Tar Heels Travel to Notre Dame for ACC Series

CHAPEL HILL – After beginning conference play with a 4-2 record at home and a sweep at USC-Usptate, North Carolina continues its 10-game road trip at Notre Dame Friday through Sunday. The series begins Friday now at 5 p.m. followed by Saturday at 3 p.m. with both contests live on the ACC Network Extra. Sunday's 2 p.m. matchup will air live on ESPNU.

About Carolina
The Tar Heels (14-15, 4-2 ACC) have won eight of the past 10 matchups, including a ACC series sweep of Duke and a pair of nonconference wins over USC-Upstate. Recently earning a starting spot in the lineup, Hailey Jensen boasts a team-best .419 average in 43 at-bats while Leah Murray holds .348 average, scoring a team-high 18 runs with an ACC-best 21 stolen bases. Taylor Wike tops the team leaderboards in doubles (4), home runs (7), slugging percentage (.674), walks (12) and on-base percentage (.437). With a 12-5 record, Brittany Pickett has been dominant in the circle, tossing 152.2 of Carolina's 199.0 innings pitched.

About Notre Dame
Winning 13 of the past 14, Notre Dame (19-8, 4-1 ACC) opens its home slate with a three game series against Carolina. The Fighting Irish offense is led by Ali Wester's .418 average while six are batting over .300. Boasting a 13-4 record, Alexis Holloway anchors the pitching staff tossing 101.1 of UND's 173.2 innings.

The Series
Notre Dame leads the series against Carolina, 15-6. However, the Tar Heels came out on top in the most recent meeting on April 7, 2017 for the 7-5 win in Notre Dame, Indiana. Returning to Notre Dame for the second consecutive season, the Tar Heels look to improve their record at Melissa Cook Stadium which sits at 2-3 in the foes' 21-game history. Since joining the ACC, the Fighting Irish lead the conference series, 4-6. Carolina won the series in Chapel Hill in 2016 while Notre Dame swept the doubleheader in 2014 and the two split in 2015. Carolina and Notre Dame first met on March 12, 1991 in Houston, Texas with the Fighting Irish picking up the 3-1 decision.

Midweek Winners
After Carolina's sweep of USC-Upstate on Tuesday, the Tar Heels improved to 4-2 in midweek games, winning the past four in a row. Most recently, Carolina outscored USC-Upstate 10-3 in Tuesday's twin bill. Coming into the series, Upstate's pitching staff limited its opponents to a .184 average, but the Tar Heels posted 13 hits for a .260 team average.
Despite a 45-minute weather delay, a four-run fourth inning and three-run seventh inning propelled Carolina to a 7-2 win over the Spartans in game one. The Tar Heels continued in game two, posting three runs in the seventh and holding USC-Upstate scoreless for the 3-0 victory to close out the night. Taylor Wike led Carolina's offense, going 3-for-5 with two runs in the pair of games. Katie Bailiff followed suit with a 3-for-6 day at the plate, driving in two runs in the first game of the day. Campbell Hutcherson also played a pair of runs on the day aid in Carolina's wins. In the circle for Carolina, Brittany Pickett anchored the Tar Heels, tossing two complete games while allowing a mere two runs and holding her opponents to a .176 average.

Goodman Makes Good
Taking advantage of her first collegiate appearance, freshman Zoë Goodman drove in a run in game one of the doubleheader at USC-Upstate on March 20. Goodman continued by sending an RBI-double to left for her first career hit.

Walking Into The Record Book
With her walk Friday against Pitt, Taylor Wike became the program's record holder in career walks with 107. She eclipsed Kristen Brown's 106 during her 2013-16 tenure as a Tar Heel. Wike drew 42 walks as a freshman, 30 as a sophomore, 25 as a junior and has 10 to-date this season.

Hutcherson's Heroics
Campbell Hutcherson logged 20 outs at first against Pitt, but it's how five of those outs were recorded that is notable. The sophomore made two diving plays to catch the Panthers' bunt attempts. Then she followed up by snagging three foul pop-ups - two over Carolina's dugout. Her impressive weekend on defense outshined her second career home run in Friday's win over Pittsburgh.

Up Next
Carolina travels to Winthrop in Rock Hill, South Carolina for a single game Wednesday at 6 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

Katie Bailiff

Zoë Goodman

Campbell Hutcherson

Hailey Jensen

Leah Murray

Brittany Pickett

Taylor Wike