Baseball Closes Regular Season At Clemson

Thursday, May 18

Clemson, S.C.

6 p.m.

North Carolina

Clemson

Photo by: ANTHONY SORBELLINI

May 18, 2023 | Baseball

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By: UNC Athletics Communications

CLEMSON, S.C. - The UNC baseball team closes the regular season on the road at Clemson with a three-game series against the seventh-ranked Tigers beginning Thursday night.

Thursday and Friday's games will start at 6 p.m. and be streamed on ACCNX, and the series finale will be televised on ACC Network beginning at 1 p.m.

The Tar Heels are coming off an 8-6 loss at Coastal Carolina on Tuesday, while Clemson has won nine games in a row.

Despite the loss on Tuesday, UNC is playing some of its baseball of the season, having won eight of its last 11 games. The Tar Heels are 9-5 on the road this season and have won all four of their ACC road series (Pitt, Notre Dame, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech).

Redshirt freshman Casey Cook has reached base safely in 40 consecutive games and leads the team with a .348 batting average while leading the ACC with a .426 clip during league play. His .504 on-base percentage in conference play is second.

Junior Mac Horvath leads the ACC with 22 stolen bases and is second in home runs with 21. He also ranks among the top 10 in the conference in slugging percentage, OPS, runs, RBIs, and doubles.

Probable Pitching Matchups	North Carolina	Clemson
Thursday \| 6 p.m. (ACCNX)	RHP Max Carlson (4-1, 5.69)	LHP Ethan Darden (3-2, 5.44)
Friday \| 6 p.m. (ACCNX)	RHP Jake Knapp (4-3, 4.78)	RHP Austin Gordon (1-4, 4.72)
Saturday \| 1 p.m. (ACCN)	TBA	LHP Caden Grice (6-1, 3.60)

THE SERIES
North Carolina makes its first visit to Clemson since 2019 this weekend. The Tar Heels have won four straight in the series and seven of the last 10 games in the series, with six of those victories coming in Chapel Hill and the other in Charlotte. UNC is looking for its first win at Clemson since 2015. The Heels are 1-5 in their last two visits to Doug Kingsmore Stadium (1-2 2015; 0-3 2019).

MAY MAGIC
Since being swept at home by Boston College, North Carolina has won eight of its last 11 games, including seven of nine. The Tar Heels are 5-2 in May and have won three of four one-run games this month. Carolina has outscored its opponents 73-54 over the last 10 games and 41-25 in the previous five.

PLAYING WELL ON THE ROAD
The Tar Heels' nine road wins are their most wins since 2018, when they won 12 road games. North Carolina has a run differential of +28 on the road this season (108-81), having scored double-digit runs in six games. UNC has also posted seven come-from-behind victories away from Boshamer Stadium.