Chapel Hill, N.C. — The North Carolina baseball team added another gem Friday night to its quickly expanding list of postseason classics.
Bosh Magic, they have taken to calling it around here and the sold-out, standing room-only crowd at Boshamer Stadium can certainly attest to having witnessed some wonder.
Freshman catcher Luke Stevenson blasted a lead-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning and junior center fielder Vance Honeycutt won it with a 2-run shot three batters later as the Tar Heels defeated West Virginia 8-6 in Game 1 of their best-of-three super regional.
“You know, it happens like this every game now,” Honeycutt said he and left fielder Casey Cook told each other before the ninth inning heroics.
it was the third time this postseason — in a week — that the Tar Heels have won a game that they trailed entering the ninth inning. Now UNC is one victory away from its first trip to the College World Series since 2018.
“We don’t really skip a best,” Honeycutt said. “It’s weird. You think you might get tight or you should maybe get tight.”
Not this bunch.
Not Honeycutt, whose home run was his first walk-off, 25th of the season and 62nd of his career.
Not Matt Poston, who gave up three runs in a single inning in the regional but pitched out of an inherited jam in the seventh and added two more scoreless innings.
“I went in there thinking, like, i can’t do any worse,” Poston said. “Might as well just throw what I have and if it works, it works; if it doesn’t, it doesn’t.”
Not shortstop Colby Wilkerson, whose sixth-inning error began an inning that saw West Virginia plate four runs, but later hit his first home run at Boshamer Stadium in his 323rd career at-bat at home.
Not Stevenson, whose missed tag at the plate in the fourth inning cost the Tar Heels a run but made up for it with a drive to deep center that just cleared the wall and the glove of West Virginia’s center fielder.
“Smoke something up the middle,” Stevenson said he was thinking before the at-bat.
His home run came in his fourth at-bat off West Virginia starting pitcher Derek Clark. Clark, the Mountaineers’ ace, threw 8.1 innings and 144 pitches (100 strikes).
“That’s one of the best pitching performances I’ve ever coached in 35 years of coaching,” said West Virginia coach Randy Mazey, who is retiring after the season.
Clark was finally lifted after giving up a hard single to Alex Madera in the ninth. Madera scored the winning run on Honeycutt’s homer off reliever Aidan Major.
Mazey said he considered walking Honeycutt after the count went to 3-0, but said moving the winning runner to second base and facing Cook was not appealing. Honeycutt hit the home run on a 3-1 pitch.
“They’ve found different ways to win,” UNC head coach Scott Forbes said. “And that’s the mark of a good team, top to bottom.”
West Virginia led 1-0 on a solo home run from designated hitter Kyle West in the third inning. UNC scored four in the bottom of the inning to grab the lead, but West Virginia got one in the fourth and four in the eighth, the last two coming on another West home run.
Wilkerson’s homer in the seventh cut the deficit to one to set up the Bosh Magic.
Honeycutt’s shot, a no-doubter, sent most of the crowd of 4,139 — West Virginia did have a loud contingent — into a wild celebration.
A scene that’s becoming routine this postseason.
UNC defeated LSU 4-3 to advance to the super regional with a game-tying home run in the 9th and a game-winner in the 10th.
The Tar Heels defeated Long Island in their postseason opener 11-8 on a walk-off grand slam by Gavin Gallaher in the ninth inning.
“I don’t know how much tickets were going for on StubHub,” said Mazey, “but whatever you spent coming to this game, you dang sure got your money’s worth.”
Pregame
North Carolina, the national No. 4 seed, will host West Virginia this weekend in a best-of-three college baseball Super Regional at Boshamer Stadium.
The Tar Heels (45-14) ousted defending College World Series champion LSU in the regional round with a 4-3 come-from-behind victory on Monday.
UNC has made 11 trips to the College World Series, but none since 2008.
West Virginia (36-22) is making its first-ever appearance in the super regional round. The Mountaineers, out of the Big 12, were the No. 3 seed in the Tuscon Regional. West Virginia is one of five No. 3 seeds to advance.
West Virginia coach Randy Mazey is retiring after the season.
Chapel Hill Super Regional Schedule
Friday, June 7 – 6 p.m. (ESPN)
Game 1: No. 4 North Carolina vs. West Virginia
Saturday, June 8 – 8 p.m. (ESPN2)
Game 2: No. 4 North Carolina vs. West Virginia
Sunday, June 9 – 3 p.m. (ESPN2) *if necessary
Game 3: No. 4 North Carolina vs. West Virginia
