Three different Diamond Heels hit home runs on Sunday as Carolina completed a three-game sweep of Louisville with a 16-7 win. The victory also clinched UNC’s first ACC Coastal Division crown since 2018.

Freshman Luke Stevenson homered twice, both three-run shots. His first was part of an eight-run explosion in the bottom of the second, once which also included a two-run blast by Vance Honeycutt. It’s the 59th of Honeycutt’s collegiate career, extending his own school record.

Casey Cook homered in the fourth to push Carolina’s lead to 11-0, though Louisville would tack on six runs of its own in the fifth. Still, the Tar Heel lead was never seriously threatened, and the team added four more runs in the eighth for good measure. Three came on Stevenson’s second home run of the afternoon. In total, the Tar Heels banged out 16 hits, drew 14 walks and twice were hit by a pitch.

Aidan Haugh earned his fourth win of the season with five innings on the mound. Connor Bovair recorded one out in the fifth before Ben Peterson went the rest of the way, allowing just one hit in 3.2 innings of relief. He struck out a career-high eight batters and was credited with his first save of the season.

Carolina sits at 39-11 overall and 20-7 in league play, three games ahead of Clemson for first place in the conference. That means the Diamond Heels will need just one win against Duke next weekend or one Clemson loss in its final ACC series to clinch the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament later this month.

UNC also ends the regular season with a 32-2 record at Boshamer Stadium. Though there are no more regular-season home games on the schedule, Carolina is projected to host at least an NCAA Regional in Chapel Hill. The team will be back in action in the regular season’s final week when it visits UNC-Wilmington on Tuesday at 6 p.m. The Diamond Heels beat the Seahawks 11-0 in Chapel Hill in March.

 

Featured image via UNC Baseball on Twitter


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