Heels And Deacs Set For First Series In Four Years

CHAPEL HILL – North Carolina will face longtime rival Wake Forest for the first time since 2018, when the Heels swept the Demon Deacons (3-2, 6-1, 8-6), at Boshamer Stadium this weekend.

All three games of the series will stream on ACC Network Extra, beginning with game one Friday at 12 noon. The remaining two matchups are scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.

This weekend marks just the third series between the Tar Heels (29-18, 10-14 ACC) and Demon Deacons (34-14-1, 11-12-1) since 2016. WFU swept the three-game series in Winston-Salem in 2016 as did UNC in Chapel Hill in 2018. Carolina has won 12 of 15 games against Wake Forest at home since the ACC went to divisional play.

UNC and Wake Forest played at least twice every season from 1946 - 2014. Since 1891, Carolina and Wake Forest have played 292 times with the Tar Heels holding a 163-126-3 series lead. The only teams that UNC has played more than Wake Forest are NC State (311), Virginia (311) and Duke (303).

PITCHING MATCHUP

	Friday \| 12 p.m. (ACCNX)	Saturday \| 2 p.m. (ACCNX)	Sunday \| 1 p.m. (ACCNX)
Wake Forest	RHP Rhett Lower	LHP Josh Hartle	RHP Teddy McGraw
North Carolina	RHP Max Carlson	LHP Brandon Schaeffer	TBA
Links	WATCH \| LISTEN \| STATS	WATCH \| LISTEN \| STATS	WATCH \| LISTEN \| STATS

LAST TIME OUT
North Carolina scored 12 runs across the first three innings and cruised to a 12-1 victory over visiting Charleston Southern at Boshamer Stadium on Wednesday night. The Diamond Heels collected 10 hits, including three home runs. Mac Horvath and Alberto Osuna each homered in the second inning and Vance Honeycutt went deep in the third inning. Horvath and Honeycutt each registered a pair of hits, while Danny Serretti led UNC with three base knocks. Will Sandy earned his first win of the year, holding Charleston Southern without a hit, while striking out a pair in four innings of relief. Caleb Cozart closed out the game by tossing a scoreless ninth, retiring all three batters he faced.

GETTING WARMER
After losing 11 of its first 15 games in April, UNC seemed to turn the page on the final day of the month with an 8-1 over Liberty. Since that day, the Diamond Heels have won six of their last seven games overall, including three in a row and four straight at home. UNC is slashing .289/.373/.542 and has outscored its opponents by 21 runs.

HEELS POWERING UP
The Diamond Heels have hit 36 home runs in their last 20 games during the months of April and May. Horvath has blasted 11 round trippers and Osuna has circled the bases eight times. UNC has hit multiple home runs in 13 of the last 20 games, including four versus Georgia Tech on April 15 and three against North Carolina A&T (4/12), Gardner-Webb (5/10), and Charleston Southern (5/11). It's 67 home runs this season are one more than it had in 55 games last year.

CLEAN UP ON AISLE SEVEN
Honeycutt was inserted into the No. 4 spot in the lineup of the rubber games against NC State and has hit from that position in each of the last three games. During those three games as the cleanup hitter, he is 8-for-12 with three home runs, two doubles and a triple. He also drove in eight runs, scored seven and stole three bases.

IN A ZONE
Serretti is one of the Diamond Heels' hottest hitters. He has hit safely in 21 consecutive games, batting .418 (36x86) with two home runs and 18 RBIs during his streak. He collected 10 total hits in the last four games, including five during Sunday's doubleheader at NC State. At the end of the Miami series on March 27, Serretti was hitting .296. In the 23 games that have followed, he has raised his batting average 60 points to .356. Serretti has also drawn 16 walks during his current streak.

MAC ATTACK
Horvath has hit safely in each of the last 10 games, batting .414 (17x41) with 15 runs scored and nine RBIs during the streak. He is slugging .976 with four doubles and six home runs as a part of his current hitting streak. Eleven of his 14 home runs this season have come in the last 20 games (since April 3).

WHAT RELIEF
As a part of its current three-game winning streak, the Carolina bullpen has posted a 1.65 ERA in 16.3 innings of relief. Will Sandy tossed 5.0 scoreless innings of relief in two combined appearances against Gardner-Webb and Charleston Southern. Gage Gillian (2.2) and Davis Palermo (2.0) each tossed multiple shutout innings versus NC State, while Caden O'Brien blanked Gardner-Webb in two innings. The foursome combined for 14 strikeouts against four walks with five hits in 11.2 innings pitched.

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Players Mentioned

Max Carlson

Caleb Cozart

Gage Gillian

Vance Honeycutt

Mac Horvath

Caden O'Brien

Alberto Osuna

Davis Palermo

Will Sandy

Brandon Schaeffer

Danny Serretti

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University of North Carolina Athletics