By R.L. Bynum

CHAPEL HILL — Carolina has such an explosive offense that the Tar Heels don’t have to worry much when they fall behind early.

They again showed why Thursday, erasing an early three-run deficit before surging to a 6–3 win over Duke in the opener of a three-game weekend series at Boshamer Stadium for their sixth consecutive victory.

“I preach to our guys that we’re not scoreboard watching; that’s a recipe for disaster in my opinion,” UNC coach Scott Forbes said. “We’re the type of team that can come back. …  We have a potent offense and everybody in the lineup can hit a home run. And when that’s the case, a three-run lead is almost like a one-run lead.”

It helps to have clutch hitting, led by a three-run homer from junior Mac Horvath, and shutdown pitching.

Junior right-handed starter Max Carlson (1–1) fell behind 3–0 but did a marvelous job battling back and working out of jams over five innings. 

Fifth-year right-hander Kevin Eaise pitched three scoreless relief innings and junior right-hander Matt Poston held the Blue Devils (14–8, 3–4 ACC) hitless in the ninth for his second save in three days to secure the win for UNC (17–5, 3–2).

“He didn’t have his best stuff,” Forbes said of Carlson, who he called him the story of the game. “Him bridging the gap for us was really big. It allowed us to get those next two guys who have been throwing so well for us and a big swing of the bat obviously by Mac Horvath.”

After Alex Stone’s two-run homer in the first inning and Devin Obee’s RBI double in the second, Duke got the leadoff man on in the third, fourth and fifth, but only two more hits off and no more runs off Carlson.

Forbes said that Carlson “competed his tail off” and getting five innings from him was huge after he went only 2⅔ innings at Pittsburgh on Friday. Of course, it helped that he didn’t pitch with a fever as he did in the loss to Virginia or after recovering from an ear infection as was the case at Pittsburgh.

“If we had to take him out again in the second, they probably score more runs,” Forbes said. “He was definitely better and that’s good for us and for him.”

Junior shortstop Colby Wilkerson, who went 2 for 3, tied it with a three-run double down the left field line in the second inning after two walks and a Duke error to erase the three-run deficit with one swing.

In his second straight game playing right field, Horvath crushed a three-run home run to left field in the fourth inning to make it 6–3.

“Threw slider, curveball first pitch; swung through it; felt good with the swing,” said Horvath of Duke left-hander Owen Proksch (2–3), who gave up a homer for the first time in 18 innings this season. “Threw another one a little more up in the zone.”

After playing the first 20 games at third base, Horvath shifted to the outfield to make way for another big bat in the lineup, with Johnny Castagnozzi playing third.

“This summer, I got to play in the outfield quite a bit, so it makes that transition a little easier. And then in the fall, I played it quite a bit too. So kind of always have it in the back pocket, knowing that I can play out there,” Horvath said.

Horvath is the only player in the country with double-digit homers (12) and steals (10). He’s on pace to become the second 20/20 player in program history after Vance Honeycutt (who has eight home runs and 13 steals this season) did it last season.

“That’s cool. That’s good,” Horvath said. “As long as we win, that’s all that matters. If hitting the long ball or stealing a base to help us win, I’m going to do that.”

It could have been more one-sided, but some hard-hit balls went for outs and a runner got thrown out at the plate on a close play.       

Jackson Van De Brake was 3 for 3 with a pair of doubles and was on base five times.     

“That’s what you want, get on base, let the guys behind you get you in,” Van De Brake said.     

Eaise struck out four, but none were bigger than when he fanned Obee with two runners in scoring position to get out of the eighth inning.  

NOTES — The series resumes at 6 p.m. Friday (ESPN3), with UNC right-hander Connor Bovair (2–1, 2.05 ERA) opposing Duke left-hander Jonathan Santucci (2–1, 4.15 ERA). In Saturday’s 2 p.m. finale (ESPN3), Tar Heels right-hander Jake Knapp (2–0, 3.10 ERA) faces Blue Devils right-hander Alex Gow (2–1, 1.08 ERA). … The two programs have won the last three ACC titles, with UNC winning in 2019 and 2022 and Duke capturing the title in 2021. … UNC leads the all-time series 197–105–2 and has won three consecutive series overall against the Blue Devils and six in a row in Chapel Hill.

No. 15 UNC 6, Duke 3

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Date	Month/day	Score	Opponent (current rank)	Location	Record
	Feb.
17	Friday	10–8 L	Seton Hall	Home	0–1
18	Saturday	11–2 W	Seton Hall	Home	1–1
19	Sunday	4–2 W	Seton Hall	Home	2–1
21	Tuesday	14–2 W	Radford	Home	3–1
22	Wed.	10–0 W	Longwood	Home	4–1
24	Friday	6–5 L	No. 15 East Carolina	Greenville	4–2
26	Sunday	6–5 L	No. 15 East Carolina	Home	4–3
28	Tuesday	10–4 W	VCU	Home	5–3
	March
1	Wed.	14–10 W	VCU	Home	6–3
3	Friday	3–2 W 11 innings	Stony Brook	Home	7–3
4	Saturday	7–5 W	Stony Brook	Home	8–3
5	Sunday	15–4 W	Stony Brook	Home	9–3
7	Tuesday	8–4 W, 5 innings	Western Carolina	Home	10–3
8	Wed.	15–5 W	Penn State	Home	11–3
10	Friday	7–3 L	No. 11 Virginia	Home	11–4, 0–1 ACC
11	Saturday	8–4 L	No. 11 Virginia	Home	11–5, 0–2 ACC
11	Saturday	6–0 W	No. 11 Virginia	Home	12–5, 1–2 ACC
14	Tuesday	16–3 W	Charlotte	Charlotte	13–5
15	Wed.	16–2 W	High Point	Home	14–5
17, 18	Friday, Saturday	17–7 W	Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh	15–5, 2–2 ACC
21	Tuesday	6–4 W	N.C. A&T	Home	16–5
23	Thursday	6–3 W	Duke	Home	17–5, 3–2 ACC
24	Friday	8–5 L	Duke	Home	17–6, 3–3 ACC
25	Saturday	5–3 W	Duke	Home	18–6, 4–3 ACC
28	Tuesday	12–7 L	No. 9 Coastal Carolina	Home	18–7
31	Friday	10–8 W	Notre Dame	South Bend, Ind.	19–7, 5–3 ACC
	April
2	Sunday	5–2 W	Notre Dame	South Bend, Ind.	20–7, 6–3 ACC
2	Sunday	9–1 L	Notre Dame	South Bend, Ind	20–8, 6–4 ACC
4	Tuesday	5–0 L	South Carolina	Charlotte	20–9
6	Thursday	8–1 W	Georgia Tech	Atlanta	21–9, 7–4 ACC
7	Friday	10–6 W	Georgia Tech	Atlanta	22–9, 8–4 ACC
7	Friday	8–4 L	Georgia Tech	Atlanta	22–10, 8–5 ACC
11	Tuesday	10–6 W	Queens	Home	23–10
13	Thursday	5–4 L	No. 8 Miami	Home	23–11, 8–6 ACC
14/15	Friday, Saturday	9–8 W, 11 inn.	No. 8 Miami	Home	24–11, 9–6 ACC
15	Saturday	4–3 L	No. 8 Miami	Home	24–12, 9–7 ACC
18	Tuesday	5–3 W	Charlotte	Home	25–12
21	Friday	9–8 L, 10 inn.	Boston College	Home	25–13, 9–8 ACC
22	Saturday	9–4 L	Boston College	Home	25–14, 9–9 ACC
23	Sunday	6–2 L	Boston College	Home	25–15, 9–10 ACC
25	Tuesday	18–2 W	UNCW	Home	26–15
28	Friday	7–0 L	Virginia Tech	Blacksburg, Va.	26–16, 9–11 ACC
29	Saturday	12–8 W	Virginia Tech	Blacksburg, Va.	27–16, 10–11 ACC
29	Saturday	13–7 W	Virginia Tech	Blacksburg, Va.	28–16, 11–11 ACC
	May
2	Tuesday	6–5 L	No. 11 Campbell	Home	28–17
3	Wed.	2–1 W	No. 15 East Carolina	Greenville	29–17
9	Tuesday	5–4 W	Gardner-Webb	Home	30–17
11	Thursday	9–8 W	N.C. State	Home	31–17, 12–11 ACC
12	Friday	9–3 W	N.C. State	Home	32–17, 13–11 ACC
13	Saturday	12–2 W	N.C. State	Home	33–17, 14–11 ACC
16	Tuesday	8–6 L	No. 9 Coastal Carolina	Conway, S.C.	33–18
18	Thursday	14–7 L	No. 3 Clemson	Clemson, S.C.	33–19, 14–12 ACC
19	Friday	5–4 L	No. 3 Clemson	Clemson, S.C.	33–20, 14–13 ACC
20	Saturday	3–1 L	No. 3 Clemson	Clemson, S.C.	33–21, 14–14 ACC
			ACC tournament
23	Tuesday	11–5 W	Georgia Tech	Durham	34–21
25	Thursday	10–2 W	No. 11 Virginia	Durham	35–21
27	Saturday	10–4 L	Semifinal vs. No. 3 Clemson	Durham	35–22
	June		NCAA tournament
			Terre Haute Regional
2	Friday	5–4 L	Iowa	Terre Haute, Ind.	35–23
3	Saturday	5–0 W	Wright State	Terre Haute, Ind.	36–23
4	Sunday	6–5 L, 13 innings	Iowa	Terre Haute, Ind.	36–24

Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics Communications