By R.L. Bynum

CHAPEL HILL — No. 13 North Carolina can make a powerful argument for being one of the country’s most talented home-run-hitting teams.

Designated hitter Alberto Osuna and center fielder Vance Honeycutt had target practice on the top of the left-field scoreboard, which is 40 feet high. Osuna hit the upper-left part of it for one homer, and Honeycutt blasted a homer over the scoreboard for two of UNC’s three homers.

Carolina clinched a series victory by beating Notre Dame 7–2 Saturday at Boshamer Stadium, tying the school record with its 26th consecutive home win as six Tar Heels have home runs in the series.

When you combine the power that has produced 41 homers in the last 15 games with the speed that is also up and down the lineup, Carolina (27–7, 12–4 ACC) presents plenty of problems for opposing pitchers.

“It’s potent one through nine,” UNC coach Scott Forbes said, “and we also have the speed factor, which puts a lot of pressure on the other team and makes the pitcher make mistakes because trying to be quick to the plate. I’ll put our lineup against anybody. I love our lineup.”

Carolina has 62 home runs, is on pace to easily top the 87 home runs of last season, and has a good shot at surpassing the 101 the Tar Heels hit two seasons ago.

Osuna’s 40th career home made the Tar Heels the only team in the country with three 40-homer players. Honeycutt’s homer was his 48th, giving him the third-highest total in program history. First baseman Parks Harber hit his 46th in Friday’s opener.

“It just shows one through nine, we all do damage and just kind of shows how much of the complete lineup we have,” Osuna said. “You’ll see in games, the bottom half of the lineup will be the ones that get us going. They’ll score runs, it gets us going and we all just go.”

Osuna’s blast came a day after Forbes was kidding around with Osuna, who hadn’t hit a home run since March 31 against Wake Forest.

“We were busting his chops, ‘Are you going to hit any home runs? In case you haven’t noticed, Berto, you’re not fast. I get you’re hitting for a higher average, but get some good swings off,’ ” Forbes remembers telling Osuna. “And, sure enough, he smoked that.”

Osuna remembers being called a doubles hitter during that good-natured conversation, and he indeed has 15 doubles on the season.

“Thankfully, today, I got a hold of one,” said Osuna, who had a huge smile on his face as he crossed the plate. He also flew out to the left-field warning track later in the game and has nine home runs this season.

Forbes said that Osuna’s approach has been better this season.

“I think you’ll see the biggest difference if he gets two strikes,” Forbes said. “He’s choking up on the bat. He knows what the situation is. We talked about how our approach is the most important thing in being a great hitter, and he’s got a really good approach.”

Osuna said that he’s cleaned up his swing and has moved on from being a swing-and-miss guy who hopes to hit the ball out. That’s making opposing pitchers pay.

“It’s really easy whenever you have the guys in front of you, just on base all the time,” Osuna said. “All I have to do is put it in play. I kind of realized that. By me doing that and with the amount of power I can have, I just find holes.”

UNC starter Shea Sprague (winner, 2–1) said he’s never been a part of a team with this much power, and said it’s a boost for starting pitchers.

“Every time I pitch, I get incredible run support,” said the junior left-handed transfer from Elon. “Also just jumping out to a lead at the beginning of the game so they can really settle in and just keep going after them. Top to bottom, it’s fun to watch.”

It didn’t take UNC long to take control with leadoff home runs in the first two innings. Right fielder Anthony Donofrio’s 400-foot blast just cleared the center-field fence in the first inning, and Osuna’s no-doubter went 413 feet to lead off the second.

Third baseman Johnny Castagnozzi, in his first start for over a month, hit a one-out double to left in the fifth and scored on Donofrio’s single up the middle.

Sprague had to work around more traffic than Friday starter Jason DeCaro but navigated it well. He gave up five hits and two earned runs with one walk and four strikeouts in 5⅔ innings.

“I thought our pitching was outstanding. I thought we should have had another shutout,” Forbes said.

Sprague retired the Irish in order on six pitches in the first inning and got back-to-back strikeouts in the second inning, leaving two baserunners stranded in scoring position.

He had a runner at third base, right fielder Tito Flores, with two outs in the fifth. Sprague’s pitch got away from catcher Luke Stevenson. Flores ran toward the plate, but batter Nick DeMarco was called out for interfering with Stevenson to end the inning.

Forbes said he had never seen that before.

“If that was in the dirt, they wouldn’t have called interference,” Forbes said. “Luke did a great job going through him to get the ball. That’s what we teach our guys — to try to create the interference if you can.”

The third out was elusive for UNC in the top of the sixth inning.

Notre Dame (15–16, 2–14) scored its first series run on third baseman Simon Baumgardt’s two-out single. T.J. Williams, who led off with a single, scored on a close play at the plate.

Honeycutt made an excellent throw, and plate umpire John Mang ruled that Stevenson tagged him out. After a replay review, though, Stevenson was called for interference, ruling that he blocked the plate, and Williams was credited with a run.

Redshirt sophomore left-hander Dalton Pence relieved Sprague and gave up an RBI single to first baseman Connor Hincks, cutting UNC’s lead to 3–2. That was the only Irish hit in 1⅓ innings off of Pence, who struck out two.

Second baseman Alex Madera’s one-out, two-run single in the bottom of that inning, after left fielder Casey Cook and first baseman Parks Harber led off with singles, quickly got those runs back.

Honeycutt made it 6–2 with his one-out blast over the scoreboard in the seventh inning. The Heels tacked on another run in the eighth when Madera tripled and scored on Castagnozzi’s sacrifice fly.

Sophomore right-hander Matthew Matthijs struck out three, finishing the game with two scoreless innings.

NOTES — The series concludes at 1 p.m. Sunday with UNC junior transfer right-hander Aidan Haugh (1–0, 3.80 ERA) making his first start of the season, opposing Irish right-hander Rory Fox (1–0, 5.60 ERA). … Carolina has a two-game lead in the ACC Coastal Division over Duke (which swept a Saturday doubleheader at Pittsburgh) and Virginia Tech (which lost at Georgia Tech on Saturday 19–0) … Castagnozzi was in the lineup for the first time since starting seven consecutive games there from March 2 to March 12. … Donofrio’s blast was the first lead-off, first-inning homer by a Tar Heel since Honeycutt did it last season against High Point. … UNC hasn’t lost at Boshamer Stadium since falling 6–5 against Campbell on May 2 of last season. The last ACC home loss was 7–0 on April 28 against Virginia Tech. … Notre Dame leads the all-time series 13–11, but the teams have split eight games in Chapel Hill.

No. 13 UNC 7, Notre Dame 2

ACC standings

Coastal Division	League	Overall
No. 12 North Carolina	17–7	33–11
No. 11 Virginia	14–10	33–12
No. 10 Duke	14–10	30–14
Virginia Tech	13–11	27–14
Georgia Tech	11–10	27–15
Miami	8–16	19–24
Pittsburgh	5–16	18–22

Atlantic Division	League	Overall
No. 4 Clemson	15–6	34–9
No. 7 Florida State	13–8	34–9
No. 21 N.C. State	12–9	25–16
No. 13 Wake Forest	12–12	27–16
Louisville	10–11	25–18
Boston College	8–16	21–21
Notre Dame	7–17	22–20

(Unless otherwise indicated, games only stream on ESPN3)
Sunday’s results
Virginia Tech 4, No. 12 North Carolina 3
Notre Dame 8, No. 13 Wake Forest 7
No. 10 Duke 16, No. 7 Florida State 4
Georgia Tech 17, Miami 1
Pittsburgh 5, Bryant 2
No. 20 N.C. State 9, Ball State 3
No. 4 Clemson 17, Louisville 7
Tuesday’s games
UMass Lowell at Boston College, 3 p.m.
UNCW at No. 20 N.C. State, 5 p.m.
Northern Kentucky at Louisville, 6 p.m.
No. 13 Wake Forest vs. Appalachian State in Shelby, 6 p.m.
West Virginia at Pittsburgh, 6 p.m.
No. 11 Virginia at VCU, 6:30
Charlotte at No. 12 North Carolina, 7 p.m.. ACC Network
Wednesday’s games
William & Mary at No. 12 North Carolina, 6 p.m.
No. 13 Wake Forest at High Point, 6 p.m.
Navy at No. 11 Virginia, 6 p.m.
N.C. A&T at Virginia Tech, 7 p.m.

Date	Day/ month	Time/ score	Opponent/event (current ranks)	TV/ record
	February
16	Friday	W, 10–3	vs. Wagner	1–0
17	Saturday	W, 16–5	vs. Wagner	2–0
18	Sunday	W, 20–6	vs. Wagner	3–0
20	Tuesday	W, 8–7	vs. Elon	4–0
23	Friday	W, 2–1	vs. No. 5 East Carolina	5–0
24	Saturday	L, 7–4	vs. No. 5 East Carolina in Fayetteville	5–1
25	Sunday	L, 10–9	at No. 5 East Carolina	5–2
27	Tuesday	W, 8–2	vs. VCU	6–2
28	Wednesday	W, 12–3	vs. Longwood	7–2
	March
1	Friday	W, 12–2	vs. Princeton	8–2
2	Saturday	W, 11–2	vs. Princeton	9–2
3	Sunday	W, 13–6	vs. Princeton	10–2
5	Tuesday	W, 7–3	at Campbell	11–2
8	Friday	W, 2–1	vs. Pittsburgh	12–2, 1–0 ACC
9	Saturday	W, 7–3	vs. Pittsburgh	13–2, 2–0 ACC
10	Sunday	W, 6–5, 10 innings	vs. Pittsburgh	14–2, 3–0 ACC
12	Tuesday	W, 13–7	vs. Rutgers	15–2
13	Wednesday	W, 9–8	vs. Rutgers	16–2
15	Friday	L, 14–1	at Miami	16–3, 3–1 ACC
16	Saturday	L, 2–1	at Miami	16–4, 3–2 ACC
17	Sunday	W, 18–6	at Miami	17–4, 4–2 ACC
19	Tuesday	W, 11–0, 7 innings	vs. UNCW	18–4
22	Friday	W, 5–4	vs. Georgia Tech	19–4, 5–2 ACC
23	Saturday	W, 11–5	vs. Georgia Tech	20–4, 6–2 ACC
24	Sunday	W, 9–2	vs. Georgia Tech	21–4, 7–2 ACC
26	Tuesday	W, 10–8	vs. N.C. A&T	22–4
29	Friday	W, 6–5	at No. 13 Wake Forest	23–4, 8–2 ACC
30	Saturday	W, 10–6	at No. 13 Wake Forest	24–4, 9–2 ACC
31	Sunday	W, 14–10	at No. 13 Wake Forest	25–4, 10–2 ACC
	April
4	Thursday	L, 14–11	at No. 11 Virginia	25–5, 10–3 ACC
5	Friday	L, 7–2	at No. 11 Virginia	25–6, 10–4 ACC
6	Saturday	W, 12–7	at No. 11 Virginia	26–6, 11–4 ACC
9	Tuesday	L, 2–1	vs. No. 15 South Carolina in Charlotte	26–7
12	Friday	W, 13–0, 6½ innings	vs. Notre Dame	27–7, 12–4 ACC
13	Saturday	W, 7–2	vs. Notre Dame	28–7, 13–4 ACC
14	Sunday	W, 10–3	vs. Notre Dame	29–7, 14–4 ACC
16	Tuesday	L, 5–4	vs. Coastal Carolina	29–8
18	Thursday	L, 9–8	at No. 20 N.C. State	29–9, 14–5 ACC
19	Friday	L, 5–4	at No. 20 N.C. State	29–10, 14–6 ACC
20	Saturday	W, 14–3	at No. 20 N.C. State	30–10, 15–6 ACC
23	Tuesday	W, 5–2	vs. Gardner-Webb	31–10
26	Friday	W, 8–1	vs. Virginia Tech	32–10, 16–6 ACC
27	Saturday	W, 6–3	vs. Virginia Tech	33–10, 17–6 ACC
28	Sunday	L, 4–3	vs. Virginia Tech	33–11, 17–7 ACC
30	Tuesday	7 p.m.	vs. Charlotte	ACCN
	May
1	Wednesday	6 p.m.	vs. William & Mary	ESPN3
7	Tuesday	6 p.m.	vs. Campbell	ESPN3
10	Friday	6 p.m.	vs. Louisville	ESPN3
11	Saturday	2 p.m.	vs. Louisville	ESPN3
12	Sunday	1 p.m.	vs. Louisville	ACCN
14	Tuesday	6 p.m.	at UNCW	FloSports
16	Thursday	6 p.m.	at No. 10 Duke	ACCN
17	Friday	6 p.m.	at No. 10 Duke	ESPN3
18	Saturday	1 p.m.	at No. 10 Duke	ESPN3
21–26	Tuesday- Sunday	TBA	ACC tournament in Charlotte	ACCN
31	Friday	TBA	NCAA Regional	TBA
	June
1–3	Saturday- Monday	TBA	NCAA Regional	TBA
7–10	Friday- Monday	TBA	NCAA Super Regional	TBA
14–24	Friday- Monday	TBA	College World Series in Omaha, Neb.	TBA