By R.L. Bynum

DURHAM — When North Carolina salvaged a game from its three-game regular-season series with Virginia, the Tar Heels did it by shutting out the Cavaliers in a 7–0 victory.

Junior right-hander Jake Knapp started that game for UNC and will be on the mound at 3 p.m. Thursday in the ACC tournament at Durham Bulls Athletic Park when the No. 7-seed Tar Heels meet No. 12-ranked and No. 2-seed Virginia for a spot in Saturday’s semifinals.

It is the only time the Cavaliers (45–11), fourth in total runs in league games, have been shut out all season. However, replicating that against a red-hot Virginia team will be challenging.

The Cavaliers thumped Georgia Tech 15–1 Wednesday, in a game shortened to seven innings under the pool-play mercy rule, as they won for the 10th consecutive game, the last four against the Jackets.

“Certainly, it was a hard-fought series,” Virginia coach Brian O’Connor said of the March series in Chapel Hill. “North Carolina has got a really good ballclub and Knapp is good. So, we’ll turn our attention to what our approach needs to be against him. And I anticipate [Thursday] being a great ballgame, a great atmosphere and a hard-fought game.”

Knapp (4–3, 5.11 ERA) had control issues with four walks in that March 11 game, but gave up only three hits and struck out four in 4⅓ innings. Matt Poston pitched the final 4⅔ innings, giving up two hits and one walk and striking out three to get the win.

Knapp will try to rebound from a bad outing in UNC’s 5–4 Friday loss at Clemson. He gave up five hits and four runs in 3⅔ innings six days after looking sharp in a 12–2 victory May 13 over N.C. State when he pitched a career-long 6+ innings, giving up five hits, two runs and no walks with three strikeouts.

Carolina won’t have to contend with Virginia’s top starter, right-hander Nick Parker, who started against Georgia Tech even though it was meaningless for ACC tournament purposes. He pitched all seven innings, which allowed the Cavaliers to rest their bullpen.

“Pitching seven innings knowing what we have in front of us was huge for us, so we’d have everybody available for [Thursday] out of our bullpen,” O’Connor said.

Instead, Virginia will start junior left-hander Connelly Early (10–1, 3.18 ERA), who didn’t pitch against Carolina but has pitched well over the last month.

“He’s earned that,” O’Connor said of Early. “He’s been one of our most consistent pitchers all year long.”

Junior catcher Kyle Teel, the ACC Player of the Year, is one of four Cavaliers to make All-ACC first team. He led the league in batting average (.393) and total hits (91). His 23 doubles tie for both the ACC lead and the Virginia single-season record. In addition, Teel has 13 homers with 62 RBI (seventh among ACC players), and his .480 on-base percentage is fifth in the league.

Other first-teamers are junior third baseman Jake Gelof (.340, 22 home runs, 84 RBI), junior outfielder Ethan O’Donnell (.341, 13 homers, 52 RBI) and sophomore shortstop Griff O’Ferrall (.396, 38 RBI, 16 steals).