The Tar Heels started in a hole and never completely climbed out of it.
In the first matchup of the 2023 NCAA Baseball Championship, the regional 3-seeded Tar Heels matched up against the Iowa Hawkeyes in Terre Haute, Indiana. The Hawkeyes started the game with some timely two-out hitting, as Sam Hojnar was able to belt a single on the first pitch from Jake Knapp and do something Carolina just failed to do all game-and to some extent a bunch of the season-take advantage of early baserunners.
Carolina started the second with a baserunner as Patrick Alvarez belted a singled and ended up at second thanks to a throwing error.