Look: UNC baseball's Vance Honeycutt hits walk-off single vs. Virginia in College World Series opener

Vance Honeycutt continues to be "The Showman" for North Carolina baseball.

And Friday's act at the College World Series is his biggest yet.

In what was a true ACC battle on the diamond with No. 12 Virginia, the No. 4 national seed Tar Heels quickly flipped momentum in the bottom of the ninth when Jackson Van De Brake came off the bench and delivered with a lead-off double.

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Then, following a sac bunt, from Alex Madera and a pop-up behind home plate, the Tar Heels star centerfielder came up to the dish looking to create some Omaha magic. He did just that as he hooked an outside pitch over third base into left field for a walk-off single to give UNC the 3-2 win at Charles Schwab Field Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska on Friday.

Honeycutt's heroics mark the second walk-off of the NCAA baseball tournament for MLB Pipeline's No. 20 ranked prospect for next month's MLB draft, and the sixth overall in the tournament for the Tar Heels. North Carolina also moves to 10-7 in one-run games on the season.

"It's a big credit to our pitchers, just keeping us in the game. Our bats, they weren't like, really great. But you know we were also just trying to continue to put good swings on balls," Honeycutt said in postgame on ESPN on North Carolina's walk-off magic this postseason. "And you know, I mean, just credit to our pitchers, honestly. We were like, what, 2-2 the whole time? That's just a big shout to them."

Despite Honeycutt being 0 for 4 on the day and Casey Cook on deck, the decision by Virginia to pitch to the Tar Heels centerfielder, compared to walking him, caused quite the debate following the game considering how Honeycutt has delivered for UNC this postseason.

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"It was the right matchup. Cook I think is their best hitter in the lineup, right? It wasn’t an option for us to walk Honeycutt. Honeycutt is a great player. He has a lot of home runs, but I felt like we had handled him really good all day. 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," Virginia manager Brian O'Connor said in his postgame news conference.

"I think he just 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 to go to. Honeycutt is a fantastic player — one of the best players in this country. That was the best matchup to try to get him to a ball on the ground. Unfortunately, Hungate fell behind in the count and hung a slider there a little bit too much. Honeycutt did a really nice job with it."

With the win, UNC advances in the "winner's bracket" of the College World Series and now awaits to learn its next opponent as No. 1 Tennessee and No. 8 Florida State square off Friday.

"It's huge," Honeycutt said on North Carolina winning its CWS lid-lifter. "Brings us more confidence, and we get to stay around for a couple more days."

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: UNC baseball's Vance Honeycutt hits walk-off single vs. Virginia in College World Series