By R.L. Bynum
CHAPEL HILL — With senior right-hander Jake Knapp and the Carolina offense locked in, the Tar Heels dominated No. 16 N.C. State in Thursday’s series opener.
UNC played to the level of its No. 4 ranking, coasting to a 7–1 victory Thursday night at Boshamer Stadium, with the speed of center fielder Kane Kepley igniting the offensive show and solid defense behind Knapp.
With its fifth consecutive victory, UNC (37–10, 16–9) moved into a tie for the ACC lead with No. 2 Florida State, with N.C. State (31–16, 15–9) a half-game back.
UNC coach Scott Forbes said that being atop the league after a rough start to the conference season shows the growth of his team.
“I thought we were gonna have to find our way a little bit, and I thought the backbone of our team was gonna be our pitching,” Forbes said.
That was never more apparent than Thursday night. Knapp (winner, 10–0) retired 18 in a row at one point in throwing a career-high 8+ innings, giving up only five hits, walking none and striking out four.
Freshman right-hander Walker McDuffie came on after Knapp gave up back-to-back singles to start the ninth inning. McDuffie retired three straight, including a strikeout, to finish off the victory.
“I wanted him to throw a complete game so bad,” Forbes said of Knapp. “I knew he was giving us everything he had, but he was the story of the game.”
Knapp wanted to stay in the game.
“I was mad because he called it before he got to the mound,” Knapp said of Forbes. “So he didn’t even give me a chance [to argue]. But that’s what I was most mad about. But he knows what he’s doing.”
Knapp threw over 100 pitches for the fourth consecutive game, consistently getting his fastball in the mid- to low-90s and in control throughout the game.
“You get a lead, then the other team knows, ‘Hey, he’s gonna be coming after them with fastballs.’ And you get quick outs, like we did, because he was locating that fastball,” Forbes said. “We preach pitching off your fastball, and that’s what Jake does.”
Knapp knew that State is aggressive on offense, so his goal was to attack the Wolfpack with his fastball.
“I got unbelievable defense behind me. [Left fielder] Carter French in left field was unbelievable. [Third baseman] Gavin [Gallaher] made some good plays on some hard-hit balls at third. And [first baseman Hunter Stokely] dug the ball out. There’s a lot of stuff that was not in my control that went well for me. So those guys out there just played tough and made pitching easy.”
Kepley went 3 for 4 with three runs and two doubles to lead the punch at the top of the lineup, with two-hole hitter Jackson Van De Brake (2 for 3) and third-place hitter Luke Stevenson (2 for 4) both driving in two and Stokely going 3 for 4 with two RBI.
“[He] puts a lot of pressure on the other team,” Forbes said of Kepley. “As good a leadoff hitter as we’ve had here in a long time. Obviously, he doesn’t hit 28 home runs like Vance [Honeycutt], but he gets hit-by-pitches, he steals bases and he scores runs.”
Both teams scored in the first inning. N.C. State left fielder Josh Hogue lofted an 86-mph Knapp changeup over the right-center field wall with two outs. Kepley led off with a double down the left-field line, took third on a passed ball and scored on Van De Brake’s sacrifice fly.
UNC right fielder Tyson Bass reached on Pack third baseman Matt Heavner’s throwing error in the second inning, stole second and scored on Alex Madera’s RBI single. The Tar Heels added two in the third when Kepley led off with a double, and scored on a single by Van De Brake, who came home on Stokely’s single to left field.
“I felt pretty good in the box tonight,” Kepley said. “I saw the ball really well, let it travel a little bit on the first AB and slapped it down the third base line, and got a hitter’s count on the second one, and was able to get around on the fastball there.”
Kepley again spearheaded the Heels in the fifth inning, leading off with a bunt single, taking second on Van De Brake’s single, with Stevenson’s bullet double to right field scoring both. Stokely followed with an RBI single.
NOTES — The three-game, four-day series resumes at 6 p.m. Friday, with UNC senior right-hander Aidan Haugh (4–4, 3.27 ERA) facing Wolfpack junior left-hander Dominic Fritton (5–5, 4.07 ERA). Tar Heels sophomore right-hander Jason DeCaro (7–3, 3.55 ERA) will start Sunday’s 1 p.m. series finale, for which N.C. State hasn’t named a starter. … Roy and Wanda Williams were at the game. … The seven runs were only the second-most off State starter Ryan Marohn (loser, 6–3) this season. He gave up nine in a 16–6 run-rule loss at Duke on March 30. … UNC leads the all-time series 172–142–1, including 95–67–1 in Chapel Hill. … Forbes has won nine of 12 meetings with the Wolfpack. … Against in-state opponents, UNC is 15–1 and N.C. State is 8–4. … State is 19–4 when it makes no errors but is now 12–13 when making at least one error after making two Thursday. … There were no walks in the game.
No. 4 UNC 8, No. 16 N.C. State 1
ACC standings
| League | GB | Overall | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No. 4 North Carolina | 16–9 | — | 37–10 |
| No. 2 Florida State | 14–7 | — | 34–10 |
| Georgia Tech | 15–9 | ½ | 35–14 |
| No. 16 N.C. State | 15–9 | ½ | 31–16 |
| Miami | 14–9 | 1 | 30–18 |
| No. 9 Clemson | 14–10 | 1½ | 37–13 |
| Duke | 14–10 | 1½ | 32–16 |
| No. 20 Louisville | 13–11 | 2½ | 33–15 |
| Virginia | 11–10 | 3 | 27–16 |
| Wake Forest | 12–12 | 3½ | 32–16 |
| Notre Dame | 12–15 | 5 | 26–19 |
| Virginia Tech | 11–16 | 6 | 27–22 |
| Pittsburgh | 9–15 | 6½ | 24–21 |
| Boston College | 10–17 | 7 | 23–26 |
| Stanford | 9–18 | 8 | 24–21 |
| California | 6–18 | 9½ | 19–27 |
Thursday, Friday, Sunday series
No. 16 N.C. State at No. 4 North Carolina: Thursday: UNC 8–1; Friday: 6: Sunday: 1 (ACCN)
Friday-Sunday series
No. 20 Louisville at Georgia Tech, 6, 2:30, 1
Pittsburgh at Wake Forest, 6, 4, 1
Miami at Virginia, 6, 4, 1
Duke at No. 9 Clemson, 6, 2, 1
Bowling Green vs. Notre Dame, 6:30 at ND, 2 at ND, 3 at BG
Florida State at California, 9, 5, 4
Grand Canyon at Stanford, 9:05, 5:05, 4:05
Saturday-Sunday series
Mercer at Virginia Tech, 3, 1
Boston College at UMass-Lowell, 5, 2
Tuesday’s games
UNCW at No. 4 North Carolina, 6 p.m.
Bellarmine at No. 20 Louisville, 6 p.m.
George Mason at Virginia, 6 p.m.
Penn State at Pittsburgh, 6 p.m.
Duke at Liberty, 6 p.m.
Wake Forest at High Point, 6 p.m.
Marshall at Virginia Tech, 6 p.m.
| Date(s) | Day/ month | Time/ score | Opponent (current rank) | TV */ 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. 14 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 No. 20 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 | Thursday | W, 8–1 | vs. No. 16 N.C. State | 37–10, 16–9 |
| 9, 11 | Fri., Sun. | 6, 1 | vs. No. 16 N.C. State | ACCN (Sunday) |
| 13 | Tuesday | 6 p.m. | vs. UNCW | |
| 15–17 | Thu.–Sat. | 6, 6, 2 | at No. 2 Florida State | ACCN (Thurs., Fri.) |
| ACC tournament | ||||
| 20–25 | Tue.–Sun. | Single-elimination event | Durham Bulls Athletic Park | |
| 30–31 | Fri.–Sat. | NCAA regionals | Campus sites | |
| June | ||||
| 1 | Sunday | NCAA regionals | Campus sites | |
| 6–8 | Fri.–Sun. | Super Regionals | Campus sites | |
| 18–30 | Wed.–Mon. | College World Series | Omaha, Neb. |
* Unless otherwise indicated, games only stream on ACC Network Extra.
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
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