UNC baseball thumps South Carolina in Charlotte on Wednesday

CHARLOTTE — The North Carolina baseball team opened the season with back-to-back series wins against top-20 opponents, taking two of three games against then-No. 9 UCLA and sweeping No. 16 Oklahoma State. 

That stretch seemed like a distant memory for the No. 13 Tar Heels heading into Wednesday’s game against No. 7 South Carolina. 

UNC started the season with an 18-2 mark — the third-best 20-game start under Coach Mike Fox — but had since gone 5-7.

So as North Carolina dismantled the Gamecocks in BB&T Ballpark in Charlotte en route to a 15-0 win, it was a welcome turn of events for a team trending downward.

“Everything was just clicking on all cylinders today …” said sophomore pitcher Hunter Williams, who threw 6 1/3 shutout innings against the Gamecocks. “I think we can definitely take this and carry it over, and I can’t wait to see what happens this weekend (against Virginia).”

The Tar Heels (24-9) made a habit of putting up big numbers in the scoring column for the first month of the season but have seen their offensive output dwindle in the past few weeks.

But success can change everything. Once North Carolina broke through for its first hit of the game in the top of the fourth inning, everyone else hopped on board.

The Tar Heels scored in bunches Wednesday night, putting up three or more runs in four different innings. Eleven of UNC’s 15 runs came via two-out rallies.

“That’s a lot of what hitting is …” Fox said. “It’s predicated on who they run out there as well as us. We just, we had everything going tonight.”

Though it means nothing in terms of conference standings, the victory over South Carolina might give the Tar Heels momentum as they head into the meat of their ACC schedule.

Three of UNC’s final five conference opponents on the season are ranked in the top-25, including No. 8 Louisville and No. 14 N.C. State.

In 2015, UNC lost its last six ACC regular season games, limped into the conference tournament and failed to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2001.

This season the Tar Heels are looking to avoid a similar stretch, and a dominant win over the first-place team in the SEC could be a catalyst for a deep postseason run.

“It’s nice to come out here and not just win, but make a statement, especially after the couple of weeks we had,” said outfielder Tyler Ramirez. “This is just one of the games we needed — to get those big two-out hits, those big hits with runners on base — and we just got that tonight …

“All teams are gonna hit that bump in the season where it’s like, things aren’t gonna go your way, and you’re not gonna hit as great. So it’s nice just to get out there and keep going at it and keep getting better as a team.”

@jbo_vernon

sports@dailytarheel.com