Diamond Heels Set To Host No. 24 Coastal Carolina

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The Tar Heels return to the Bosh following a stretch of eight wins in nine days with their biggest test of the season against newly ranked No. 24 Coastal Carolina.

Carolina comes in at No. 4 in the latest D1Baseball poll, its highest ranking since being No. 3 in week three of the 2019 season. The 12-0 start for the Heels is their best since 2013 and just the fourth time in program history they have won their opening dozen. They are one of seven remaining unbeatens in all of Division I.

UNC holds a 45-24 all-time advantage over their foes from Conway dating back to their first encounter in 1987, but Coastal actually comes into this matchup having won the last three. In last year's game, the Chanticleers took a 5-4 win thanks to a go-ahead run in the top of the ninth. The result snapped a 27 game home winning streak for Carolina.

SCHEDULE
Tuesday, March 4 - 4:00 PM
ACCNX | goHeels.com/watch

No. 5 North Carolina Tar Heels (12-0, 0-0 ACC)

Head Coach	Scott Forbes
Record at UNC	166-89 (Fifth Season)
Career Record	Same
Against Coastal	3-4

No. 24 Coatal Carolina Chanticleers (10-2, 0-0 SUN BELT)

Head Coach	Kevin Schnall
Record at Coastal	10-2 (1st Season)
Career Record	Same
Against UNC	0-0

SWEPT THE SEAWOLVES
➤ North Carolina took all three games of its final non-conference series over the weekend from the traveling Stony Brook Seawolves. UNC got big performances at the plate and on the mound to keep finish the job.
➤ On Friday in the opener, Carolina put up 16 runs for their biggest offensive outpouring of the year. 17 hits, 11 free passes, and eight extra base hits made for a runaway victory.
➤ The next two games were controlled by the Ks, as the Heels punched out 31 batters on only six walks.
➤ Carolina hurlers have recorded 132 strikeouts thus far on the year, the most the program has put up 12 games into a season since having 135 at this point in 2019.
➤ UNC put up games with 17 and 14 strikeouts back-to-back twice this week alone. The last time the team had 14+ Ks in back-to-back games twice in the same season was 2008.

STOKING THE FLAMES
➤ First baseman Hunter Stokely has come out of the gates hot to start the year and nothing was stopping him last week as he earned ACC Player of the Week honors for the first time in his career.
➤ The veteran first baseman had easily the best week of his collegiate baseball career. In six games played, the Wilson, N.C. native slashed .524/.621/1.143 while racking up 11 hits, 11 RBIs, 10 runs, and 24 total bases.
➤ It is the best batting average and on-base percentage of any six game stretch in his career.
➤ During that stretch he mashed four home runs, which was double the most he'd ever had in one week. His previous high for a full season was six in 2023.
➤ He opened his account with a long ball on Monday in the Jungle at East Carolina that tied the game. The highlight night came the next day against VCU when he recorded his first career multi-home run game and his first time hitting homers in back-to-back games since April 2023.
➤ He ends the week on an 11-game hitting streak and ranks fourth in the ACC in batting average (.444).

KING KANE
➤ The Tar Heels' leadoff has been everything you could want from that position this season, leading the team in OBP (.567) and making the most of it.
➤ He has started Carolina off with a base runner in seven of their games so far this year. 3 HBP, 2 1B, 1 3B, and 1 BB. He's scored on all seven occasions.
➤ He leads the team in runs scored (16) and free passes (19) while sitting in a tie with Stokely for most extra base hits (7).
➤ With 11 stolen bases through 12 of 55 games, he is on pace to have the most SBs in a season since Brian Roberts broke the record in 1998.
➤ It's the most bases stolen by a Tar Heel through 12 games since Vance Honeycutt had 12 in 2022.

SCOUTING THE CHANTICLEERS
➤ Coastal Carolina comes into their annual matchup with the Tar Heels with a 10-2 record.
➤ They are fresh off a weekend series sweep of Rutgers, including a 10-0 run rule in game one.
➤ In this week's D1Baseball poll, their made their season debut at No. 24. They finally broke in thanks to five straight wins with four coming against power-conference opponents.
➤ Coastal's signature win thus far came in a 10-3 upset of then No. 12 NC State in Jacksonville, Fla. Freddie Rodriguez had the big moment as his seventh inning inside-the-park home run sealed the win.
➤ Tuesday will see two of the best catchers in the sport square off, as Caden Bodine steps up to represent the Chanticleers. The junior made all four of the major preseason All-America lists alongside the Tar Heels' Luke Stevenson.
➤ Stevenson earned more first team nods (two) while Bodine came in one spot ahead in D1Baseball's position rankings.
➤ Bodine is hitting .347 with two homers, 17 hits, and 10 RBIs so far on the year. He's second only to Dean Mihos, who leads CCU with a .410 average and a .556 OBP.

LAST TIME OUT AGAINST COASTAL
➤ Carolina's matchup with Coastal last year went the way of the team from Conway 5-4.
➤ The Chanticleers jumped out to an early four-run lead with a big second inning, but two Vance Honeycutt solo shots preceded a Gavin Gallaher pinch hit RBI in the eight to tie the game.
➤ CCU took the lead back with one run in the top of the ninth, but UNC loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom half. There would no walk-off magic on that day however, as Coastal got out of the jam.
➤ The pair of long balls made Honeycutt the first player in ACC history with 50 home runs and 60 stolen bases in their career.

DREAM DEBUT
➤ On Wednesday against NC A&T, yet another true freshman entered the fray for the Heels and made an instant impact.
➤ The Peachland, N.C., product Perry Hargett made his debut as a pinch hitter in the fourth and produced three hits, four RBIs and two runs highlighted by an eighth inning, three-run blast to deep left field.
➤ Next game up and he finds himself in the starting lineup. He did not wait long to repay Forbes' faith in him, as he sent a moonshot to left in his first at-bat.
➤ The first 400 footer of the year for the Tar Heels made him the first to go yard in back-to-back at-bats this season, last done by Vance Honeycutt in last year's Super Regional wins.
➤ Hargett is also one of two Tar Heel freshmen to have homered in their collegiate debut since 2011, the other being Honeycutt on Feb. 18, 2022 (who hit two long balls that day).

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Players Mentioned

Gavin Gallaher

Perry Hargett

Vance Honeycutt

Luke Stevenson

Hunter Stokely