on the mound for the bottom of the ninth and gave up a leadoff double to UNC pinch hitter Jackson Van De Brake. Madera bunted Van De Brake to third and then Hungate got Colby Wilkerson to pop-out to Ference behind home plate. That crucial second out gave the Cavaliers some options with how to deal with Vance Honeycutt. They could have walked him intentionally with first base open, but then they'd have to deal with Casey Cook, who they also could have walked to load the bases, as only the runner on third mattered in that situation.

Instead, Virginia pitched to Honeycutt and Hungate elevated a 2-1 slider a bit too much and Honeycutt punished him by hitting a line drive into left field for a walk-off RBI single.

Here's what Brian O'Connor said in the postgame conference about the decision to pitch to Honeycutt:

"It was the right match-up. I'll tell you, Cook, I think, is their best hitter in the lineup. So it wasn't an option for us to walk Honeycutt. Honeycutt's a great player. He has a lot of home runs. But I felt we had handled him really good all day. And the guy on deck had had a terrific day. Actually when they played in Charlottesville, I actually intentionally walked Cook because I have so much respect for him as a hitter. I just think he has a really good balanced approach and hits the ball to all fields.

When Hungate was able to get the nine hole out, to pop up, there was no decision for me who to go to. Honeycutt is a fantastic player, one of the great players in this country. But that was the best match-up was to try to get him to hit a ball on the ground. And unfortunately Hungate fell behind in the count and hung a slider there a little bit too much. And Honeycutt did a really nice job with it."

2024 College World Series Score Updates and Schedule | NCAA Baseball Tournament

Virginia took two out of three games against North Carolina in the regular season series in Charlottesville back in early April, outscoring the Tar Heels 28-25 over the course of the weekend. But the UVA bats couldn't repeat that effort when it mattered most on Friday in Omaha.

Virginia's last three games at the College World Series have been a 6-5 loss to Florida, a 4-3 loss to TCU, and now a 3-2 loss to North Carolina, with two of those three defeats coming in walk-off fashion.

The Cavaliers will now have to do it the hard way and win their next four games to make it out of the double-elimination portion of the College World Series. Virginia will face No. 8 Florida State in an elimination game on Sunday at 2pm.