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After getting Carolina into the NCAA tournament in his first two seasons as head coach and on his way to doing it for a third consecutive year, UNC gave baseball coach Scott Forbes a five-year contract extension on Friday. The new contract means that Forbes, whose team won its third consecutive game Thursday night with a 9–8 victory over rival N.C. State, is under contract through the 2028 season.
CHAPEL HILL — The maddening pattern of short outings by starters again threw Carolina’s bullpen for a loop. But the resilient Tar Heels, with yeoman work from the relievers, rallied to overcome it this time. Eric Grintz tied it with a pinch-hit RBI triple to right field in the ninth inning. Colby Wilkerson scored pinch-runner Carter French on a suicide squeeze with one out to give UNC a thrilling 9–8 victory Thursday at Boshamer Stadium.
An incident in the seventh inning of Carolina’s 5–4 victory Tuesday over Gardner-Webb has led to the NCAA suspending multiple players for one game over the next five games.
Rising junior D’Marco Dunn on Thursday became the seventh player from last season’s North Carolina team to enter the transfer portal, according to multiple reports, leaving only four returning players. One reason he may have decided to leave is the possible reclassification of Class of 2024 five-start point guard Eliot Cadeau to join the team next season. That decision would mean RJ Davis would shift to the two spot and fewer opportunities for Dunn to get playing time, with the competition already including Seth Trimble, transfer Cormac Ryan and incoming freshman Simeon Wilcher.
CHAPEL HILL — As North Carolina’s baseball season has progressed through tough one-run losses and big wins, it’s clear that the Tar Heels are at a different level when, as Coach Scott Forbes says, they play with a chip on their shoulders. Junior third baseman Mac Horvath has talked about the need for UNC to play with a purpose and not be joking around after a defeat as if losing is acceptable, telling the team that in a players-only meeting last month.
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.
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