By R.L. Bynum
DURHAM — No. 3 North Carolina was the last team to play in the ACC tournament, and the Tar Heels’ offense was slow to arrive.
After leaving seven runners stranded in the first six innings, the wildness of five Boston College pitchers in the seventh inning helped jump-start the Tar Heels’ offense in a 7–2 victory Friday in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
UNC advanced to meet No. 2-seed and No. 6-ranked Florida State (38–18), which beat Duke 14–7 in Friday’s first quarterfinal, in a 5 p.m. semifinal Saturday (ACC Network). No. 1-seed and No. 16-ranked Georgia Tech (40–16) faces No.5-seed and No. 14-ranked Clemson (43–15) in the first semifinal at 1 p.m.
UNC (40–12) scored five runs on only three hits in the seventh, thanks to three walks, a wild pitch and a hit by pitch, keyed by Jackson Van De Brake’s two-run double down the right-field line to tie the game at two.
Luke Stevenson made it a rout in the eighth with a two-run home run to center field.
Carolina ace right-hander Jake Knapp (winner, 12–0), the program’s first ACC Pitcher of the Year since J.B. Bukauskas in 2016 and fifth overall, faced a rare deficit after BC scored two runs in the third, but worked into a groove. He retired the last 10 Eagles he faced, giving up five hits and two runs with no walks and four strikeouts in even innings.
Boston College (28–29) finished its season after a pair of late-night/early-morning victories in the tournament’s first two rounds.
Eagles starter A.J. Colarusso was impressive against UNC, repeatedly pitching out of trouble, giving up five hits and one run while walking four and striking out nine in 6+ innings.
Knapp escaped a two-on, no-out first-inning jam and had retired seven straight batters before Boston College got three straight two-out hits in the third inning. The Eagles plated two runs on Patrick Roche’s RBI double to left-center field and Jack Toomey’s RBI single to left.
UNC left two runners stranded in the fourth inning and the bases loaded in the fifth inning. In the latter, Colarusso struck out Stevenson looking on a 3–2 pitch right down the middle to end the inning.
After walking leadoff man Perry Hargett with his 109th pitch in the seventh inning, Coloarusso gave way to left-hander J.D. Ogden, who departed after two walks loaded the bases.
After Van De Brake greeted sidewinding right-hander Dylan Howanitz with his big double, John Kwiatkowski came on. He threw a wild pitch that scored Kane Kepley and gave up Stevenson’s drive through the right side for another run. Peter Schaefer, the fifth pitcher of the inning, gave up an RBI single to Lee Sowers.
Freshman Walker McDuffie pitched two shutout innings to pick up the save, striking out three batters.
NOTES — UNC is the No. 4 overall seed in D1 Baseball’s latest NCAA tournament projection. … The likely Chapel Hill Regional would start either Thursday or Friday, with the field announced at noon on Monday (ESPN). … UNC is 9–3 in the ACC tournament under Coach Scott Forbes, including winning the 2022 championship, and 5–5 against BC. … Carolina is 93–73 in the ACC tournament, the second-most wins in conference history. … As a No. 3 seed, UNC is 6–9. … UNC won for the third time in four meetings with Boston College this season, and leads the all-time series 34–7, including 3–0 in ACC tournament play. … Carolina took two of three games from Florida State in Tallahassee, Fla., last weekend.
No. 3 UNC 7, BC 2
ACC tournament
At Durham Bulls Athletic Park
Buy tickets at durhambulls.com or theacc.com/tickets
Final on ESPN2
All other games on ACC Network
Tuesday’s first round
No. 16 California 12, No. 9 Miami 2, 8 innings
No. 12 Virginia Tech 7, No. 13 Stanford 4
No. 15 Pittsburgh 13, No. 10 Louisville 11
No. 14 Boston College 5, No. 11 Notre Dame 4, 10 innings
Wednesday’s second round
California 14. No. 8 seed Wake Forest 12
No. 5 Clemson 6, Virginia Tech 1
No. 7 Duke 4, Pittsburgh 3
Boston College 12, No. 6 Virginia 8
Quarterfinals
Thursday’s results
No. 1 seed Georgia Tech 10, California 3
Clemson 7, No. 4 seed N.C. State 6
Friday’s games
No. 2 seed Florida State 14, Duke 7
No. 3 seed North Carolina 7, Boston College 2
Saturday’s semifinals
Georgia Tech (40–16) vs. Clemson (43–15), 1 p.m.
Florida State (38–13) vs. North Carolina (40–12), 5 p.m.
Sunday’s championship
Semifinal winners, noon
| 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. 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. No. 22 N.C. State | 37–11, 16–10 |
| 15–17 | Thurs.-Sat. | W, 8–3; W, 11–1 (7); L, 5–4 | at No. 6 Florida State | 39–12, 18–11 |
| ACC tournament | Durham Bulls Athletic Park | |||
| 23 | Friday | W, 7–3 | Boston College | 40–12 |
| 24 | Saturday | Semifinal: 5 p.m. | No. 6 Florida State | ACCN |
| 25 | Sunday | Final (with win): Noon | ESPN2 | |
| 30–31 | Fri.–Sat. | Likely Chapel Hill Regional | TBA | |
| June | ||||
| 1 | Sunday | Likely Chapel Hill Regional | TBA | |
| 6–8 | Fri.–Sun. | Super Regionals | Campus sites | |
| 18–30 | Wed.–Mon. | College World Series | Omaha, Neb. |
Photo courtesy of the ACC
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