UNC baseball uses small ball identity to sweep Texas Tech on opening weekend

Two measly ground balls. 

They won’t show up on the highlight reel, but they manufactured a run to put North Carolina up 4-1 over Texas Tech in the fourth inning of game three. Not measly at all. 

“That was a huge run,” head coach Scott Forbes said.

Small ball. Not the identity of last year’s UNC baseball team that made it all the way to the College World Series. 

The 2024 Tar Heels set a program record with 115 home runs as a team, which ranked 12th in the nation. UNC did not have a weekend series without a home run last season.

On opening weekend against Texas Tech, the 2025 Diamond Heels did not hit a single long ball in 27 innings. Instead, they worked counts and extended at-bats. They found holes in the infield and green grass in the outfield. They came up with timely hits and just kept passing the baton to the next guy in the lineup. The different ways of scoring runs helped North Carolina sweep a three-game series against the Red Raiders at Boshamer Stadium. The Tar Heels have now won their opening series in 11 straight seasons. 

“Stringing hits together,” graduate first baseman Hunter Stokely said after the Tar Heels took both games of a doubleheader on Friday. “Don’t try to do too much. Just let the next guy behind you — you have trust in him — get base hits, and he’s gonna knock you in.”

In game three on Saturday, the Tar Heels led Texas Tech, 3-1, entering the bottom of the fourth inning. 

Senior second baseman Jackson Van De Brake ripped a double down the left field line to start the frame. On second base with nobody out, the team needed that run to score. Get him over and then get him in. That’s what the Tar Heels did. 

Stokely hit a ground ball to the right side to advance Van De Brake to third. With the Red Raiders’ infield playing back early in the game, junior centerfielder Kane Kepley followed with another ground ball to second to drive in the run.

Two ground balls. A scrappy run that gave junior right-handed pitcher Matthew Matthijs extra cushion when he found trouble in the ninth after the Red Raiders scored late. The Tar Heels held on to take game three, 4-2. Without that extra run, things could have been different.

“That’s the type of team we have,” Forbes said. “A really unselfish group. That’s a good sign."

UNC batted .333 with runners on base during a 5-1 victory in game one. They hit .444 with runners in scoring position in game two, an 8-3 win. And for the series, the Tar Heels were 5-for-7 with a runner on third and less than two outs.

The first inning on Saturday was another example of North Carolina’s station-to-station offense on opening weekend. Kepley led off with a line drive single up the middle on the first pitch he saw. Graduate right fielder Tyson Bass and sophomore catcher Luke Stevenson both worked walks. Then, junior left fielder Rom Kellis laced a ball into center for a two-RBI single. Kellis recorded three doubles in the series. Graduate designated hitter Sam Angelo plated a third run in the frame with a sacrifice fly. 

“You want a dynamic offense, one that can create runs,” Forbes said.

Kepley led the team with five hits in the three games. The Liberty University transfer replaced all-time home run hitter Vance Honeycutt in the leadoff spot, who hit 28 home runs last season.

Both Kepley and Forbes said the homers will come. Forbes said the guys were joking about it with hitting coach Jesse Wierzbicki in the locker room. 

The Tar Heels played good team baseball to start the season. Long balls, when they start to fly, will only help.

“When our lineup is doing that, the small things right — we’re gonna be a really scary team to play,” Kepley said.

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