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CHAPEL HILL — What was supposed to be an easy tune-up for North Carolina ahead of a big weekend series with N.C. State turned into an unexpected battle with heated words exchanged. UNC’s 5–4 come-from-behind victory over Gardner-Webb at Boshamer Stadium on Tuesday night marked the 100th victory as head coach for Scott Forbes, while junior third baseman Mac Horvath blasted into program history. But the craziness of the seventh and eighth innings made for a wild Bark at the Bosh night.
North Carolina is one of the seven winners in the women’s basketball transfer portal this offseason, according to an analysis by The Athletic. Joining the Tar Heels on the list of winners are reigning national champion LSU, UCLA, Ohio State, South Carolina, Virginia Tech and Texas A&M.
From her days as a kindergartener, taller and better than everybody on a team of second-graders, Laila Hull has played beyond her years. She already had two scholarship offers by September of her ninth-grade year, when it was evident that coaches recognized her potential early.
Leaky Black is getting multiple opportunities to show what he can do to possibly continue his basketball career in the United States.After the 6–9, 205-pound wing revealed Wednesday on Snapchat that he would participate in a pre-draft tryout with the Golden State Warriors, he was announced Friday as one of the 45 players invited to the G League Elite Camp in Chicago on May 13–14.
UNC senior guard Deja Kelly will try out for the United States AmeriCup team in Colorado Springs, Colo., on May 11–15. Kelly will be one of 22 college players vying for 12 spots on the team representing the U.S. at the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup in Leon, Mexico, July 1–9. Two other ACC players will be at the trials — Syracuse’s Dyaisha Fair and Florida State’s Ta’Niya Latson, last season’s league rookie of the year — as well as former Wake Forest guard Jewel Spear, who is in the transfer portal.
Coach Courtney Banghart continues to build an elite women’s basketball program, and Carolina rewarded her Thursday with a five-year contract extension. Banghart, whose deal runs through the 2027–28 season, begins her fifth season in Chapel Hill this fall after her team rose to as high as No. 6 in the country last season, finished 22–11 and made the second round of the NCAA tournament.
With three rested pitchers, North Carolina got its best overall pitching performance in weeks on a night that the Tar Heels needed it to win. UNC collected a season-low three hits, but they were enough as the Tar Heels got a huge 2–1 victory Wednesday at a soldout Clark-LeClair Stadium in Greenville over No. 14 East Carolina to snap a three-game losing streak against the Pirates.
The latest D1 Baseball projection of the NCAA tournament field has Carolina as the No. 3 seed in the Conway, S.C., regional, with No. 8 Coastal Carolina as the host. That projection has No. 13 East Carolina (31–11), which lost to the Tar Heels (29–17) 2–1 in Greenville on Wednesday, as the No. 2 seed in that regional, with Maine as the No. 4 seed.
CHAPEL HILL — With final exams underway at Carolina, the Tar Heels failed in the first of two tests this week against ranked teams as their frustrations in one-run games continued. UNC got stellar defense and some, but not enough, timely hitting, but it wasn’t enough as No. 13 Campbell rallied for a 6–5 victory Tuesday at Boshamer Stadium to end a seven-game skid against the Tar Heels.
The CBS Sports Classic is reportedly headed south for the 10th edition next season. According to Rocco Miller of The Bracketeer website, Carolina will face UCLA on Dec. 16 in Atlanta, the closest city to Chapel Hill in the event’s history. Presumably, the Atlanta Hawks’ downtown arena will host the event.
Even after a possibly season-changing doubleheader sweep Saturday at Virginia Tech, North Carolina isn’t ranked in the latest D1 Baseball Top 25 for the second consecutive week. But the Tar Heels have two excellent chances this week to play themselves back into the poll and improve their NCAA tournament resume.
Carolina got its third women’s basketball transfer commitment when former Stanford combo guard Indya Nivar, a North Carolina native and former McDonald’s All-American, committed to the Tar Heels on Sunday to give them six former five-star recruits on next season’s roster. The 5–10 Nivar, born in Fayetteville but an Apex Friendship High School graduate, will be a sophomore with three seasons of eligibility.
After years of Boston College losing at the hands of North Carolina in the ACC Tournament, the Eagles finally broke through for their first ACC women’s lacrosse title. No. 4-ranked and No. 1-seed BC ended UNC’s streak of seven consecutive ACC championships with an 11–9 victory Sunday in the ACC tournament championship at American Legion Memorial Stadium in Charlotte. The Eagles’ 10th consecutive victory, keyed by a late 5–0 run, avenged a regular-season loss to the Tar Heels.
In a game that started with a lot of talk and cockiness from Virginia Tech, the Tar Heels did their talking with their bats. Tomas Frick, in the middle of a first-inning dust-up, gave Carolina the lead for good with a two-run fourth-inning home run. The Heels beat the Hokies 13–7 to sweep the Saturday doubleheader at English Field in Blacksburg, Va., and win an ACC series after losing the previous two.
Scoreless in the previous 13 innings, Carolina needed a spark to break out of an offensive funk. Enter Mac Horvath. The junior third baseman swung so hard that he lunged over the plate during his backswing. His fourth-inning drive went 416 feet, well over the left-field fence, for a grand slam and flipped the Tar Heels’ fortunes in a game they had to have.
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