By R.L. Bynum

CHAPEL HILL — The top of Carolina’s order is having a blast, but none more than junior transfer Jackson Van De Brake.

If you wondered whether his early-season home-run stroke might be a fluke after he hit one home run in two seasons at Tacoma Community College, he delivered a powerful message Sunday.

Van De Brake pushed his home-run total to six with a pair of blasts as No. 13 UNC (9–3) finished a three-game sweep of winless Stony Brook (0–9). The 15–4 victory under Carolina blue skies at Boshamer Stadium extended the Tar Heels’ win streak to five with a season-high run total.

“You’re gonna get mistakes; I just want to hit one hard, and it’s going pretty well at this point,” said Van De Brake, who has a pair of two-homer games in the last week. “There are also things that I’m not doing real well. I’m just gonna keep working and hopefully getting better.”

The first four hitters in Sunday’s lineup collectively outhit the entire Seawolves team, going 10 for 19 with three homers and 10 RBI. Junior catcher Tomas Frick (4 for 6, three doubles, two RBI) had his first career four-hit game and Van De Brake, junior third baseman Mac Horvath and sophomore center fielder Vance Honeycutt each got two hits.

“Those guys, they’re so dangerous, especially one-two,” UNC coach Scott Forbes said. “And now Van De Brake is really starting to show what we thought he could be.”

With one dangerous hitter after the other, the hitters at the top of the lineup are going to get pitches to hit. It’s the same for Frick hitting ahead of Alberto Osuna.

“They can’t just pitch around me because they got to deal with that afterward,” Frick said. “We’ve got guys on the lineup, trying to have good at-bats, and those good at-bats lead to information. So, we’re just constantly giving each other information about the pitcher. So, we go up there with a plan and execute that plan.”

Van De Brake shares the team RBI lead with Frick at 16, three short of Van De Brake’s total of 19 last season. He is hitting .361, with six of his 13 hits going for extra bases.

“He’s getting stronger in our weight room,” Forbes said. “He can do some damage; he’s done it not just on fastballs; he’s also hit hanging breaking balls.”

Van De Brake has said that his approach to every at-bat is to get good swings and not go to the plate looking to hit a home run. But, with a chance for his first career three-homer game, it looked like he was going for it on the first pitch of his last at-bat.

“Maybe a little bit,” Van De Brake admitted. “He got me out front with the changeup, which might have made it look that way. I’m staying true to that, though. I’m not necessarily trying to [hit home runs].”

Honeycutt ended a 0-for-13 stretch since Wednesday’s homer against VCU with a 417-foot shot to left-center — the longest by a Tar Heel this season — in the second inning for his fourth homer in six games. Seven of his 14 hits have gone for extra bases.

One of what Forbes calls his “special” plays worked masterfully with junior shortstop Colby Wilkerson at first base and junior right fielder Patrick Alvarez and third base with two out in the third inning.

Wilkerson broke with the pitch, hoping to lure a pick-off throw. It came, Wilkerson eluded the tag from second baseman Johnny Pilla, and both baserunners got steals, with Alvarez easily scoring.

“I wanted him to delay and draw a throw. I wanted the catcher to throw the ball all the way to second base,” said Forbes, with the shortstop too far away and Pilla playing on the grass. “We knew if the ball got past the pitcher’s head, that Patty would walk in.”

That continued the inning, allowing Honeycutt and Van De Brake to bat, and both swatted two-run homers in the five-run inning.

“It worked, and then Colby found a way to be safe and Vance made them pay for it,” Forbes said.

Honeycutt doubled down the left-field line in the fifth and scored when Pilla dropped Horvath’s pop-up.

UNC batted around in the seventh and eighth inning. Van De Brake hit a three-run shot to left in the seventh. In the six-run eighth, Carolina got three doubles, with Horvath’s scoring one, Frick’s scoring two and freshman pinch hitter Austin Hawke’s bringing in three.

In his third start but first in a weekend game, UNC junior transfer right-hander Jake Knapp (2–0) was effective again, allowing four hits and one walk with three strikeouts in five innings. Forbes said that Knapp will stay the Sunday starter.

With strikes on 50 of 74 pitches, Knapp got ahead of most of the 20 batters he faced, with 14 first-pitch strikes. His only blemishes were two-out solo home runs from Evan Fox in the third inning and Chris Leone in the fifth inning.

It took three pitchers to get out of the Stony Brook sixth, with junior right-hander Matt Poston getting out of the inning by fanning Leone. The Seawolves scored one run on a fielder’s choice and another on Van De Brake’s throwing error.

Poston gave up one hit and struck out one in 2⅔ innings of relief and sophomore left-hander Dalton Pence struck out one in pitching a shutout ninth inning.

NOTES — Carolina plays a pair of mid-week home games, facing Western Carolina on Tuesday and Penn State on Wednesday before opening ACC play Friday through Sunday at home against No. 19 Virginia (11–0). The Catamounts, 26–31–1 last season, are 5–7 after Sunday’s 7–6 home win over Eastern Kentucky. The Nittany Lions, 26–29 a year ago, are 6–3 after Sunday’s 11–5 loss in Cary against Holy Cross, which it will also face Monday. … Graduate UNC right-handed reliever Nik Pry faced three batters, getting one out in the sixth inning. He’s thrown 11 or fewer pitches in three of his four outings. In two innings this season, he’s given up six hits and six earned runs with four strikeouts. … UNC has scored double-digit runs in half of its 12 games.