UNC baseball's offense sputters, prevents series sweep against Miami

Head coach Scott Forbes walked into the Boshamer Stadium press box wearing a gray Lululemon workout shirt, blue jeans and Carolina Blue high-top Jordans. 

He normally wears his uniform and Jordan lows during press conferences. But after a 4-2 loss to Miami on Sunday — an opportunity for North Carolina’s first ACC series sweep gone by the wayside — Forbes took some extra time and decided to shower before heading upstairs.

More than half an hour after the last pitch, Forbes started his remarks. He said he was thankful for the beautiful day and great crowd. 

“I’m just thankful we won the series,” he said. “Because I’m not sure if we hit over .200."

The Tar Heels did not.

UNC hit .179 over three games against the Hurricanes, scoring eight runs on 17 hits. But Forbes’ team found a way to win the series on the back of its pitching. UNC held Miami to six runs for the three games. Forbes needed just four arms on Friday and Saturday to take the first two. He said his staff can “out-stuff” opponents.

“It doesn’t always work out like it did the last two days,” he said after Saturday’s 4-2 win. “But that was exactly how we wanted it to work out.”

Graduate right-hander Jake Knapp got the ball on Friday night and served up a gem. He tossed seven scoreless innings on 115 pitches and struck out a career-high 10 batters. 

Knapp has cemented himself as the Friday-night ace for the Tar Heels. He earned the win in each of his last five starts, posting a 1.10 ERA with 38 punch outs to five walks.

“It was just one of those nights where a lot of things were working,” Knapp said following a 2-0 victory. “Made some big pitches.”

First-year right-hander Walker McDuffie came on in relief and picked up a six-out save, striking out four. Between Knapp and McDuffie, there were 14 strikeouts – the most in a game without a walk for the Tar Heels since 2021.

Sophomore right-hander Jason DeCaro started game two, and turned in five and a third innings, allowing two runs. DeCaro struggled at the beginning of ACC play, but the three hits allowed and six strikeouts are his best marks since his first start of the season against Texas Tech.

DeCaro said his fastball had been inconsistent because his back side was flying open early. He worked on his mechanics with the coaching staff and saw results on Saturday.

Exactly according to Forbes’ plan, another first-year righty, Ryan Lynch, came on after DeCaro and pitched three-and-two-thirds scoreless innings to earn his first save of the year. 

“I talked to both [McDuffie and Lynch] before the season started,” DeCaro said. “I told them no matter what the situation is, your job is just to throw that pitch. You have to break it down pitch-by-pitch, and if you do that, you’ll be fine. It won’t get too big on you. They’ve done an awesome job with that."

Even with the great pitching, the Tar Heels weren’t hitting. The arms had little to no margin for error with each of the first two games low scoring and decided by two runs. 

The top two in the batting order, junior center fielder Kane Kepley and sophomore catcher Luke Stevenson, recorded one hit between them for the weekend. The Tar Heels were 0-7 with runners in scoring position on Sunday. They did not hit a homer over the weekend.

UNC’s 3.38 team ERA is the best in the ACC this season. But at .269, the Tar Heels slot 14th out of 16 teams in batting average. They are 13th in home runs. 

The lack of offense was glaring on Sunday. UNC’s runs came on an RBI groundout in the first and a bloop triple to no-man’s land in the ninth. 

“I still don’t think we’re playing close to what we’re capable of playing top to bottom,” Forbes said. “Obviously everybody’s going to talk about the offense, and they’re not wrong.”

What is the biggest key for his guys to break out at the plate?

Forbes sighed.

“If I had the answer to that…"

@dthsports | sports@dailytarheel.com