By R.L. Bynum
CHAPEL HILL — The tall and short of it was that No. 6 North Carolina made quite a statement with its three-game opening-series sweep of Texas Tech.
Center fielder Kane Kepley, the 5–8 Liberty transfer, showed he’ll be a big spark at the top of the order, and Ryan Lynch (top photo) — one of two 6–3 freshman pitchers who came on in relief — was outstanding as the Tar Heels beat the Red Raiders 4–2 on a soggy Saturday afternoon at Boshamer Stadium.
“The weather wasn’t great,” UNC coach Scott Forbes said. “It was freezing cold today. The conditions weren’t good. I think it says a lot about the toughness of our group to be able to finish a sweep against a really good Texas Tech team.”
UNC (3–0) needed solid pitching on a day when it could only muster five hits, only one of which was an extra-base hit, as the Tar Heels had a tough time against the change-up of Red Raiders reliever Lukas Pirko (5.1 innings, 3 hits, 1 run, 2 walks, 7 strikeouts)
Carolina’s men’s basketball team could use the kind of height on the Tar Heels’ pitching staff. Lynch and Seagraves, who showed off good stuff in their college debuts, are two of 11 pitchers 6–3 or taller, and three others are at least 6–2.
“Our pitching staff is a rather large pitching staff, and we have a bigger team,” Forbes said. “We’re going to recruit the best pitcher, period, no matter their height. It’s just that the pitching staff is bigger than normal this season.”
Seagraves (below photo), an Ellerbe product who was once a Campbell commitment, was the first of the two young pitchers to come on.
Forbes said that Seagraves, who didn’t give up a hit and walked one in 1.2 innings while striking out two, mixed a fastball with a changeup, was “good” and “extremely aggressive.”
But it was Lynch (winner, 1–0), from Moorestown, N.J., who made the biggest impression with a fastball consistently in the mid-90s, hitting 97 mph, and an effective slider. He gave up three hits and one run while striking out seven and walking none in 4+ innings.
“There aren’t many guys [who can go] more than an inning that you can throw just a fastball. So I thought he equalized the count really well with the slider,” said Forbes, who said the closest former Tar Heel Lynch reminds him of is Alex White.
Lynch struck out 163 over 114 innings during his three high school seasons, including 61 in 42 innings his senior season.
Lynch said he didn’t have quite as many butterflies as he expected. He admitted that he was a little nervous and was obviously very fired up after some of his strikeouts.
“I’m not usually very animated, and just being out there and having fun was great,” Lynch said. “It was good to be able to have fun and not be too tight up there.”
Is there an intimidation factor for batters when a tall player brings the heat like Lynch did?
“I hope there’s a little bit,” Lynch said. “Intimidation always helps, but there’s plenty taller, bigger guys than me. But I hope that whatever I have gets the job done, even if I’m not quite as intimidating that day.”
Kepley (above photo) singled in his first two at-bats for his fourth consecutive hit in the series, and is hitting .462 after going 2 for 4 with an RBI on Saturday. That came a day after his home-run-robbing catch was No. 2 on ESPN “SportsCenter” Top 10 plays.
“I got a good bit of texts,” Kepley said of the aftermath of his ESPN appearance, “but I kind of drowned them out. I wanted to focus on the game a good bit. I didn’t really look at them. I’ll look at them later.”
The good defensive plays continued Saturday, with right fielder Tyson Bass making a nice diving catch of Kendyl Johnson’s sinking line drive to right-center to lead off the third inning. In the sixth inning, third baseman Gavin Gallaher, hitless in the series, sped up a few steps to backhand a hard grounder and made a quick throw to first to get the out.
Texas Tech took a first-inning lead when Kyeler Thompson beat out an infield single and scored on Damian Bravo’s two-out single to center field.
The first four UNC batters reached in the first inning, and three scored. Left fielder Rom Kellis drove home two with a single to center, with an error on the play scoring another, and designated hitter Sam Angelo hit a sacrifice fly.
“[Kepley] and Bass, I thought were really good one-two,” Forbes said of the top of his order. “They had great at-bats the whole weekend, even if they weren’t getting hit. They were making the pitcher work. And that’s important when you’re trying to get those pitch counts up.”
UNC starter Olin Johnson (2.1 innings, 3 hits, 1 run, 1 walk 0 strikeouts), a sophomore right-hander, didn’t have his off-speed pitches going. He gave way to Seagraves after giving up a single and a walk with one out in the third inning. After walking the bases loaded, Seagraves struck out Davis Rivers to get out of the inning.
Graduate second baseman Jackson Van De Brake made it 4–1 when he ripped a double down the left-field line to start the fourth inning and scored after two groundouts.
Lynch gave way to Matthew Matthijs after giving up a leadoff single in the ninth inning. Matthijs gave up a single to TJ Pompey, who scored on Antonelli Savattere’s one-out single, before inducing a flyout and a game-ending groundout to pick up his first save.
NOTES — Carolina faces Kansas State (0–2) at 4 p.m. Tuesday. The Wildcats, picked to finish eighth in the 14-team Big 12, lost their opener Friday 9–2 to Washington at Baseball at the Beach in Conway, S.C., and 8–3 to Coastal Carolina in that event on Saturday. … The Kansas State game was moved up from Wednesday to Tuesday, and the N.C. A&T game, originally scheduled for Tuesday, will instead be played on Wednesday, Feb. 26. … Carolina went without a home run in a weekend series after never doing that last season. … Umpires are checking the gloves and caps of relief pitchers this season when they enter the game. … With the series sweep, UNC tied the all-time series with Texas Tech at 3.
No. 6 UNC 4, Texas Tech 2
UNC scores
| Date(s) | Day/ month | Scores | Opponent (current rank) | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February | ||||
| 14–15 | Fri.-Sat. | W, 5–1; W, 8–3; W, 4–2 | vs. Texas Tech | 3–0 |
| 18 | Tuesday | W, 12–9 | vs. Kansas State | 4–0 |
| 22–24 | Sat.-Mon. | W, 2–0; W, 11–6; W, 6–4 | vs. East Carolina (DBAP, CH, G’ville) | 7–0 |
| 25 | Tuesday | W, 7–4 | vs. VCU | 8–0 |
| 26 | Wednesday | W, 13–4 | vs. N.C. A&T | 9–0 |
| 28 | Friday | W, 16–2 | vs. Stony Brook | 10–0 |
| March | ||||
| 1–2 | Sat.-Sun. | W, 6–1; W, 9–5 | vs. Stony Brook | 12–0 |
| 4 | Tuesday | W, 6–4 (11) | vs. No. 11 Coastal Carolina | 13–0 |
| 7–9 | Fri.-Sun. | L, 13–9; W, 11–1 (7); L, 7–0 | vs. Stanford | 14–2, 1–2 ACC |
| 11 | Tuesday | W, 7–3 (10) | at UNCW | 15–2 |
| 14, 16 | Fri., Sun. | L, 8–7; W, 6–4; L, 5–0 | at Louisville | 16–4, 2–4 |
| 19 | Wednesday | L, 5–1 | vs. UConn | 16–5 |
| 21–23 | Fri.-Sun. | W, 5–1; L, 3–2; W, 10–0 (7) | at Boston College | 18–6, 4–5 |
| 25 | Tuesday | W, 13–8 | vs. South Carolina in Charlotte | 19–7 |
| 28–30 | Fri.-Sun. | W, 2–0; W, 4–2; L, 4–2 | vs. Miami | 21–7, 6–6 |
| April | ||||
| 1 | Tuesday | W, 11–1 (7) | vs. Gardner-Webb | 22–7 |
| 3–5 | Thur.-Sat. | W, 4–3; L, 9–5; W, 8–7 (14) | vs. Duke | 24–8, 8–7 |
| 8 | Tuesday | W, 12–10 | at Elon | 25–8 |
| 11–13 | Fri.-Sun. | W, 11–1 (7); W, 17–1 (7); W, 3–2 | vs. Wake Forest | 28–8, 11–7 |
| 15 | Tuesday | W, 14–4 (8) | vs. Charlotte | 29–8 |
| 18–20 | Fri-Sun. | W, 9–6; L, 10–6: W, 7–5 | at Virginia Tech | 31–9, 13–8 |
| 25–27 | Fri.-Sun. | W, 15–5; L, 4–2; W, 6–0 | at Pittsburgh | 33–10, 15–9 |
| 29 | Tuesday | W, 13–4 | vs. George Mason | 34–10 |
| 30 | Wednesday | W, 14–3 | vs. Queens | 35–10 |
| May | ||||
| 6 | Tuesday | W, 10–1 | vs. Campbell | 36–10 |
| 8–9 | Thurs.-Fri. | W, 8–1; L, 8–5 | vs. N.C. State | 37–11, 16–10 |
| 15–17 | Thurs.-Sat. | W, 8–3; W, 11–1 (7); L, 5–4 | at No. 7 Florida State | 39–12, 18–11 |
| ACC tournament | Durham | |||
| 23 | Friday | Quarterfinal: W, 7–3 | Boston College | 40–12 |
| 24 | Saturday | Semifinal: W, 7–5 | No. 7 Florida State | 41–12 |
| 25 | Sunday | Final: W, 14–4 | No. 14 Clemson | 42–12 |
| Chapel Hill Regional | ||||
| 30 | Friday | W, 4–0 | Holy Cross | 43–12 |
| 31 | Saturday | W, 11–5 | Oklahoma | 44–12 |
| June | ||||
| 1 | Sunday | L, 9–5 | Oklahoma | 44–13 |
| 2 | Monday | W, 14–4 | Oklahoma | 45–13 |
| Chapel Hill Super Regional | Best-of-3 series | |||
| 6 | Friday | W, 18–2 | No. 21 Arizona | 46–13 |
| 7 | Saturday | L, 10–8 | No. 21 Arizona | 46–14 |
| 8 | Sunday | L, 4–3 | No. 21 Arizona | 46–15 |
Photos courtesy of UNC Athletics
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