Diamond Heels Ready For Regular Season Finale

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The No. 4 Tar Heels travel south for their regular season finale, a heavyweight clash with No. 2 Florida State in Tallahassee.

The two highest ranked teams in the conference enter the weekend with everything on the line, as both still fight for a regular season ACC Championship and to pad their resume for the NCAA postseason. Carolina head man Scott Forbes owns a 4-3 record over the Seminoles in his five seasons at the helm, thanks in large part to a sweep in favor of the Tar Heels the last time these two teams faced off in a weekend series.

Both of these teams are still very capable of claiming the ACC Regular Season title. Carolina would need a sweep of the series to accomplish the task.

SCHEDULE
Game 1: Thursday, May 15 - 7 PM | ACC Network
Game 2: Friday, May 16 - 7 PM | ACC Network
Game 3: Saturday, May 17 - 2 PM | ACCNX

#4 North Carolina Tar Heels (37-11, 16-10 ACC)
Head Coach: Scott Forbes
Record at North Carolina:191-100 (5th Season)
Career Record: Same
Career vs. Florida State: 4-3

#2 Florida State Seminoles (36-11, 16-8 ACC)
Head Coach: Link Jarrett
Record at Florida State: 108-59 (3rd Season)
Career Record: 409-257 (13th Season)
Career vs. UNC: 1-0

GOING AGAINST THE PACK
➤ North Carolina split its series with cross-town rivals NC State, with Sunday's rubber match rained out the two teams were forced to share the spoils.
➤ Thursday night's game went to the Diamond Heels, who excelled in all three phases of the game to take an 8-1 win over the Wolfpack. UNC railed after the top of the first before going on to score eight unanswered.
➤ Captain Jake Knapp was the star of the show, throwing a career high 8.0 innings with just the one run allowed on five hits and no walks. From the middle of the second until the eighth, he retired 18 straight batters to slam the door on any attempt at a Wolfpack rally.
➤ Carter French and the defense were on point, laying out on multiple occasions to deny extra bases.
➤ Kane Kepley led the offense, going 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and three runs scored.
➤A Carolina rally on Friday night fell short to lose the game 5-8. The Heels got two huge homers and a trio of clutch two-out hits to tie the game in the ninth before State won it in the final frame.

RETURN OF THE KNAPP
➤ The impact the return of Jake Knapp had on the Carolina pitching staff cannot be overstated.
➤ The Greensboro native was slated to be the Friday starter going into the 2024 season before sustaining a season-ending elbow injury in the preseason.
➤ "Coach Knapp," as Forbes affectionately calls him, stayed locked in with the team despite his devastating situation, attending every practice, game, and meeting. The coaching staff credits his leadership as a key factor in their 2024 run to Omaha.
➤ 623 days since his last appearance, the second-year captain retook the mound on opening day 2025. He threw three innings, allowing only two hits and racking up three strikeouts.
➤ He would continue to build from there. In just his fourth appearance since the surgery, he threw his first career complete game in a win over Stanford.
➤ This year he is 10-0, the best record of any starting pitcher in the nation, leading the Tar Heels to victory in all 12 of his appearances.
➤ Against NC State, he went a career long 8.0 IP while retiring 18 straight batters from the second to the eighth inning with only one run and no walks.
➤ In 71.0 innings thrown, he has logged 67 Ks, just 13 walks, and is holding a 2.03 ERA (7th NCAA, 1st ACC). His K-to-BB ratio (5.15) is the 2nd best in the ACC.

LUUUUUUUUUUUUKE
➤ The man behind the dish for Carolina has been exceptional at the plate and in the field this season.
➤ Coming into the year as a draft eligible sophomore, the buzz began mocking him into the first round as the first catcher off the board.
➤ MLB.com ranked him as the No. 13 overall, No. 6 college and No. 1 catcher prospect in the 2025 class.
➤ Baseball America's draft expert Carlos Collazo: "A lot of people believe he is the best college catcher in the class...I could see him shooting up into the top 10 and going very high in the draft."
➤ Carolina's leader in home runs (16, 3rd ACC) and walks (52, 1st ACC, 9th NCAA) has been a solid rock in the lineup. The Heels have three instances of back-to-back homers in games this year, all involving him.
➤ One of the biggest drivers of his high draft stock is his work on the defensive end. He is renowned as one of the best pitch framers in the business and is throwing out 32% of attempted base stealers.

POTENT (P)NOTABLES
➤ Alex Madera now has 104 career collegiate steals, 86 at Arcadia and 18 at North Carolina.
➤ Kane Kepley is 13th in the NCAA and 2nd in the ACC in hit by pitches at 22. He has only struck out 20 times.
➤ Since the Sunday 14 inning win over Duke, UNC's BA is up to .316 over its last 17. It was hitting .266 in the first 31 games of the year.
➤ Carolina leads the nation in Defensive Runs Saved according to 643 Charts:
1. North Carolina - 72.40
2. Georgia Tech - 65.40
3. Mercer - 61.49

ARM TALENT
➤ The Tar Heels' staff leads the ACC in a number of categories including ERA (3.45, 4th NCAA), strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.76, 15th NCAA), WHIP (1.21, 7th NCAA), and walks allowed per nine (3.38, 17th NCAA).
➤ The gap between Carolina's conference leading ERA and 2nd place (WFU, 4.44, 0.99) is bigger than the gap between 2nd and 11th (VT, 5.18, 0.74).
➤ Carolina's starters are all over the ACC leader boards, pacing the conference game only lists in at least five categories.
➤ Knapp has been particularly brilliant, sitting atop the conference game boards in ERA (1.86), OBA (.179), IP (63.0), and wins (9) while being 2nd in strikeouts (57).
➤ The trio of starters make Carolina the only team with three inside the top-10 in ERA in the ACC.
➤ UNC put up games with 17 and 14 strikeouts back-to-back twice in week two alone. The last time the team had 14+ Ks in back-to-back games more than once in the same season was 2008.
➤ In game one against NC State, neither team recorded a walk. It is the first time that's happened in a Carolina contest since at least the turn of the century. Its the fourth time this year that the UNC staff didn't give up a walk in a game. Dating back to the Queens contest, the Heels went 23 straight innings without surrendering a free base.

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Players Mentioned

Carter French

Kane Kepley

Jake Knapp

Alex Madera