By R.L. Bynum
RALEIGH — No. 2 North Carolina hasn’t been a huge power team this season, but that may be changing with Owen Hull suddenly hitting mammoth shots.
Hull crushed his second home run in as many games, one of two Tar Heels blasts on the night, as they eased by N.C. State 9-4 Thursday at Doak Field in the opener of a three-game series.
In the five-run fifth, Hull blasted a cutter from N.C. State starter Heath Andrews 423-foot to right field for a home run and his second no-doubt blast in two games. He belted a homer 466 feet in Tuesday’s win at UNCW when UNC hit four homers, the longest home run by a Tar Heel this season.
Hull said that he had only hit shots that long before in batting practice.
Subscribe to read Tar Heel Tribune ad-free
Subscribe for a cleaner, smoother reading experience without the flashing banners, slow-loading elements, or those especially annoying pop‑up ads that interrupt the flow of the story. You’ll also get the first version of each story emailed to you. The only ads you’ll see are static, non-intrusive ads for UNC‑related books, and there are none currently on the site.
“I’m just tapping into my power, trusting the process,” Hull said as, appropriately, fireworks were going off in the background. “It was bound to happen. I got another home run pitch today, and I did some damage.”
This comes after he hit only two home runs in the first 46 games, and marked the first time the junior has hit homers in back-to-back games in his college career. Even with a runner on first base in the ninth inning, the Wolfpack wanted no part of him, giving him nothing to hit in a four-pitch walk.
“When he gets the ball in the air pullside, it’s a bomb usually,” UNC coach Scott Forbes said. “He is so talented. He’s been so consistent for for us. I know there’s some great players in our league, but his league numbers are unbelievable when you dig them up. They’re as good as I’ve seen in this league in a long time, top to bottom. So, I’m just glad that he picked us out of the transfer portal.”
In ACC play, Hull, who moved up to the No. 2 spot in the batting order six games ago, is hitting .419 with six home runs and 44 RBI.
Carolina (42-9-1, 21-7 ACC) clinched no worse than the No. 2 seed in next week’s ACC tournament with the win. The Heels have won six games in a row since the April 28 loss to Coastal Carolina.
“Hard to win over here,” Forbes said. “I’ve been coming over here a long time. They’ve done a great job over here. The stadium is beautiful. Always awesome to have two great teams play against each other.”
Carter French legged out a leadoff triple in the third inning when N.C. State left fielder Rett Johnson couldn’t make a play on the ball. French came home on Jake Schaffner’s groundout to first base.
Andrews (3-4; 6 innings, 6 hits, 5 runs, 2 walks) struck out 10, but UNC sent nine batters to the plate against him in the fifth inning.
Tyler Howe started off that big inning by lofting the first pitch to the opposite field over the left-field wall for his fourth home run of the season and second in four games.
Hull said the offense has been feeding off a shared plan at the plate, rather than any one player trying to carry the team.
“Everybody’s executing their approach,” Hull said. “It’s really fun to watch, and I’m so stoked for everybody. Everybody’s improving every day, little by little. Offense, defense, pitching, everybody keeps executing our approach.”
UNC ace Jason DeCaro (10-2; 5 innings, 4 hits, 2 runs, 3 walks, 8 strikeouts) deftly pitched around traffic all evening, only retiring the Wolfpack in order in the fifth inning when he struck out the side swinging on 11 pitches, and he finished with 96 pitches.
Forbes said DeCaro “set the tone” for the game.
“I thought he was outstanding,” Forbes said. “Obviously, I would have liked for him to get through the six right there, but his pitch count was getting up.”
DeCaro, second in the ACC in ERA, gave way to the league’s ERA leader, Caden Glauber, after walking the first two batters in the sixth inning.
Glauber didn’t have his usual command, though. Sherman Johnson, the first batter he faced, belted a three-run homer to left field, and Rett Jackson lined a two-out RBI single to left field to trim UNC’s lead to two.
Forbes stuck with Glauber (2 innings, 3 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts), who pitched around a seventh-inning error, striking out Andrew Wiggins to leave a runner stranded.
Forbes said the Heels had a pitching plan for the weekend.
“We made a decision going into this weekend, we’re just not going to overtax Glauber and McDuffie, keep their pitch counts 40 or below, so they couldn’t throw again this weekend,” Forbes said. “I just told [Glauber] in the dugout, you’ve been in this position before. You’re not going to be perfect. You’ve got to roll back out there like we just brought you in the game, and we’re up 6-4, and I thought he did that.”
UNC’s Cooper Nicholson walked and scored on a throwing error in the eighth inning. The Heels added two runs in the ninth inning on Gavin Gallaher’s RBI double and Macon Winslow’s RBI single.
Reliever Walker McDuffie came in to finish the game, striking out two and walking two in two hitless innings for his fifth save.
Notes
— Sophomore right-hander Ryan Lynch (4–4, 1.31 ERA) starts in Friday’s 7 p.m. game (ACC Network), and junior left-hander Folger Boaz (3–1, 6.41 ERA) in the 2 p.m. Saturday series finale (ACC Network Extra), but N.C. State (31–20, 13–15) hasn’t named a starter for either game.
— Carolina has 12 sacrifice bunts on the season, half in the last two games. French laid down his fourth in the fifth inning, and Howe had one in the eighth inning.
— USA Baseball named DeCaro as one of 25 semifinalists for the Golden Spikes Award. He became the fifth Tar Heels pitcher and 11th player in program history to earn the honor. He and Knapp made the list last season and Vance Honeycutt got the honor two seasons ago.
— The National College Baseball Writers Association named DeCaro and Glauber as two of 48 semifinalists for the Dick Howser Trophy, which goes to the nation’s top player. UNC was one of 12 teams with multiple players on the list.
— UNC leads the all-time series, which began in 1940, with N.C. State 175–144–1, including 65–64 in Raleigh.
No. 2 UNC 9, N.C. State 4
ACC standings
| League | GB | Overall | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No. 3 Georgia Tech | 25–5 | — | 45–9 |
| No. 2 North Carolina | 22–8 | 3 | 43–10–1 |
| No. 11 Florida State | 19–11 | 6 | 38–15 |
| No. 23 Boston College | 17–13 | 8 | 36–20 |
| Wake Forest | 16–14 | 9 | 38–18 |
| Miami | 16–14 | 9 | 36–17 |
| Virginia Tech | 15–15 | 10 | 29–23 |
| Virginia | 14–16 | 11 | 35–20 |
| N.C. State | 14–16 | 11 | 32–21 |
| Stanford | 13–17 | 12 | 27–25 |
| Notre Dame | 13–17 | 12 | 30–21 |
| Louisville | 13–17 | 12 | 30–26 |
| California | 12–18 | 13 | 29–25 |
| Pittsburgh | 11–19 | 14 | 30–23 |
| Clemson | 10–20 | 15 | 31–25 |
| Duke | 10–20 | 15 | 24–29 |
Thursday-Saturday series
Notre Dame at Pittsburgh — Pitt, 6–3; ND, 6–4; ND, 21–10 (7)
Virginia at Louisville — Va., 8–3; UL, 12–2; UL, 10–5
Miami at No. 11 Florida State — FSU, 7–6 (11); FSU, 11–1; Miami, 7–4
Wake Forest at Duke — WF, 7–2; WF, 7–2; Duke, 7–3
Clemson at Virginia Tech — VT, 5–1; VT, 2–1; Clemson, 10–7
No. 3 Georgia Tech at No. 23 Boston College — GT swept 9–0, 14–1, 15–2 (7)
No. 2 North Carolina at N.C. State — UNC, 9–4; UNC, 17–7 (8); State, 7–2
Stanford at California — Stanford, 7–6; Cal, 4–3; Cal, 2–1
End of regular season
ACC tournament
Tuesday through May 24
Truist Field in Charlotte
| Date(s) | Day/ month | Times/ scores | Opponent (current rank) | Record/ TV * |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February | ||||
| 13–14 | Fri., Sat. | W, 9–4; W, 12–2 (7); W, 4–3 (11) | vs. Indiana | 3–0 |
| 17 | Tuesday | W, 10–0 (7) | vs. Richmond | 4–0 |
| 18 | Wednesday | W, 5–3 | vs. Longwood | 5–0 |
| 20–22 | Fri.-Sun | W, 10–0 (8); L, 10–3; T, 3–3 | vs. East Carolina | 6–1–1 |
| 24 | Tuesday | W, 9–1 | vs. N.C. A&T | 7–1–1 |
| 25 | Wednesday | W, 13–3 (7) | vs. VCU | 8–1–1 |
| 27–28 | Fri., Sat. | W, 16–3 (7); W, 12–2 (7) | vs. Le Moyne | 10–1–1 |
| March | ||||
| 1 | Sunday | W, 21–1 (7) | vs. Le Moyne | 11–1–1 |
| 3 | Tuesday | W, 5–1 | vs. Elon | 12–1–1 |
| 6–7 | Fri., Sat | L, 13–3 (7); L, 9–2; W, 8–7 (12) | vs. Virginia | 13–3–1, 1–2 ACC |
| 10 | Tuesday | W, 13–3 (7) | vs. Bucknell | 14–3–1 |
| 13–15 | Fri.-Sun. | W, 8–1; W, 6–2; W, 10–2 | at California | 17–3–1, 4–2 |
| 18 | Wednesday | W, 8–2 | vs. UNCG | 18–3–1 |
| 20–22 | Fri.–Sun. | W, 11–1 (8); L, 2–0; W, 7–6 | vs. Louisville | 20–4–1, 6–3 |
| 24 | Tuesday | W, 9–1 | vs. South Carolina in Charlotte | 21–4–1 |
| 28, 29 | Sat., Sun | W, 6–5; W, 13–7; W, 15–10 | at Notre Dame | 24–4–1, 9–3 |
| 31 | Tuesday | W, 5–4 (14) | vs. Campbell | 25–4–1 |
| April | ||||
| 2–4 | Thur.-Sat. | L, 6–1; W, 5–2; W, 8–7 | vs. Boston College | 27–5–1, 11–4 |
| 7 | Tuesday | W, 8–4 | vs. Charlotte | 28–5–1 |
| 10–12 | Fri.–Sun. | L, 9–5; W, 6–4 (14); W, 12–5 | at Clemson | 30–6–1, 13–5 |
| 14 | Tuesday | W, 14–5 | vs. UNCW | 31–6–1 |
| 17–19 | Fri.-Sun. | W, 5–2; W, 14–4 (8); L, 5–2 | vs. No. 2 Georgia Tech | 33–7–1, 15–6 |
| 21 | Tuesday | W, 9–2 | vs. High Point | 34–7–1 |
| 23–25 | Thur.–Sat. | W, 3–1; L, 3–1; W, 22–5 (7) | at Duke | 36–8–1, 17–7 |
| 28 | Tuesday | L, 12–2 | vs. Coastal Carolina | 36–9–1 |
| May | ||||
| 3 | Sunday | W, 13–0 (7) (non-conference game) | vs. Duke | 37–9–1 |
| 8–10 | Fri.-Sun. | W, 4–1; W, 12–2 (8); W, 7–3 | vs. Pittsburgh | 40–9–1, 20–7 |
| 12 | Tuesday | W, 13–7 | at UNCW | 41–9–1 |
| 14–16 | Thur.-Sat. | W, 9–4; W, 17–7 (8); L, 7–2 | at N.C. State | 43–10–1, 22–8 |
| ACC tournament | Charlotte | |||
| 22 | Friday | W, 10–4 | Quarterfinal vs. Virginia Tech | 44–10–1 |
| 23 | Saturday | W, 13–5 | Semifinal vs. Pittsburgh | 45–10–1 |
| 24 | Sunday | L, 13–6 | Championship vs. No. 2 Ga. Tech | 45–11–1 |
| NCAA tournament | ||||
| Chapel Hill Regional | ||||
| 29 | Friday | W, 8–0 | VCU | 46–11–1 |
| 30–31 | Sat.–Sun. | W, 7–5, W, 9–3 | East Carolina | 48–11–1 |
| June | ||||
| Chapel Hill Super Regionals | ||||
| 5–7 | Fri.–Sun. | L, 9–5, W, 4–0, W, 4–3 | Southern Cal | 50–12–1 |
| College World Series | Omaha, Neb. | |||
| 12 | Friday | 7:06 p.m. | No. 18 Ole Miss | ESPN |
| 14 | Sunday | 2:06 p.m. (with loss) or 7:06 p.m. (with win) | Troy or West Virginia | ESPN |
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
