Batting order changes prove pivotal in UNC baseball's game two win over ECU

Scott Forbes is not afraid to change things up.

Yes, his Tar Heels were undefeated in 2025 entering game two of their series against East Carolina. But the head coach is not one to think he shouldn't make adjustments just because there is a zero in the loss column.

“I’m always thinking and talking to my staff,” Forbes said. “Is there something that’s going to make us better and give us a chance to score more runs?”

And in the opinion of him and his assistant coaches, there was.

Forbes and company made major changes to the lineup for the first time this season on Sunday, resulting in now-No. 5 North Carolina's series-clinching 11-6 victory over ECU at Boshamer Stadium. It’s the first time UNC has won its annual series against the Pirates since 2022.

“We hit pretty good,” graduate outfielder Tyson Bass said. “It was a good decision by them.”

The Tar Heels tallied a season-high 13 hits, 11 of which came from the top five in the batting order. Graduate first baseman Hunter Stokely had four of them; all were singles, three were also RBIs. Junior center fielder Kane Kepley, sophomore catcher Luke Stevenson and Bass each had two hits. The trio totaled six RBIs and four extra-base hits. The Tar Heels walked nine times to only five strikeouts.

While North Carolina shut out ECU in game one of the series, the Tar Heels scored only two runs on five hits. Neither run came on a homer, leaving UNC still without a big fly after five games.

Assistant coaches Jesse Wierzbicki and Scott Jackson both came up with the same lineup ahead of Sunday’s game. Though his was a little different, Forbes went with Wierzbicki and Jackson’s. He moved graduate shortstop Alex Madera from sixth up to the two because of his on-base ability. Bass moved from there down to the cleanup spot at fourth. Stokely moved up to fifth on the card.

As opposed to a right/left pattern, four of the first five batters were lefties.

“We felt like our left-handers matched up good against their [right-handed] starter,” Forbes said. “We wanted to stack them, and our lefties have been doing a good job of hitting lefties.”

The lineup wasn’t the only pregame adjustment. 

Forbes felt like the East Carolina arms overpowered the Tar Heels with fastballs on Saturday. He said his team faced a lot of high velocity early in the season. UNC hitters took batting practice against a machine on Sunday, something they don’t do very often, to work on being on time for the fastball. The machine makes batting practice harder and more uncomfortable.

“It’s different,” Bass said. “Sometimes you get caught in the trap in BP of just swinging, not being productive or having the intent. And the machine, you have to be intentional or you’re gonna swing and miss or pop up in the cage every time.”

The adjustments paid dividends early. In the bottom of the first, Stevenson lined a hanging breaking ball 105 mph off the bat and just over the right-field fence for a three-run homer. It broke the home run drought in UNC’s 194th plate appearance of the season. 

The Tar Heels fell behind in the middle innings after getting out to the 3-0 lead. The bats were resilient and found a way to shift the momentum back in North Carolina’s favor. 

UNC trailed by one when Madera led off the bottom of the sixth inning with a single. Bass drove him in to tie the game with a double down the right-field line. With the ECU infield in, Stokely poked one the other way into left to plate Bass. The Tar Heels had the lead and would not surrender it. They scored four runs of insurance in the eighth, highlighted by a Kepley two-RBI triple.

Forbes pushed the right buttons. Pitching has been a bright spot early in the season but on Sunday, it was the offense’s turn.

“Man,” Forbes said. “We got some big hits throughout the lineup.”

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