Baseball Drops Saturday Matchup To Hokies, 10-6

Saturday, April 19

Blacksburg, Va.

3 PM

North Carolina

30-9, 12-8

Virginia Tech

25-14, 10-10

North Carolina

Virginia Tech

April 19, 2025 | Baseball

Box Score

By: William Soulé

BLACKSBURG, Va. – North Carolina trailed early and never could quite get over the hump as they lose a 10-6 contest to Virginia Tech on Saturday afternoon, setting up a Sunday rubber match.

The Tar Heels (30-9, 12-8 ACC) gave up double digit runs for just the third time this season as their seven-game winning streak comes to an end. The bats kept Carolina in this one, reaching double digit hits for the fifth time in the last seven.

The Hokies got going early, taking a five-run lead in the first. Carolina answered in their half of the second thanks to some clutch hitting from Kane Kepley. Three straight singles for UNC loaded the bases with no one out, but a pair of strikeouts had Virginia Tech on the verge of getting away with no damage.

Kepley then battled through an eight pitch at-bat and came away a winner, sending a fastball to the left field corner for a double. It cleared the bases for three, two-out RBIs and cut the lead to two.

More runs for Tech in the second put them into a 7-3 advantage, but good work from Olin Johnson and Tom Chmielewski in the middle innings gave UNC opportunities to get back in it. The duo combined for 4.2 IP of shutout work on only three hits.

Carolina's offense did enough to make the Hokies uncomfortable down the stretch, but couldn't quite find the blow that would put them in the lead.

Luke Stevenson hit a solo shot to left with two outs in the fifth, his team-leading 13^th home run of the year. The pinch-hitting Lee Sowers knocked a single into left in the seventh in his first at-bat before making his way around to score on a Jackson Van De Brake sac fly.

In the eighth, continuing to chip away, the new team-leader in batting average Alex Madera found a gap in the right side to score one more. The grad senior is 10-for-16 in his last five games with six walks and five runs scored, good for a .727 OBP.

The Tar Heels will return to English Field on Easter Sunday to decide the series. Coverage for the finale will come on ACC Network with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. ET.