The Diamond Heels won home games against VCU and North Carolina A&T at Boshamer Stadium this week, capping off a stretch of five games across five consecutive days. UNC won all five of those games to extend its undefeated start to 9-0, its best in head coach Scott Forbes’ five years in charge.
Against the Rams on Tuesday, freshman Walker McDuffie pitched 3.1 scoreless innings of relief and Hunter Stokely hit two home runs to help the Diamond Heels erase an early 4-0 deficit and win 9-4.
The visiting Rams tagged UNC starter Olin Johnson for four runs in the top of the third, but the lead would vanish quickly. A hit batter and a single put runners on the corners for Luke Stevenson, who promptly singled to drive in Carolina’s first run of the evening. After a strikeout, Stokely stepped to the plate and slammed a game-tying three run blast well over the right field fence.
UNC took the lead for good in the fifth, as Stokely hustled all the way around from first base on a Rom Kellis double. Kane Kepley then manufactured a three-run rally in the seventh by himself, scoring two runs on a double to left-center field and then scampering home on a wild pitch.
Stokely delivered the knockout punch in the eighth, clubbing his second home run of the night and third in two games to push UNC’s lead to 9-4.
On the mound, Ryan Lynch initially relieved Johnson and recorded four outs before yielding to McDuffie. The freshman star earned his second win of the young season by allowing just one hit and striking out seven Rams in his 3.1 innings of work. Camron Seagraves and Liberty transfer Cale Bolton worked the final two innings, with Seagraves escaping a bases-loaded jam in the top of the eighth.
Against North Carolina A&T the next day, Carolina once again found itself in an early hole, trailing 4-2 after the Aggies scored four runs in the top of the third inning. UNC got one run back in the fourth as Kepley scored on a wild pitch, and then took the lead with three runs in the fifth. Freshman Perry Hargett, playing in his first collegiate game, knotted the score at 4-4 with an RBI single. Later in the frame, Gavin Gallaher launched his first home run of 2025 to put Carolina back in front for good.
UNC then broke the game open with seven runs in the bottom of the eighth. A triple from Kepley – his second of the evening – brought home Gallaher before Kepley trotted home on another wild pitch. Luke Stevenson launched a two-run blast later in the inning before Hargett once again made his presence felt, sending a three-run home run over the left-field fence.
Four Carolina pitchers appeared in the game, with Kyle Percival getting the start and Cameron Padgett earning the win with four innings of shutout relief.
UNC will enjoy a day off Thursday before hosting Stony Brook for a three-game series in Chapel Hill beginning Friday. First pitch of Friday’s opener is scheduled for 4 p.m.
Featured image via UNC Baseball on Twitter
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