CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Lighting it up from the start, No. 5 national seed North Carolina’s bats brought the firepower to Boshamer Stadium on Saturday night in an 11-5 takedown of Oklahoma. Anchored by a career outing on the mound from Jason DeCaro in six innings of work, the Tar Heels advance to Sunday night’s regional final.
The Tar Heels (44-12, 18-11 ACC) booked their trip to tomorrow night’s regional final by rocking Oklahoma’s pitching staff early. Scoring six runs in the bottom of the first, highlighted by a three-run shot by Sam Angelo, Carolina came out rearing to go. Every single UNC player that got in the game scored a run, except for Carter French who had an RBI instead.
On the mound, Carolina’s pitching staff continues to take care of business as DeCaro matched a career-best with eight strikeouts. Through the first two games of the regional, Jake Knapp and DeCaro’s 14.1 total innings are the most by North Carolina’s first two starters in a regional since 2011.
DeCaro was backed up by a quartet of relievers including Olin Johnson, Cam Padgett, Tom Chmielewski, and Ryan Lynch who combined for just one earned run and five hits in the final three frames to seal the deal.
The talk of the town coming into the game was about how Oklahoma had saved their All-SEC ace Kyson Witherspoon to face the Heels on Saturday night. Not a group to take the talk to heart, Carolina wasted no time in putting the projected top-10 pick on his heels with six runs in the first inning.
The run started with two outs already on the board, as three straight singles brought in a trio of runs to set the table for Angelo. The Division III transfer put the exclamation point on the inning with a moonshot three-run homer 365 feet over the left field fence.
Angelo would add another home run later on in the fifth, a solo shot that immediately followed a no-doubt homer from Tyson Bass the at-bat before. It is the first multi-home run game of Angelo’s career and the ninth of the season for the Diamond Heels. It is also the fourth time this year Carolina has had back-to-back jacks.
While Angelo stole the headlines, sophomore standout Gavin Gallaher continued to dominate the regional. On Saturday he finished 4-for-5 with a double, a run, and an RBI. Across the two games he is slashing .857/.889/1.286.
It won’t show in the box score, but North Carolina’s defense was exceptional against the Sooners. Jackson Van De Brake made a number of impressive plays at second, including a professional pick of a low-thrown ball to get the lead runner. In the outfield, Kane Kepley made routine work of a sliding catch that undoubtedly denied Oklahoma extra bases.
The Tar Heels return to action tomorrow night, awaiting the winner of the afternoon’s elimination game between Nebraska and Oklahoma. First pitch from Boshamer Stadium is set for 6 p.m ET.
