Heels Hit The Road For First ACC Away Weekend

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Tar Heels travel to the Bluegrass State for their first weekend road trip of the year, where they will face Louisville in Jim Patterson Stadium.

It is the program's third ever trip to Louisville since the Cardinals joined the ACC in 2015. UNC is 9-7 against them as conference foes and enters this weekend on a three game win streak after sweeping last year's matchup in Chapel Hill.

Carolina is 2-4 in games played in the shadow of Churchill Downs. Their last trip Louisville won the series with back-to-back wins in extra innings.

SCHEDULE
Game 1: Friday, Mar. 14 - 3 PM ET
Game 2: Friday, Mar. 14 - 45 min. after the end of game 1
Game 3: Sunday, Mar. 16 - 3 PM ET

No. 6 North Carolina Tar Heels (14-2, 1-2 ACC)
Head Coach: Scott Forbes
Record at North Carolina: 169-91 (Fifth Season)
Career Record: Same
Career vs. Louisville: 7-2

Louisville Cardinals (14-2, 0-0 ACC)
Head Coach: Dan McDonnell
Record at Louisville: 765-337-1 (19th Season)
Career Record: Same
Career vs. UNC: 7-10

EXTRA EXCITEMENT IN WILMINGTON
➤ Speaking of extra innings, North Carolina comes into the weekend off a tenth-inning, come from behind 7-3 victory over UNCW on Tuesday night.
➤ Two separate two-run deficits had the Tar Heels down before a trio of solo home runs tied the score.
➤ Preseason All-American Luke Stevenson had the first two, giving him his fourth career multi-homer outing and his second of the season. His latest blast was immediately followed by one from Gavin Gallaher, giving the Heels their first back-to-back home run sequence of the year.
➤ It was the second time in their young careers that the pair smashed homers in consecutive trips to the plate.
➤ The real dramatics came in the top of the tenth when captain Jackson Van De Brake stepped up with the bases loaded and two outs. He proceeded to crush a line drive to the wall in right-center to clear the bags and record the first triple of his Carolina career. He later scored on a wild pitch to give UNC all the runs it needed.

SCOUTING THE CARDINALS
➤ Louisville enters conference play with a 14-2 record and currently riding a seven game wining streak.
➤ Coach McDonnell's team made a splash opening weekend by walking off No. 7 Texas 4-3 (10) in extras and then run-ruling No. 12 Arizona 13-1 (8).
➤ The team owns the second best batting average in the country (.348), behind only UCF (.363).
➤ They have accounted for three walk-off wins and three run-rules already this season.
➤ McDonnell has been at the helm for every occasion in which the Cardinals have beaten the Tar Heels.

HISTORY MADE LAST TIME AGAINST LOUISVILLE
➤ In last season's series against the Cardinals, the Tar Heels had two separate nights to remember.
➤ The first came on Friday night, when Vance Honeycutt smashed two long balls to become North Carolina's all-time home run leader, breaking Devy Bell's record from 1987 of 57.
➤ He finished his career with 65 homers.
➤ Then on Sunday, Carolina ran out to a 16-7 win to claim their eighth Coastal Division championship. Their first since 2018.
➤ Luke Stevenson hit a pair of three-run homers and collected a career-high eight RBIs.

RETURN OF THE KNAPP
➤ The impact of the return of Jake Knapp to the Carolina starting rotation cannot be overstated.
➤ The Greensboro, N.C., native was slated to be the Friday starter for the Tar Heels going into the 2024 season before sustaining a season-ending arm injury in the preseason.
➤ "Coach Knapp," as Forbes affectionately calls him, stayed locked in with the team despite his situation, attending every practice, game, and meeting. The coaching staff credits his leadership as a key factor in their run to Omaha in 2024.
➤ 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.
➤ In just his fourth appearance since the surgery, he threw his first career complete game in a career-long 7.0 innings outing against Stanford. The veteran racked up seven strikeouts with only one walk, one run, and four hits on 111 total pitches.

KING KANE
➤ The Tar Heels' leadoff man has been everything you could want from that position this season, leading the team in OBP (.512) and making the most of it.
➤ He has started Carolina off with a base runner in eight of their games so far this year. 4 HBP, 2 1B, 1 3B, and 1 BB. He's scored on all eight occasions.
➤ He leads the team in runs scored (21, 6th ACC) and free passes (24) while sitting in a tie with Stokely and Stevenson for the most extra base hits (8).
➤ With 13-13 stolen bases (most in the ACC) through 17 of 55 games, he is on pace to have the most SBs in a season since Brian Roberts broke the record in 1998 with 63.
➤ It's the most bases stolen by a Tar Heel through 16 games since Russ Adams had 18 in 2002 and he's the only one to have that many without being caught since at least 1998.
➤ Kepley ripped his fourth triple of the year against Stanford. He is now half way to the Carolina single-season record (8, Brian Goodwin, 2010) and is one shy of being the first to hit five since 2017.

ARM TALENT
➤ Forbes' team came into the season with a highly acclaimed pitching staff that has done nothing but live up to the billing thus far.
➤ Carolina hurlers have recorded 183 strikeouts on the year, the most the program has put up 17 games into a season since at least 2010.
➤ 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.
➤ The Tar Heels' staff is 13th in the country in walks per nine (2.98) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.57), best in the ACC in both categories.
➤ Sunday starter Aidan Haugh leads the conference in batter struck out looking (14) and has been tremendous in his last three outings. 23 Ks in 16.1 IP with only five walks and five earned runs.

POTENT (P)NOTABLES
➤ Matt Matthijs is third in the country and first in the ACC in appearances with nine.
➤ Luke Stevenson leads the ACC in walks with 20 and is second in home runs with seven.
➤ Kane Kepley leads the ACC in hit by pitches with 9.
➤ Jake Knapp is one of only 41 pitchers to have thrown a complete game thus far this season.

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Players Mentioned

Gavin Gallaher

Aidan Haugh

Vance Honeycutt

Kane Kepley

Jake Knapp

Luke Stevenson

Jackson Van De Brake

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University of North Carolina Athletics