Diamond Heels Take Game One Over BC, 5-1

Friday, March 21

Brighton, Mass.

3 PM

North Carolina

17-5, 3-4

Boston College

9-10, 2-5

North Carolina

Boston College

March 21, 2025 | Baseball

Box Score

By: William Soule

BRIGHTON, Mass. – Captain Jake Knapp's spectacular outing powered North Carolina baseball to a Friday afternoon 5-1 victory over Boston College.

The Tar Heels (17-5, 3-4 ACC) picked up the much-needed win to take the lead in the weekend series against the Eagles. It's the first time the team has won game one in conference play this season, putting them in a good position to chase their first ACC series victory.

Carolina head coach Scott Forbes made the decision to move Knapp into the Friday starter role after the senior put together three straight high-quality starts, picking up the win in all three with a total of five runs (three earned) given up.

Knapp paid off the trust with another gem in this one. 6.2 innings pitched with only two hits, one run, and one walk will get the job done on just about any day. He registered five strikeouts and moved his record to 4-0 on the season. His ERA is down to 1.99 on the season, the lowest its ever been with this many innings under his belt.

Regular closers Matthew Matthijs and Walker McDuffie combined to finish the game, allowing just one hit and no runs with three punchouts between them.

The offensive support on Friday was highlighted by a pair of home runs, the first to open Sam Angelo's tab as a Tar Heel and the second to put Hunter Stokely back in the team home run lead.

With the game scoreless and down to two outs in the top of the fifth, Angelo sent a moon shot to straightaway center field to break the deadlock and put the Heels in the driver's seat. It is the Montclair State transfers' first home run in a Carolina uniform after he hit 35 of them for the Red Hawks.

Then, in the eighth inning, Stokely took a hanging curve on a 424 foot right over the right field fence for a two-run blast that put the game away for the Tar Heels. It gave the senior first baseman his eighth home run of the season, breaking his tie with Luke Stevenson for the most on the team.

Sandwiched in between the two long balls were some important insurance runs delivered off the bat of Jackson Van De Brake and Sawyer Black. A seventh double on the year for the captain Van De Brake, this one down the right field line, scored Bass from second. The next at-bat, battling with a full count, the freshman Black singled to bring in Van De Brake.

The Tar Heels will look to secure the series against Boston College tomorrow at 2 p.m. ET. The game will once again be streamed on ACCNX.