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CHAPEL HILL — Gavin Gallaher wouldn’t let North Carolina be denied. The freshman third baseman hit his second home run, a game-ending grand slam shot off the scoreboard beyond the left-field wall, as the No. 6 Tar Heels rallied with a six-run ninth inning for an incredible 11–8 victory Friday in their Chapel Hill Regional opener.
CHAPEL HILL — The NCAA didn’t do No. 6-ranked North Carolina any favors by sending reigning NCAA champion LSU to the Chapel Hill Regional, but Wofford nearly blunted the blow of that bad break.
CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina coach Scott Forbes will stick with his regular rotation for the Chapel Hill Regional. Freshman right-hander Jason DeCaro (5–1, 3.80 ERA) will start the 6 p.m. opener for the No. 1 regional seed Tar Heels (42–13) on Friday against No. 4 Long Island (33–23), with junior left-hander Shea Sprague (3–1, 4.02 ERA) going on Saturday against either No. 3 LSU (40–21) or Wofford (41–18).
No. 6-ranked North Carolina is one of five regional hosts in the NCAA baseball tournament that drew a No. 2 seed with a much-higher RPI than is logical for its seed.
North Carolina, the No. 4 overall seed in the NCAA tournament, moved up one spot to No. 6 in the latest D1 Baseball poll for its highest rank in five years.
CHAPEL HILL — For No. 7-ranked North Carolina, the path to the College World Series goes through Boshamer Stadium, where the Tar Heels are 32–2 this season.
With the NCAA set to reveal the baseball tournament field Monday, No. 7 North Carolina continues to be projected as a high national seed.
CHARLOTTE — A lower-back injury forced center fielder Vance Honeycutt to miss the last 10 games last season, making his absence from No. 7-ranked North Carolina’s lineup on Thursday with back spasms alarming.
CHARLOTTE — Wake Forest saved the best pitcher in the ACC for top-seeded North Carolina, and he can’t wait to face the Tar Heels. The No. 7-ranked Tar Heels’ ACC tournament opener at 3 p.m. Thursday against No. 12 seed Pittsburgh (26–28) will be a meaningless tune-up. Win or lose on Thursday, UNC will make the tournament semifin
CHAPEL HILL — It takes plenty of pitching depth to win the ACC tournament, and No. 7-ranked North Carolina has a quality mix of three solid starters, several good bullpen arms and a potent offense to pull it off.
North Carolina is a top-four national seed in D1 Baseball’s latest NCAA tournament projection. The prediction lists the Tar Heels (41–12), who won the ACC Coastal Division and the No. 1 seed in the ACC tournament with the best league record (22–8), as the No. 4 overall seed, hosting Oregon, UNC Greensboro and Cornell in the Chapel Hill Regional.
By R.L. Bynum A Friday matchup between the last two ACC regular-season champions for a spot in the semifinals? That’s … More
How good is the ACC? No. 7-ranked North Carolina earned the No. 1 seed in the league tournament but will have to play the nation’s No. 8-ranked team in its pool. When No. 17-ranked N.C. State (32–19, 18–11 ACC) finished a three-game weekend sweep of No. 8-ranked Wake Forest, that earned the Wolfpack the No. 3 seed in the ACC tournament and bumped the Deacons to the No. 8 seed.
DURHAM — If there was any question about No. 7 North Carolina’s worthiness for a national seed in the NCAA tournament, the Tar Heels removed all doubt on Saturday. The Tar Heels pounded No. 11 Duke 14–6 before plenty of Carolina fans at Jack Coombs Field for their eighth win in the last nine games, heading into next week’s ACC tournament in Charlotte, where they will be the No. 1 seed.
DURHAM — In a battle of Omaha-quality teams with two of the best closers in the country, Coach Scott Forbes wasn’t about to let Vance Honeycutt’s lead-off single in the ninth inning get wasted in a tie game. He gave Casey Cook the bunt sign for the first time this season. What it lacked in execution, it made up in the outcome as the No. 7 Tar Heels used a pair of ninth-inning runs to beat No. 11 Duke 6–4 to clinch the No. 1 seed in next week’s ACC tournament.
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