By R.L. Bynum

CHAPEL HILL — A different Max Carlson took the mound Friday in his first start after three weeks in the Carolina bullpen. N.C. State couldn’t handle this version, but not that many teams could have.

The junior right-hander showed the talent that made him the No. 1 starter heading into the season and got plenty of offensive support as UNC pounded rival N.C. State 9–3 Friday at a sold-out Boshamer Stadium for its fourth straight win to earn a second consecutive series victory over the Wolfpack.

UNC coach Scott Forbes moved Carlson to the bullpen after he gave up five runs (three earned) in 2⅔ innings on April 21 against Boston College. Carlson got his fastball and change-up over for strikes consistently in a dominant outing, returning to his early-season form when he pitched seven shutout innings (two hits, nine strikeouts) at East Carolina on Feb. 24.

In a career-high 7⅔ innings and 100 pitches, he gave up three hits, including a pair of solo home runs, with no walks and four strikeouts.

“It’s been a while; I’ve had some struggles recently and it’s really good to be out there and help my team win,” Carlson said. “The most important thing is I want to be in a position where I can help the team win, no matter where it is. And that was the bullpen the last couple of weeks. Got time to work on things … Lot of emotions; felt really good.”

Carlson (5–3) didn’t give up a hit until right fielder Mac Horvath just missed making a diving catch on Noah Soles’ drive to lead off the fourth inning. Then, junior catcher Tomas Frick threw Soles out trying to steal on a strike-him-out, throw-him-out inning-ending double play.

Through his detour to bullpen duty, Carlson changed his mental approach, and that’s changed his fortunes.

“I think over the last couple of weeks, I’ve just learned to have fun. And that’s the most important thing about this game. It will keep me loose,” said Carlson, who said he never had any doubts.

N.C. State catcher Jacob Cozart in the seventh inning and first baseman Eli Serrano III in the eighth got the only runs off Carlson, with home runs to center field. Kevin Eaise relieved Carlson after the Serrano blast.

When Carlson struggled earlier in the season, he was getting beat by his slider, which he said he didn’t throw once against N.C. State.

“We still feel like he is an elite guy who can match up with anybody,” said Forbes, who signed a five-year contract extension earlier on Friday. “I’m really proud of him. He’s a team guy. He goes to the bullpen; he doesn’t bat an eye. He helped us win that one-run game at East Carolina because his attitude is good. And then he gets rewarded to be back into rotation.”

UNC (32–17, 13–11 ACC) went through a stretch where it struggled with runners in scoring position, but five of its first six runs Friday came with two outs.

“I thought we stung a lot of balls; we look balanced,” said Forbes, who liked how his hitters attacked the changeup of State starter and loser Matt Willadsen (5–4). “We went up there and we had the right approach and, over time, it paid off.”

Forbes said his batters are going to the plate with a better approach than when his team struggled.

“Guys were just trying to be the hero instead of just having a great at-bat,” Forbes said.

Carolina broke through with two outs when redshirt freshman left fielder Casey Cook doubled just inside the left-field line and scored on junior second baseman Jackson Van De Brake’s single to left. Cook went 3 for 5 for his seventh three-hit game of the season.

Cook is hitting a team-leading .421 in conference games this season, compared to .321 overall.

“Maybe I raise my level, which shouldn’t be the case,” Cook said, trying to explain his success in league games. “You should have it for every game, but obviously there’s more energy on the weekends. Being in leadoff spot, I want to do my job.”

Junior third baseman Johnny Castagnozzi, out of lineup for five consecutive games before this series, got his second hit since April 21, a two-run, two-out single to left in the fourth, after leadoff singles from Horvath and Frick. Cook scored Castagnozzi with a single up the middle. Castagnozzi also made an outstanding play on a hard grounder in the sixth inning.

“Big, big swing of the bat for us, but also looked great defensively,” Forbes said of Castagnozzi.

Horvath’s solo home run with one out in the fifth, a 416-foot shot to left field, was his seventh home run in the last nine games for his 20th home run, which is second in the ACC.

Cook hit a two-out RBI single to left field in the sixth before UNC scored three runs off three bases-loaded walks in a 28-minute bottom of the seventh.

State notched another run in the seventh on shortstop Kalae Harrison’s RBI single off Eaise, who pitched the final 1⅓ innings, giving up only a hit and a walk.

N.C. State fell to 31–17 and 10–15 in the ACC, and is in danger of missing the ACC tournament.

NOTES — The series concludes at 2 p.m. Saturday (ESPN3) with right-hander Jake Knapp (3–3, 5.01 ERA) starting for UNC. The Wolfpack hasn’t named a starter, but it likely will be junior right-hander Sam Highfill (5–1, 3.63 ERA). … Carlson’s start was the longest for UNC against N.C. State since Austin Bergner went eight innings on April 28, 2018, in an 8–6 win in Raleigh. … Horvath stole his ACC-leading 22nd base. … Cook reached base for the 38th consecutive game, the most by a freshman since 1999, surpassing Colin Moran (37 in 2011). … There was a long line at the box office before the game to buy standing-room tickets. … Eric Grintz started at designated hitter for UNC instead of Alberto Osuna after getting the huge ninth-inning triple on Thursday night, going 0 for 3 with three strikeouts and a walk. … Frick took a foul tip off his mask in the eighth inning but stayed in the game. … The 1973 Carolina team is having a reunion this weekend, and UNC honored Mickey Hickerson, a member of that team, before the game. He was the first black player in program history and played one season in the Chicago White Sox’s minor-league system. … UNC leads the all-time series 174–139–1, winning four in a row and five of the last six meetings.

UNC 9, N.C. State 3

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