By R.L. Bynum

CHAPEL HILL — Starting in his first ACC series opener, freshman Jason DeCaro pitched like the ace he has become.

The crafty 6–5 right-hander doesn’t turn 18 until Wednesday, but he threw six shutout innings and pitched well beyond his years. He got more than enough offensive support as No. 13 UNC rolled to a 13–0 victory over Notre Dame on Friday.

The game ended under the 10-run rule after 6½ innings for the 25th consecutive Boshamer Stadium victory for the Coastal Division-leading Tar Heels (27–7, 12–4 ACC).

“He’s definitely a guy that, so far in the ACC, every time he’s gone out there, he’s given us a chance to win,” UNC coach Scott Forbes said of DeCaro. “That’s hard to do for anybody, much less a freshman.”

DeCaro (2–1) graduated from high school in North Point, N.Y., a year early. Instead of pitching in high school, he’s finding the groove in college. There are probably plenty of prep hitters in New York who are glad he moved on.

How could a pitcher that young have that much poise?

“I just get it from the other guys that are around me, watching a lot in the fall,” DeCaro said. “In the preseason and seeing how they act, that’s been really big for me. It’s just watching, observing and trying to take it all in as I go.”

He scoffed at there being any pressure as the guy Forbes will call on now to pitch every league series opener.

“So as long as you enjoy it, I don’t think there’s any pressure out there,” said DeCaro, who yielded only three hits and a walk while striking out three. He has given up one or fewer earned runs in four starts.

DeCaro didn’t have his best fastball but was effective with the slider, curve and changeup to keep the Irish (15–16, 2–14) off-stride.

“I think having a defense like that behind me is really huge,” DeCaro said. “I know that if I’m not getting the swings and misses that I could be getting, it’s all right because I have such an elite defense behind me that they’ll go out there and make all the plays.”

Picked for Perfect Game’s midseason Freshman All-American team, he retired 10 straight batters at one point and didn’t allow a baserunner to reach second base until Connor Hincks’ two-out double in the sixth inning.

“He’s got some meanness on the mound, which you need,” said Forbes, adding that DeCaro reminds him of right-hander Alex White, who won 27 games for UNC from 2007 to 2009. “He isn’t scared. He’ll knock somebody down if he needs to. And he believes he’s better than the hitter and that’s a lot how Alex was.”

DeCaro said that he flips a switch when he goes on the mound, and that’s made a difference for him.

“I feel like that comes from just having a lot of confidence in myself and, like coach said, just believing that you’re better than the hitter and also trusting the guys behind me,” said DeCaro, who says the defense behind him helped. “It’s really nice to just go out there and attack guys.”

He also talks to himself while on the mound, but DeCaro didn’t want to share those motivating words.

“Just going out there believing in myself and having all the confidence in the world,” DeCaro said.

A nice problem for UNC pitchers is that they must sit for a long time because the offense produces so many big innings. DeCaro said that the pitchers try to move around during those long innings.

“That was a big thing we focused on after the first week of the season, where we had some long sits, and it kind of affected us on the mound,” DeCaro said. “So, I think that’s one thing we worked on a lot early, and that really helps, especially with an offense like this where they can go off for five or six runs in any inning.”

First baseman Parks Harber (four RBI), left fielder Casey Cook (three RBI) and catcher Luke Stevenson (three RBI) each went 2 for 4 with a home run to lead Carolina’s 11-hit attack.

“It just looks like he’s been here before,” Cook said of DeCaro. “It looks like it’s his fourth year here and a senior. That’s not something you can teach. It’s just something you have. I don’t know where he got it from, but it’s impressive.”

When designated hitter Alberto Osuna drew a one-out walk in the fifth, every Tar Heel in the lineup had been on base, but that was also UNC’s only scoreless inning. UNC came back with six in the sixth to shove the lead to 13.

Harber started the rout with a two-out, two-run homer that he launched 374 feet over the left-field fence. Stevenson led off the second inning with a double and scored on a groundball. Cook made it 5–0 with a two-run homer in the third inning, driving a changeup 398½-feet over the right-center field wall.

UNC made it 7–0 in the fourth on right fielder Anthony Donofrio’s RBI single to right and center fielder Vance Honeycutt’s double down the left-field line.

Stevenson launched a shot 404 feet to right field for a three-run home run with two outs in the sixth after RBI singles from Cook and Harber.

The only negative from Forbes’ perspective is that Stevenson flipped his bat, and the coach discussed with the freshman after that to explain that they don’t do that at Carolina.

Sophomore UNC left-hander Kyle Percival retired Notre Dame in order in the seventh with a strikeout to end the game.

Notre Dame, which has lost eight straight ACC games and 10 road league games in a row, is going through a rebuilding year and has endured several injuries. The Irish, who got only three hits, are hoping for better next season with a good recruiting class coming in.

NOTES — The series resumes at 2 p.m. Saturday, with UNC left-hander Shea Sprague (1–1, 4.22 ERA) opposing Notre Dame right-hander Jack Radel (2–1, 3.07 ERA). Carolina hasn’t announced a starter for the 1 p.m. series finale, with the Irish set to start right-hander Rory Fox (1–0, 5.60 ERA). … Freshman left-handed pitcher Folger Boaz won’t pitch again until he recovers from what Forbes hopes is a “flexor” in his left arm suffered in Tuesday’s loss to South Carolina. … This is the Irish’s first visit to Chapel Hill since 2000. … UNC has 22 home runs that traveled at least 400 feet. … The last home loss was 6–5 against Campbell on May 2 of last season, and the last ACC home loss was 7–0 on April 28 against Virginia Tech. … It was Carolina’s first home win over Notre Dame since 2016 after the Irish swept a 2000 series. … Notre Dame leads the all-time series 13–10, including 4–3 in Chapel Hill.

No. 13 UNC 13, Notre Dame 0, 6½ innings

ACC standings

Coastal Division	League	Overall
No. 12 North Carolina	17–7	33–11
No. 11 Virginia	14–10	33–12
No. 10 Duke	14–10	30–14
Virginia Tech	13–11	27–14
Georgia Tech	11–10	27–15
Miami	8–16	19–24
Pittsburgh	5–16	18–22

Atlantic Division	League	Overall
No. 4 Clemson	15–6	34–9
No. 7 Florida State	13–8	34–9
No. 21 N.C. State	12–9	25–16
No. 13 Wake Forest	12–12	27–16
Louisville	10–11	25–18
Boston College	8–16	21–21
Notre Dame	7–17	22–20

(Unless otherwise indicated, games only stream on ESPN3)
Sunday’s results
Virginia Tech 4, No. 12 North Carolina 3
Notre Dame 8, No. 13 Wake Forest 7
No. 10 Duke 16, No. 7 Florida State 4
Georgia Tech 17, Miami 1
Pittsburgh 5, Bryant 2
No. 20 N.C. State 9, Ball State 3
No. 4 Clemson 17, Louisville 7
Tuesday’s games
UMass Lowell at Boston College, 3 p.m.
UNCW at No. 20 N.C. State, 5 p.m.
Northern Kentucky at Louisville, 6 p.m.
No. 13 Wake Forest vs. Appalachian State in Shelby, 6 p.m.
West Virginia at Pittsburgh, 6 p.m.
No. 11 Virginia at VCU, 6:30
Charlotte at No. 12 North Carolina, 7 p.m.. ACC Network
Wednesday’s games
William & Mary at No. 12 North Carolina, 6 p.m.
No. 13 Wake Forest at High Point, 6 p.m.
Navy at No. 11 Virginia, 6 p.m.
N.C. A&T at Virginia Tech, 7 p.m.

Date	Day/ month	Time/ score	Opponent/event (current ranks)	TV/ record
	February
16	Friday	W, 10–3	vs. Wagner	1–0
17	Saturday	W, 16–5	vs. Wagner	2–0
18	Sunday	W, 20–6	vs. Wagner	3–0
20	Tuesday	W, 8–7	vs. Elon	4–0
23	Friday	W, 2–1	vs. No. 5 East Carolina	5–0
24	Saturday	L, 7–4	vs. No. 5 East Carolina in Fayetteville	5–1
25	Sunday	L, 10–9	at No. 5 East Carolina	5–2
27	Tuesday	W, 8–2	vs. VCU	6–2
28	Wednesday	W, 12–3	vs. Longwood	7–2
	March
1	Friday	W, 12–2	vs. Princeton	8–2
2	Saturday	W, 11–2	vs. Princeton	9–2
3	Sunday	W, 13–6	vs. Princeton	10–2
5	Tuesday	W, 7–3	at Campbell	11–2
8	Friday	W, 2–1	vs. Pittsburgh	12–2, 1–0 ACC
9	Saturday	W, 7–3	vs. Pittsburgh	13–2, 2–0 ACC
10	Sunday	W, 6–5, 10 innings	vs. Pittsburgh	14–2, 3–0 ACC
12	Tuesday	W, 13–7	vs. Rutgers	15–2
13	Wednesday	W, 9–8	vs. Rutgers	16–2
15	Friday	L, 14–1	at Miami	16–3, 3–1 ACC
16	Saturday	L, 2–1	at Miami	16–4, 3–2 ACC
17	Sunday	W, 18–6	at Miami	17–4, 4–2 ACC
19	Tuesday	W, 11–0, 7 innings	vs. UNCW	18–4
22	Friday	W, 5–4	vs. Georgia Tech	19–4, 5–2 ACC
23	Saturday	W, 11–5	vs. Georgia Tech	20–4, 6–2 ACC
24	Sunday	W, 9–2	vs. Georgia Tech	21–4, 7–2 ACC
26	Tuesday	W, 10–8	vs. N.C. A&T	22–4
29	Friday	W, 6–5	at No. 13 Wake Forest	23–4, 8–2 ACC
30	Saturday	W, 10–6	at No. 13 Wake Forest	24–4, 9–2 ACC
31	Sunday	W, 14–10	at No. 13 Wake Forest	25–4, 10–2 ACC
	April
4	Thursday	L, 14–11	at No. 11 Virginia	25–5, 10–3 ACC
5	Friday	L, 7–2	at No. 11 Virginia	25–6, 10–4 ACC
6	Saturday	W, 12–7	at No. 11 Virginia	26–6, 11–4 ACC
9	Tuesday	L, 2–1	vs. No. 15 South Carolina in Charlotte	26–7
12	Friday	W, 13–0, 6½ innings	vs. Notre Dame	27–7, 12–4 ACC
13	Saturday	W, 7–2	vs. Notre Dame	28–7, 13–4 ACC
14	Sunday	W, 10–3	vs. Notre Dame	29–7, 14–4 ACC
16	Tuesday	L, 5–4	vs. Coastal Carolina	29–8
18	Thursday	L, 9–8	at No. 20 N.C. State	29–9, 14–5 ACC
19	Friday	L, 5–4	at No. 20 N.C. State	29–10, 14–6 ACC
20	Saturday	W, 14–3	at No. 20 N.C. State	30–10, 15–6 ACC
23	Tuesday	W, 5–2	vs. Gardner-Webb	31–10
26	Friday	W, 8–1	vs. Virginia Tech	32–10, 16–6 ACC
27	Saturday	W, 6–3	vs. Virginia Tech	33–10, 17–6 ACC
28	Sunday	L, 4–3	vs. Virginia Tech	33–11, 17–7 ACC
30	Tuesday	7 p.m.	vs. Charlotte	ACCN
	May
1	Wednesday	6 p.m.	vs. William & Mary	ESPN3
7	Tuesday	6 p.m.	vs. Campbell	ESPN3
10	Friday	6 p.m.	vs. Louisville	ESPN3
11	Saturday	2 p.m.	vs. Louisville	ESPN3
12	Sunday	1 p.m.	vs. Louisville	ACCN
14	Tuesday	6 p.m.	at UNCW	FloSports
16	Thursday	6 p.m.	at No. 10 Duke	ACCN
17	Friday	6 p.m.	at No. 10 Duke	ESPN3
18	Saturday	1 p.m.	at No. 10 Duke	ESPN3
21–26	Tuesday- Sunday	TBA	ACC tournament in Charlotte	ACCN
31	Friday	TBA	NCAA Regional	TBA
	June
1–3	Saturday- Monday	TBA	NCAA Regional	TBA
7–10	Friday- Monday	TBA	NCAA Super Regional	TBA
14–24	Friday- Monday	TBA	College World Series in Omaha, Neb.	TBA