By R.L. Bynum
Second baseman Alex Madera will return to UNC for his fifth college season, and will be part of the Home Run Derby X tour’s fourth and final stop on Saturday night at Durham Bulls Athletic Park alongside former MLB stars.
Madera and UNC first baseman Hunter Stokely will compete in the co-ed three-on-three competition starting at 7 p.m. The other competitors will be Manny Ramirez, Andruw Jones, Johnny Gomes and Ian Desmond, as well as women’s stars Tiare Jennings, Skylar Wallace, Ashton Lansdell and Amanda Lorenz.
UNC confirmed Madera’s return. In his first season at UNC after transferring from Division III Arcadia, Madera (top photo) hit .303 with two home runs, 34 RBI and nine steals while drawing 43 walks against 43 strikeouts. He also was an excellent defensive second baseman.
An early-season hand injury limited Stokely (bottom photo), a redshirt junior in 2025, to three games last season after he hit .317 with six home runs and 36 RBI in 2023.
Madera and Stokley will be on the Bull City Rays team with Gomes and Jennings.
The tour started Aug. 10 in Fort Wayne, Ind., and included stops on Aug. 23 in Albuquerque, N.M., and Aug. 31 in Nashville, Tenn.
In Nashville, the Sounds team of Ramirez, former Oklahoma softball star Jocelyn Alo and local star Kyle Bowers beat the Hot Chickens team, which included Nick Swisher and U.S. softball star Alex Hugo, 55–54 in the championship match.
It is a nonstop competition (offense vs. defense), with each player getting a 2½-minute at-bat. The offense gets a point for either a home run or a “target hit” and a catch in the catch zone is worth one point for the defense,
Also competing will be baseball players from Duke (Ben Miller and Macon Winslow), N.C. State (Chris McHugh and Matt Ossenfort) and UNCW (Tanner Tach and Martin Zelenka).
Tickets range from $10 to $25 and can be purchased here.
Photos courtesy of UNC Athletics
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