Heels Roll Into 2025 ACC Baseball Tournament

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The Tar Heels kick off their 2025 postseason as the No. 3 seed in the ACC Championship where they will face the No. 14 seed Boston College in the tournament's quarterfinals on Friday night at 7 p.m. ET.

New this season, the ACC tournament has moved to a single elimination format with all 16 teams participating. Carolina earned a double-bye thanks to their place as a top-four seed after finishing 18-11 in conference.

UNC is 8-3 in the ACC tourney under Forbes, winning the program's eighth tournament title in his second season in 2022. All-time Carolina is 92-73 (.558), tied with NC State for the second most wins of any program. As the No. 3 seed, UNC is 5-9 in tournament history.

CLASS OF THE CONFERENCE
➤ At the conclusion of the regular season, Knapp was named the 2025 ACC Pitcher of the Year.
➤ It is the program's first pitcher of the year award since J.B. Bukauskas won in 2017. Knapp is the fifth Tar Heel to claim the honor.
➤ He joins: Andrew Miller (2006), Alex White (2008), Kent Emanuel (2013), and Bukauskas.
➤ The two-time captain wrapped up a dominant stretch in conference play that saw him go 10-0 while leading the league in ERA (2.00), opposing batting average (.173), innings pitched (72.0), and victories.
➤ He likely sealed his victory on Thursday night against #2 Florida State, where he faced off against presumptive top-10 pick Jamie Arnold.
➤ Knapp emphatically won the battle, going the full 9.0 innings allowing just four hits and three runs while racking up seven strikeouts on zero walks. His first career 9 inning complete game.

TEA PARTY ON TOBACCO ROAD
➤ Carolina draws Boston College in the quarterfinals of the 2025 ACC tournament after the Eagles took down Notre Dame and Virginia in consecutive games to get here.
➤ The two teams faced off earlier this season up in Brighton, Mass., where UNC took two of three games.
➤ It was the beginning of a hot streak for the Tar Heels. From that point forward, they won all seven of their full ACC series (split 1-1 with NC State).
➤ Game one of the series saw the same pitching matchup we will see again in May, Knapp vs. Colarusso. The ACC Pitcher of the Year tossed 6.2 IP with only two hits, one run, and one walk as the Tar Heels went on to win 5-1.
➤ BC won game two 3-2, but UNC bounced back nicely through an absolute gem from Aidan Haugh. The senior held a no-hitter until the final batter, throwing a complete game 7.0 innings while racking up 11 Ks on just one walk and one hit (the final two batters of the afternoon).

ARM TALENT
➤ The Tar Heels' staff leads the ACC in a number of categories including ERA (3.44, 4th NCAA), WHIP (1.21, 5th NCAA), and walks allowed per nine (3.34, 14th NCAA).
➤ The gap between Carolina's conference leading ERA and 2nd place (GT, 4.63, 1.19) is bigger than the gap between 2nd and 13th (Cal, 5.77, 1.14).
➤ Carolina's starters are all over the ACC leader boards, pacing the conference game only lists in at least five categories.
➤ The trio of starters make Carolina the only team with three inside the top-10 in ERA in the ACC.
➤ Peaking at the right time, Jason DeCaro has a 1.55 ERA with four wins in his last five outings.
➤ 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 5th time this year that the UNC staff didn't surrender a walk in a game. Dating back to the Queens contest, the Heels went 23 straight innings without surrendering a free base.

POTENT (P)NOTABLES
➤ The Tar Heels have the third lowest amount of batters hit by any power-four team in the country at 44, only Virginia (37) and Baylor (40) have less.
➤ Carolina has the third most quad 1/2 wins in the country and has the least Q4 games played of any of the top 16 RPI teams.
➤ Alex Madera now has 105 career collegiate steals, 86 at Arcadia and 19 at North Carolina.
➤ Kane Kepley is 17th in the NCAA and 2nd in the ACC in hit by pitches at 24. He has only struck out 22 times.
➤ Since the Sunday 14 inning win over Duke, UNC's BA is up to .313 over its last 20. 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

YOUNG BUCKS BRING THE HEAT
➤ Carolina has called upon three true freshman arms to deliver in big spots this season.
➤ First to appear was the Lee County legend Walker McDuffie. He has thrown 22 times with one start, striking out 59 batters, earning three wins, and logging four saves with a 3.28 ERA.
➤ His save was the first by a Carolina true freshman since Shawn Rapp's against Elon on Feb. 18, 2020.
➤ Flamethrower Ryan Lynch leads the team in appearances (23). He has two saves and holds a 4-1 record on 53 strikeouts.
➤ It is the first time UNC has multiple freshmen with more than one save in a season since at least 1997.
➤ The last true freshman Heel to record more than one save in a season was Trent Thornton, who had eight in 2013.
➤ Lynch's seven strikeouts were the most by a Carolina pitcher in their collegiate debut since Max Carlson racked up eight on Feb. 20, 2021.
➤ The highest ranked recruit of the group, Ellerbe, N.C. native Camron Seagraves has 17 appearances and was the first of the trio to get a start. He is 2-1 with 34 Ks in 23.1 IP.
➤ Punching out two to finish off history, he is the first freshman on record to be involved in a UNC no-hitter.
➤ The trio, alongside the young Jason Decaro, own 17 of the Tar Heels' 39 wins so far this year. Lynch is the oldest of the group while DeCaro, the sophomore, is the youngest player on the team.

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Players Mentioned

Jason DeCaro

Aidan Haugh

Kane Kepley

Ryan Lynch

Alex Madera

Walker McDuffie

Camron Seagraves