DURHAM — Neither Carolina nor Virginia started their top pitchers, but junior Tar Heels right-hander Jake Knapp performed like an ace on a day when UNC poured on the offense. Knapp struck out five in 5⅔ innings as No. 7-seed UNC beat No. 12-ranked and No. 2-seed Virginia 10–2 to earn a spot in Saturday’s ACC tournament semifinals to snap the Cavaliers’ 10-game win streak.

DURHAM — When the day comes that UNC coach Scott Forbes can’t write junior Mac Horvath’s name on his lineup card, that will be a tough reality for the third-year head coach. Forbes’ juniors, including catcher Tomas Frick and others, hold a special place for the coach since they were freshmen during his first season when they all had to deal with the challenges of COVID-19 restrictions.

CHAPEL HILL — The bad news for North Carolina headed into the ACC tournament this week is that star center fielder Vance Honeycutt still is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury. The good news is that Honeycutt is ACC defensive player of the year, and all of the Tar Heels have served the suspensions that the NCAA doled out in the wake of the incident in the Gardner-Webb game. UNC (33–21) opens round-robin play Tuesday at 3 p.m. against Georgia Tech (30–24) at Durham Bulls Athletic Park (ACC Network), with junior right-hander Max Carlson (4–2, 6.20) starting.

When Carolina opens ACC tournament pool play at 3 p.m. Tuesday against No. 11-seed Georgia Tech (30–24) at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, the Tar Heels will likely need four wins and the ACC title to have a chance to be an NCAA tournament regional host. The Tar Heels (33–21) are in Pool B, and also play No. 21-ranked and No. 2-seed Virginia (44–11) at 3 p.m. on Thursday. If UNC wins Tuesday and the Yellow Jackets lose Wednesday to Virginia, that Carolina-Virginia game would be for a berth in the semifinals.

Carolina will not only avoid being in the same ACC tournament round-robin pool as No. 1 Wake Forest, but the Tar Heels also wouldn’t have to face the Deacons until the championship game. That was the good news for the Tar Heels after they lost their fourth consecutive game, and Clemson finished off a three-game sweep of their regular-season-ending series on Saturday.

Carolina finally pitched well throughout a game against No. 7 Clemson, but the Tar Heels couldn’t deal with versatile Tigers star Caden Grice. Grice, who usually plays first base, beat UNC from the mound and the plate as the Tigers finished off a sweep of the regular-season-ending three-game series with a 3–1 victory Saturday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium for their 12th consecutive victory.

Entering North Carolina’s big regular-season-ending three-game series at No. 7 Clemson, the Tar Heels still have a shot at winning the ACC Coastal Division title while still being projected as a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament. The Tar Heels (33–18, 14–11 ACC) would need to sweep the Tigers (36–17, 17–10) and get help to win the division.

As North Carolina tried to work its way through the one-game player suspensions, the short-handed Tar Heels couldn’t generate enough offense without four big bats missing from the lineup. The Tar Heels took an early three-run lead, but No. 8 Coastal Carolina quickly took control on its way to an 8–6 victory Tuesday night at Springs Brooks Stadium in Conway, S.C., to end their five-game win streak.