By R.L. Bynum

No. 18 North Carolina had it all going right after a bumpy start, as the Tar Heels rolled to a 16–3 road victory over Charlotte on Tuesday.

The 49ers (6–10) took a lead on a pair of solo home runs off UNC starter Kevin Eaise in the first inning. He was dominant after that, and the Tar Heels backed him up with plenty of offense, racking up 17 hits, including three home runs and seven doubles.

Carolina (13–5) scored in double figures for the seventh time this season and at least 15 runs for the third time.

Eaise (2–1), a graduate transfer from Penn, struck out eight in 6⅔ innings, walked one and gave up three hits after the first inning. Eaise, who threw strikes on 61 of 98 pitches, has struck out 17 in his last two outings.

Sophomore center fielder Vance Honeycutt (top photo) hit his first career grand slam in the seven-run second inning — a shot to left-center —walked twice, stole two bases and drove in five runs. He has six home runs and a team-high 12 steals.

Junior Alberto Osuna hit a two-run homer to left field in the second, when 12 Tar Heels came to the plate, and junior third baseman Mac Horvath belted a two-run shot to center in the three-run third inning.

Junior catcher Tomas Frick, who was 3 of 4 with two RBI, hit a pair of doubles, including one in the seventh inning that drove in two runs.

Carolina added a pair of eighth-inning runs on bases-loaded walks, and a run in the ninth on Reece Holbrook’s RBI double to right-center.

NOTES — Carolina returns home at 4 p.m. Wednesday (ESPN3) to face High Point, with freshman left-hander Kyle Percival (2–0, 3.18 ERA) starting for the Tar Heels. The Panthers, picked to finish second in the Big South, are 6–9 after losing two of three games last weekend at Louisiana. … After losing two of three in its ACC-opening series at home against Virginia, North Carolina dropped four spots in the D1Baseball rankings to No. 18. The Cavaliers moved up three spots to No. 14. … UNC plays its first games outside of North Carolina this weekend with a three-game ACC series at Pittsburgh starting Friday. Pitt, which isn’t playing a mid-week game this week is 8–8 after losing two of three at Florida State last weekend. … Carolina leads the all-time series with Charlotte 36–8–1.