Carolina Splits Friday Doubleheader With Louisville

Friday, March 14

Louisville, Ky.

3 PM

North Carolina

15-3, 1-3

Louisville

15-2, 1-0

North Carolina

Louisville

March 15, 2025 | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: William Soule

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – North Carolina baseball shared the spoils in Friday's ACC doubleheader with Louisville, with the Cardinals taking game one 8-7 and the Tar Heels battling back for a 6-4 win in game two.

The Tar Heels (16-3, 2-3 ACC) held a four-run lead in the first contest before the eventual one-run defeat. In the night game, the Heels showed great resolve to get up off the mat and get the win to set up a rubber match on Sunday.

Game 1 – North Carolina 7, Louisville 8
The offense for Carolina needed some time to ramp up as the Louisville starter Patrick Forbes and his 98 mph fastball had good command early. The fourth inning brought a different story though, as three straight walks to open loaded the bases with no outs for Carolina. All three would score, two off a Hunter Stokely grounder that led to a Cardinal error with one more added by an Alex Madera single.

The bats stayed hot going into the next frame, as the Tar Heels added four more runs in the top of the fifth. True freshman Sawyer Black, in his first collegiate start, leadoff the inning with a solo home run to left. He joins Perry Hargett amongst the list of Carolina players to homer in their first start this season.

Stokely added a home run of his own with two-outs, bringing in Luke Stevenson on a drive to deep center. Jackson Van De Brake followed with a double down the left field line and he came around on yet another Madera single.

The bottom of that same inning proved costly though, as Louisville put up five to retake an 8-7 lead they would not surrender. Cardinals third baseman Jake Munroe's grand slam was the decisive play.

Game 2 – North Carolina 6, Louisville 4
Getting back up off the mat immediately, Kane Kepley led off the second game with a triple off the wall in right center. It is his fifth of the year.

A Stevenson grounder brought in Kepley before Gavin Gallaher got what would be a hot game for him started with a single through the left side. Then the next bomb went off, as Stokely launched his second home run of the day that hopped off the top of the right field fence on its way out.

The veteran first baseman brought himself back level for the most home runs on the team on Friday, now accounting for seven this season. His previous high in a singular campaign was six in 2023, remarkably surpassing that mark just 19 games into this year.

The three runs in the first were supported by two more in the sixth as Gallaher sent a fly ball over the fence in left, scoring himself and Kepley. The two of them combining for five hits and five runs with Kepley adding two walks and three stolen bases. They also brought in the sixth and final Carolina run in the eighth.

However, the real MVP of the second game was captain Jake Knapp. The veteran right-hander went 7.0 innings only allowing three runs (one earned) while racking up eight strikeouts to just two walks.

The win moved him to 3-0 on the season. In all three of those wins, he has set new career highs and breaking those old benchmarks multiple times. Coming into this season, he held highs of 6.0 innings pitched and six strikeouts for a single game outing. He has thrown 7.0 innings in his last two appearances while record seven or more strikeouts in his last three.

His longevity in this contest was even more crucial because Carolina had to use six of its arms in the first game and would have been in a tight spot had they needed to go to the bullpen early. Knapp's consistency alongside a two-hit performance from Ryan Lynch meant that head coach Scott Fobes could save some more of his arsenal for Sunday's rubber match.

The Tar Heels will have the day off on Saturday with game two of the series being played on Friday due to an unfavorable weather forecast. Sunday's game will start as scheduled at 3 p.m. ET with Carolina appearing on linear TV for the first time this season on ACC Network.