By R.L. Bynum
UNC sophomore catcher Luke Stevenson ended the Tar Heels’ five-game homerless drought as the unbeaten No. 6 Tar Heels rolled to an 11–6 victory Sunday before 3,940 fans at Boshamer Stadium.
The Tar Heels banged out 13 hits, led by first baseman Hunter Stokely, who was 4 for 5 with three RBI, and an outstanding relief outing from Folger Boaz (winner, 1–0), who finished the game with 3.1 innings of two-hit shutout ball with a walk and a strikeout.
Eight of 10 UNC hitters reached base.
Carolina (6–0) goes for a sweep of the three-city series at 5 p.m. Monday at East Carolina (ESPN+).
After hitting warning-track fly balls twice in the first five games, Stevenson finally broke through with UNC’s first homer of the season, powering a breaking ball 354 feet over the left-field wall for a three-run shot to left field. That ended a five-game homerless streak, the longest since April 6–13, 2018.
ECU’s starter, freshman left-hander Sean Jenkins, lasted 3.1 innings, giving up four hits, three runs, two walks and striking out two.
Against graduate UNC right-hander Jake Knapp (3 innings, 4 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts), in his first start of the season, ECU scored two in the third on Michael Kalinich’s RBI double to left and Kevin Bowman’s two-out single to left. Kyle Percival relieved Knapp to start the fourth and gave up a two-run homer to left field to Walker Barron.
Jack Herring’s one-out sacrifice fly in the fifth gave ECU a 5–3 lead.
UNC tied it in the bottom of the fifth with two runs, highlighted by Stokely’s RBI single to left. ECU regained the lead with Alex Bouche’s solo homer in the sixth before UNC took the lead for good with two sixth-inning runs on a Tyson Bass RBI double and a Stokely RBI single.
The Tar Heels turned it into a blowout with four hits and four runs in the eighth inning, getting an RBI single from Stokely, a Gavin Gallaher sacrifice fly and a two-run triple to right field from Kane Kepley.
NOTES — Senior right-hander Aidan Haugh (0–0, 3.00 ERA) will start the series finale for Carolina. … UNC leads the all-time series with ECU 62–36. … UNC coach Scott Forbes is 7–6 against ECY, while Pirates coach Cliff Godwin is 9–12 against the Tar Heels.
No. 6 UNC 11, ECU 6
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 |
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
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