By R.L. Bynum
DURHAM — If you are going to be locked into a bullpen game for the ACC championship, it helps to have one of the best relievers in the country.
No. 3 North Carolina started fireballing right-handed freshman Ryan Lynch, pitching for the first time in eight days, who hurled four shutout innings with seven strikeouts as the Tar Heels rode an eight-run fifth inning to a 14–4 victory Sunday at Durham Bulls Athletic Park in the ACC tournament championship game.
“He’s good, so that’s why he’s pitched so much for us,” UNC coach Scott Forbes said of Lynch. “And I’ve told him the whole year, ‘You’re a starter on probably 95% of teams.’ Not every team has the rotation we have. I think he’s going to be one of the best starters in our league when it’s all said and done.”
There was no dogpile when the title was put away, as this UNC team has bigger goals.
“I think that we’re happy to have gotten this done, but we know that there’s a lot more that we want to do ahead of us,” said Jackson Van De Brake, who had a home run and five RBI, “and also just the way the game went, just one of those things. I don’t think we necessarily planned on doing it or not doing it, it just kind of played out that way.”
No. 4-seed and No. 14-ranked Clemson (44–16), playing for the fourth consecutive day, ran out of pitching and UNC (42–12) took full advantage in securing its ninth league title. Leading the 13-hit attack with three hits each were Alex Madera and Gavin Gallaher, who hit two off the Blue Monster in left field.
Clemson scored 20 runs in its first three tournament games but was held to only four by four UNC pitchers.
Clemson center fielder Cam Cannarella lost a two-out first-inning fly ball in the sun from tournament MVP Luke Stevenson, and the sophomore catcher ended up at second base. Gallaher sent home with a drive off the left-field wall off Clemson starter B.J. Bailey (loser, 2–5).
Bailey came out with one out in the second inning after loading the bases with two hit by pitches and a walk. The first two pitches from reliever Nathan Dvorsky produced runs: Kane Kepley’s sacrifice fly to left and Van De Brake’s line single to left field, and UNC led 3–0.
Another Gallaher double off the Blue Monster, this one to lead of the third, pushed Carolina’s lead to four on Madera’s single to center field.
Lynch gave up two singles and a walk to load the bases with nobody out in the fourth. He struck out Jacob Jarrell on a 93 mph fastball, fanned Jack Crighton on an 83 mph slider and induced a 2–2 groundout to get out of the inning on his career-high 83rd pitch.
“Going out there as a true freshman, pitching like that, and then loading the bases and not giving up one run,” Forbes said. “That’s hard to do against a team like Clemson. I felt like all the momentum when we got out of that inning, even one run, but much less no runs, instantly went to our dugout, and we had great at-bats.”
Olin Johnson (2⅔ innings, 4 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, 1 strikeout) took over in the fifth inning in his first outing since April 29.
“I thought Olin was outstanding, pounding the strike zone,” Forbes said. “He’s going to be mad that he had to come out, because I’m sure he wanted to finish the game.”
Clemson went through four pitchers in the 41-minute, 12-batter, eight-run bottom of the fifth inning when UNC swatted three home runs.
“It feels great to jump on a team like that,” Gallaher said. “We knew that even the four runs early weren’t going to be enough, and they’ve got an offense that can come back at any time, so to put eight on them really helps us play even looser than we already were and just go attack.”
— Hunter Stokely launched a drive into the seats in right field off Nathan Dvorsky, Clemson’s second pitcher, with one out in the fifth.
— Hudson Lee came on for the Tigers and lasted three batters, giving up a Madera double and Tyson Bass’ two-run homer to left center.
— Chance Fitzgerald took the mound and gave up back-to-back singles and Van De Brake’s three-run home and left after giving up a two-out single to Gallaher.
— Noah Samol finally got Clemson out of the inning when Stokely lined out to first base.
“When it’s a big home run like Stokely, then you have another home run, and they think they’re still in it,” Forbes said. “And then Jackson steps up there and hits another one that’s hard to overcome when you know the arms that you’re going to face against us.”
UNC tacked on two runs in the home half of the sixth, thanks to two walks and a throwing error.
During that long inning, Johnson threw some warmup pitches in the bullpen, but only gave up a walk in the top of the sixth inning. Johnson was rolling in the seventh inning and one out away from getting out of the inning when he gave up a walk and a two-run homer to Cannarella. Folger Boaz came on after Johnson gave up a single to Jarren Purify and struck out Collin Priest to escape further damage.
Cameron Padgett, who relieved Boaz after he hit a batter with a pitch, gave up an RBI single to Crighton with one out in the eighth inning but struck out two to get out of the inning. Clemson added a run off Camron Seagraves in the ninth inning.
NOTES — The NCAA announced Sunday night that UNC is one of 16 regional hosts, marking the 15th time the program has been a host. The Tar Heels are 5–1 against other hosts, going 3–1 against Florida State, 1–0 against Clemson and 1–0 against Coastal Carolina. The field and the Chapel Hill Regional will be announced at noon Monday (ESPN2). … The latest D1 Baseball projection, released Monday, has UNC as the No. 3 overall seed, hosting West Virginia, Rhode Island and Central Connecticut in the Chapel Hill Regional. …. Joining Stevenson on the All-Tournament team were Van De Brake and Jake Knapp. … It was UNC’s third championship game appearance in six seasons and the 13th overall. … Lynch’s previous high was 67 pitches at Virginia Tech on April 20 when he gave up two runs and struck out three. … Six of Stokely’s 13 home runs have come in nonconference games. … UNC is 15–17 against Clemson in the ACC tournament. … For the second time in three years, UNC’s women’s lacrosse team won a national title on the same afternoon that the baseball team won an ACC title. The Tar Heels beat Northwestern 12–8. … The game drew a crowd of 9,159.
No. 3 UNC 14, No. 14 Clemson 4
ACC tournament
At Durham Bulls Athletic Park
Buy tickets at durhambulls.com or theacc.com/tickets
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 results
No. 2 seed Florida State 14, Duke 7
No. 3 seed North Carolina 7, Boston College 2
Saturday’s semifinals
Clemson 9, Georgia Tech 4
North Carolina 7, Florida State 5
Sunday’s championship
North Carolina 14, Clemson 4
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 the ACC
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