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Needing to build momentum to solidify its NCAA tournament resume, North Carolina’s bats instead went silent with runners on base. Two Virginia Tech pitchers held the Tar Heels to a season-low five hits, and the Hokies rolled to a 7–0 victory Friday in the three-game ACC weekend series opener.
CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina got just the sort of feel-good win it needed to flush away a frustrating weekend with an offensive assault against UNCW. With a pair of three-run homers and the most RBI by a Tar Heel in 19 years, Mac Horvath drove home a point in more ways than one.
CHAPEL HILL — Getting swept in a late April ACC series is discouraging for No. 18 North Carolina, but the memory of last season gives the Tar Heels hope that they can still achieve plenty this season. No. 20 Boston College rallied for a 6–2 victory Sunday at Boshamer Stadium to finish off a sweep of the Tar Heels a year after UNC got swept at Virginia for its fifth consecutive conference series loss.
CHAPEL HILL — On a night when No. 18 Carolina finally got the sort of excellent outing from a starting pitcher that the Tar Heels have lacked lately, a bullpen that recently has been reliable quickly wasted it. To make it worse for UNC, it continued recent failures with the bases loaded only to see No. 20 Boston College produce in that situation.
CHAPEL HILL — High-level ACC games can turn on the strangest plays, and one of those led to No. 18 North Carolina’s downfall in a crazy 10-inning battle. One strike away from getting out of the top of the 10th, Boston College’s Sam McNulty hit a grounder that looked routine. But the ball took a wicked hop off the edge of the grass and went over shortstop Colby Wilkerson’s head.
CHAPEL HILL — What could have easily been a laugher for No. 18 North Carolina still was a solid win, but the missed opportunities were no joke. UNC eased past Charlotte 5–3 after rolling past the 49ers 16–3 earlier this season. But, against No. 20 Boston College this weekend — with the Tar Heels needing a big series if they hope to get into the NCAA regional host conversation — they can’t leave 19 runners on base and waste so many scoring chances.
CHAPEL HILL — After late-inning heroics to win the suspended game on Saturday, No. 13 North Carolina couldn’t replicate that in the series finale. The Tar Heels won the suspended game with two late home runs, including Hunter Stokely’s 11th-inning blast to end the 9–8 11-inning game, but Miami rebounded and won 4–3 to take two of three games in the series.
CHAPEL HILL — No. 13 North Carolina did what few teams in the country can do — overcome fireballing Miami closer Andrew Walters. Walters, rated by D1 Baseball as the top closer in the country, was one strike away from finishing off the Tar Heels in the bottom of the 10th inning. But UNC outfielder Casey Cook hit a 3–2 pitch 359 feet and just over the right field wall for his second home run of the season and the second homer off Walters in 20⅓ innings this season. Hunter Stokely took care of the rest with his first career game-ending hit, a solo shot to right-center field with two outs in the 11th inning, to give the Tar Heels a much-need 9–8 victory Saturday over Miami in the resumption of Friday night’s suspended game.
CHAPEL HILL — Against Miami, the goal is always to keep the Hurricanes from giving the ball to fireballing right-handed closer Andrew Walters with the game on the line. No. 13 Carolina couldn’t avoid that in Thursday night’s series opener, and the inevitable frustration followed in a 5–4 Miami victory.
CHAPEL HILL — No. 13 North Carolina was in control until everything went out of control for the Tar Heels in the crazy eighth inning Tuesday against No. 19 Coastal Carolina.
CHAPEL HILL — A game that started perfectly for Carolina pitching turned into a perfectly frustrating mix of missed opportunities, poor defense and not enough good relief pitching. A No. 15 UNC team that is usually solid on defense — although making some nice plays — tied a season-high with four errors. The slugging Tar Heels, who have 49 home runs in 23 games, failed to go deep for only the fourth time this season.
CHAPEL HILL — Carolina has such an explosive offense that the Tar Heels don’t have to worry much when they fall behind early. They again showed why Thursday, erasing an early three-run deficit before surging to a 6–3 win over Duke in the opener of a three-game weekend series at Boshamer Stadium for their sixth consecutive victory.
CHAPEL HILL — The first month of the season has been a power trip for No. 18 North Carolina, which is hitting home runs at a school-record pace and piling up runs. That continued Wednesday with three home runs, as the Tar Heels scored double-digit runs for the ninth time and at least 14 for the sixth time. UNC collected 17 hits in a 16–2 rout of High Point on a chilly evening at Boshamer Stadium for its third win in a row.
No. 18 North Carolina had it all going right after a bumpy start, as the Tar Heels rolled to a 16–3 road victory over Charlotte on Tuesday.
CHAPEL HILL — With one spectacular, unconventional play, right fielder Casey Cook swiped the momentum No. 14 North Carolina needed to hand No. 17 Virginia its first loss of the season. After Cook stole a home run from Virginia’s Kyle Teel in the fifth inning, the Tar Heels quickly took the lead and rolled to a 6–0 victory. That earned a doubleheader split to salvage a game from their three-game series to open ACC play.
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