No. 4 UNC baseball beats Stanford, 11-1, to even series

The No. 4 UNC baseball team (14-1, 1-1 ACC) continued their first ACC series against Stanford (11-3, 1-1 ACC), with a 11-1 win, tying the series at 1-1. 

The bats started and stayed hot for the Diamond Heels. In the bottom of the first, sophomore catcher Luke Stevenson took his first pitch of the day over the right field wall for a one run homer, putting North Carolina on the board early. Forcing walks and long at bats, UNC kept the pressure on Stanford the entire game.

After a tough loss yesterday, the Diamond Heels looked to bounce back with a much needed win.  

The Cardinal looked to strike right back as Stanford’s Brady Reynolds connected with a pitch, taking a deep shot to center field. Junior outfielder Kane Kepley raced to the warning track as the ball began to disappear behind the wall. 

With a leap into the air, Kepley caught the potential homerun, robbing Stanford of the lead early in the second. 

North Carolina retired the inning without any damage.

The bottom of the third started with Kepley being hit by a pitch. He would advance to second on a stolen base. With a ground ball through the gap from Stevenson, Kepley rounded third base, sprinting home safely to regain the lead.

In the fourth, sophomore designated hitter Macaddin Dye laid down a sac bunt to advance runners to third and second. With runners in scoring position, first-year outfielder Perry Hargett cracked a line drive to right center for a double to extend the lead to three.  

With the gap extending, Stanford resorted to the bullpen after three innings.

The new pitcher was immediately faced with struggles, as Stevenson crushed his first pitch over the exact same spot for another solo homer. 

“We were hunting,” Stevenson said. “We were looking for certain pitches and looking in certain windows, and I got what I was looking for.”

Stanford managed to get out of the inning, but had a deep hole to climb out of.

The hole wasn’t getting any smaller as graduate first baseman Hunter Stokely took a ball well over the left field wall in the fifth for a solo home run, pushing the Tar Heel lead to six runs. 

In the top of sixth, Stokely made a big play catching a line drive down the first base line and tagged the runner out. The play cleared the bases for UNC and helped keep the momentum in its favor.

The Diamond Heels stayed aggressive, not shying away from big plays.

In the bottom of the sixth, Kepley and Steveson stole second and third base before sophomore third baseman Gavin Gallaher was be walked to load the bases.

Stokely stepped up to the plate with a chance for a grand slam, but only managed a sacrifice fly that brought Kepley home from third, making the score 8-1.

Another two run homer from Dye gave UNC a nine run lead. This was the Liberty transfer's first home run as a Tar Heel.

“We hit some home runs, and we scored a lot of runs,” head coach Scott Forbes said. “It was good to see Macaddin Dye get on the board with his first home run.”

On the mound for UNC, graduate pitcher Jake Knapp threw a complete game with seven strikeouts and 111 pitches. Knapp gave up four hits, one run and walked one batter in his seven innings pitched.  

“He’s the definition of a horse,” Forbes said.

With the eleventh run scoring in the bottom of the seventh the game was called and North Carolina tied the series at 1-1 after a run-rule win. 

The Diamond Heels look to take the series with another win against Stanford tomorrow at 1 p.m.

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