Van De Brake Triple Powers Carolina To Extra Innings Win Over UNCW

Tuesday, March 11

Wilmington, NC

6 PM

North Carolina

15-2

UNCW

8-9

North Carolina

UNCW

Van De Brake Triple Powers Carolina To Extra Innings Win Over UNCW

March 12, 2025 | Baseball

Box Score

By: William Soule

WILMINGTON, N.C. – A bases-loaded, two-out triple off the right field wall in the top of the tenth from Jackson Van De Brake propelled North Carolina to a 7-3 win over UNCW on Tuesday night.

The Tar Heels (15-2, 1-2 ACC) came back from two separate two-run deficits and finally exploded with a four-run tenth inning to seal the victory. It is the second straight Tuesday that ended in an extra-innings win for head coach Scott Forbes' program.

Preseason All-American Luke Stevenson has recently turned up the firepower that helped put him atop many MLB Draft boards coming into 2025. He has multi-home run games in two of his last three contests and now leads the team with seven long balls on the year.

His two home runs in this game came in very different ways. The first, a solo shot in the fourth that opened the scoring for Carolina, was powered deep over the right-center fence. His first at-bat had ended with him flying out to the warning track in nearly the same spot, the next time he made sure to get all of it.

His next came as part of a set, as he and Gavin Gallaher went deep in back-to-back at-bats to tie the game for the Heels. This time Stevenson pushed the ball to the opposite field and took advantage of UNCW's short porch along the left field line. Gallaher then worked a full count before knocking his second homer of the year to the Home Run Hill in left.

It was the second time in their young careers that Stevenson and Gallaher smashed homers in consecutive trips to the plate. The duo sent out homers in the ninth inning in last year's series finale against Wake Forest to help UNC complete the sweep in walk-off fashion.

The later innings of this game saw Carolina knocking on home plate's door, but not quite being able to push runs across to take the lead. In the top of the eight, UNC had runners on second and third with no outs but could not score. Then in the ninth, true freshman Sawyer Black recorded his second hit in as many career at-bats, but the team could not take advantage.

Again in the 10^th, the Tar Heels worked themselves into a dangerous position with the bases loaded and two outs. Up steps the captain Van De Brake, who crushed a ball to the wall in right center to clear the bases with the first triple of his Carolina career. A wild pitch scored him two batters latter and UNC had all the insurance they needed.

Reliever Matthew Matthijs, who leads the ACC in appearances, picked up his first win of the year with 1.2 innings of scoreless baseball with three strikeouts and no walks. He finished off good work from freshmen Ryan Lynch and Walker McDuffie who combined for 3.0 IP and no runs allowed themselves.

Starter Cam Padgett did well to battle back from an early two-run homer and only gave up three hits and those two runs in his 4.0 innings on the bump.

The Tar Heels continue their road trip week with a series at Louisville starting on Friday at 6 p.m. ET. The weekend finale will be aired live on ACC Network, Carolina's first linear TV game of the season.