Tag: NCAA

Sweep of Wolfpack shows UNC has the momentum, swagger to possibly replicate last season’s May magic

CHAPEL HILL — From suicide-squeezing in the game-ending run in the opener to a pair of blowout victories, North Carolina’s three-game sweep of N.C. State showed that the Tar Heels have the potential to repeat the May magic of a year ago. A year after flipping the switch and surging to the ACC title before hosting a regional and a Super Regional, UNC — after never reaching low points quite as dire — appears to have flipped the switch faster than a Mac Horvath drive shoots over the outfield wall.

Young talent leads reigning national champion UNC to rout in NCAA women’s lacrosse opener

CHAPEL HILL — Although the Tar Heels are the reigning women’s lacrosse national champions, many of Carolina’s offensive leaders trying to continue the program tradition of excellence this season aren’t battle-tested in NCAA tournament play. No. 4 UNC rolled to a 16–5 first-round victory Friday over Sacred Heart for the Heels’ 20th consecutive win in an NCAA tournament opener on a beautiful afternoon at Dorrance Field as the young team keeps improving.

Carolina gives Forbes five-year contract extention

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.

Resilient Tar Heels rally from rough start for huge win over State

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.

With ‘chip on their shoulders,’ Heels could get on a roll, starting this weekend against Pack

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.

UNC gets outstanding pitching, Honeycutt HR in huge victory at No. 14 ECU despite season-low three hits

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.

UNC scores first 8 goals, rolls upset of Syracuse to make ACC women’s lacrosse final

North Carolina hasn’t replicated its dominant previous two women’s lacrosse seasons. But the young Tar Heels are putting it together at the right time and are a win away from their seventh consecutive ACC title. No. 6-ranked and No. 3-seed UNC scored the first eight goals and rolled to a 15–9 upset of No. 2-ranked and No. 2-seed Syracuse on Friday in the semifinals of the ACC tournament at American Legion Memorial Stadium in Charlotte.

Wrestler O’Connor, diver Vazquez take top honors at Rammys; Maye pass Top Play

Two individual national champions — wrestler Austin O’Connor and diver Aranza Vazquez — earned Athlete of the Year honors at the Rammy Awards on Monday night at Memorial Hall. The awards program recognizes excellence in Carolina athletics over the previous year. Women’s basketball center Malu Tshitenge of women’s basketball and football defensive lineman Kaimon Rucker were the hosts for the event, which was back at Memorial Hall for the first time since 2019.

UNC finally gets excellent starting pitching, but bullpen wastes it in loss to BC

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.