Sowers Single Secures Sweep Of Wake Forest

Sunday, April 13

Chapel Hill

1 PM

North Carolina

28-8, 0

Wake Forest

24-13, 0

Wake Forest

North Carolina

April 13, 2025 | Baseball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: William Soulé

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – North Carolina baseball took its first ACC sweep of the season with a gutsy 3-2 win over Wake Forest on Sunday afternoon.

The Tar Heels (28-8, 11-7 ACC) won the first two games of the series with dominant offense, but needed to come out on top of a pitcher's duel to take the third and final contest. Jason Decaro and Walker McDuffie were excellent in tandem, limiting the Demon Deacons to just two runs on four hits with 12 strikeouts between them.

The sophomore Decaro put together his best outing of conference play to help the Heels overcome a slower day on offense. The North Port, N.Y., native held a no-hitter through 5.2 innings pitched and struck out six while only giving up two hits and one run.

McDuffie has been rock solid all year, a steadying presence out of the Carolina bullpen. Today's performance gives him a 3.09 ERA with 41 strikeouts, the most for any of the Tar Heel relievers.

Carolina, who scored first in all three games of this series, did so again today via a Wake Forest error in the bottom of the opening inning. A Hunter Stokely grounder got through the second baseman and scored a pair.

The Demon Deacons tied the game with some small ball of their own in the middle innings and that created an opportunity for an unexpected hero to emerge for the Tar Heels. Up steps true freshman Lee Sowers who, in his first collegiate start, battled through an eight pitch at-bat to smack a single into left field that scored Alex Madera for the game-winning run.

The bats were a bit quieter for Carolina on Sunday, but it was a dominant series overall for head coach Scott Forbes' team. The +27 scoring margin across the three games is the program's best in a conference series since hitting the same number against Pitt in 2017.

The Tar Heels will look to carry their momentum into the final game of this homestand on Tuesday night against yet another in-state opponent in Charlotte. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET. It will be the second Bark at the Bosh event of the season.