Baseball To Take On East Carolina In Three Site Series

Friday, February 20

Greenville, N.C.

5 PM

North Carolina

East Carolina

Photo by: AINSLEY E. FAUTH

February 20, 2026 | Baseball

Game Notes

By: William Soulé

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The Diamond Heels are set for their annual home-neutral-home series with in-state rivals East Carolina.

SCHEDULE
Game 1: Friday, Feb. 20 - Greenville, N.C. - 5 PM ET
Game 2: Saturday, Feb. 21 - Durham, N.C. - 2 PM ET
Game 3: Sunday, Feb. 22 - Chapel Hill - 1 PM ET

No. 10 North Carolina Tar Heels (5-0)
Head Coach: Scott Forbes
Record at UNC: 205-104 (6th Season)
Record vs. ECU: 7-7

East Carolina Pirates (2-3)
Head Coach: Cliff Godwin
Record at ECU: 434-217-1 (12th Season)
Record vs. UNC: 10-12

FIRST PITCH
➤ It's the third season of the new format. Overall, UNC leads 4-2 in that stretch. They've won both games in Chapel Hill and once in the neutral and once in Greenville, both last year.
➤ Carolina will return to the DBAP for the first time since winning their ninth ACC tournament title there in May 2025. Three of the Heels' 27 conference titles have been won in the home of the Durham Bulls.

DOUBLE THE MIDWEEK TROUBLE
➤ The Tar Heels picked up a pair of midweek victories in games against Richmond and Longwood.
➤ It was a 10-0 seven-inning run-rule over the Spiders on Tuesday. UNC picked up its third straight win in "walk-off" fashion when Rom Kellis followed up his leadoff double by scoring on a wild pitch to end it.
➤ The offensive highlight came in the second frame when both Jake Schaffner and Macon Winslow blasted three-run home runs to give Carolina complete control.
➤ Wednesday afternoon saw a much tighter contest in Boshamer Stadium. UNC jumped out to a four-run lead in the first inning, but couldn't produce much more offense beyond that.
➤ As the game wore on, the Lancers chipped away at the Carolina lead, but couldn't quite get over the hump.
➤ Effective pitching throughout helped UNC maintain their victory and move to 5-0 for the fifth time in the last six season under head coach Scott Forbes.

NO WAITING AROUND
➤ The Carolina offense heavily features new faces, as the team looks to replace 76.3% of its scoring from 2025. Gavin Gallaher (more on him below) is the only returner to have started more than half the games.
➤ That means early opportunity for new fan favorites and a few have already seized their chance.
➤ The first is Jake Schaffner, the new starting shortstop incoming from North Dakota State, who's bat has popped early in the leadoff spot. He leads the team with a .421 batting average on eight hits.
➤ Second to Schaffner in BA are the incoming duo from Georgia State Colin Hynek (.412) and Michael Maginnis (.400). Both have produced clutch hitting early in their UNC careers, the pair drove in all five runs against Longwood.
➤ Hynek knocked what he described as "the first triple I've had in my life" against Indiana.
➤ Carolina had four triples in their first two games of the season, it was the team's most in back-to-back contests since March of 2015 in a pair of games against Duke and the most triples they've had a in a single series since Long Beach State in March 2017.
➤ Schaffner had two of those triples, the first Heel to have a three-bagger in back-to-back games since Danny Serretti did it against Georgia Tech in April 2022.
➤ Duke transfer Macon Winslow has also quickly gotten comfortable in the better blue, at one point with three straight swings going home run, double, home run between games three and four.
➤ In the finale against Indiana, his 11th inning homer gave UNC its first opening-weekend walk-off win since the second game of the 2020 season.

LAST TIME OUT
➤ 2025's faceoff with the Pirates was a pretty one-sided affair in favor of the Tar Heels. It was the first series win over ECU since 2022.
➤ A rain delay moved the Greenville game to Monday, which meant the series started in Durham. There Jason DeCaro and Walker McDuffie powered UNC to a 2-0 win, the first career save for McDuffie.
➤ Folger Boaz got the win on Sunday, his first victory since returning from injury, with three innings of scoreless work to set up Monday's finale in the Jungle.
➤ There Greenville native Matthew Matthijs helped the Heels racked up a season-high 17 strikeouts to complete the sweep.