Heels Walk Off No. 24 Coastal, 5-4

Tuesday, March 4

Chapel Hill

4 PM

North Carolina

13-0

Coastal Carolina

10-3

Coastal Carolina

North Carolina

March 4, 2025 | Baseball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: William Soule

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Jackson Van De Brake singled to start the bottom of the 11^th inning and Gavin Gallaher knocked a fly-ball to deep center to secure North Carolina's first walk-off win of the year 5-4 over No. 24 Coastal Carolina.

The Tar Heels (13-0, 0-0 ACC) went back and forth with their first ranked opponent of the season but emerged victorious once again. Head coach Scott Forbes' team continues down the programs best start to a season since 2013 when they won 16 in a row from opening day.

Carolina opened the scoring in the bottom of the first on a Tyson Bass double that brought around Gallaher. It was Bass' fifth RBI in the last two games.

Three solo homers in the fourth put Coastal in front, but true freshman Perry Hargett swung the momentum back in North Carolina's favor with a triple down the left field line to score two and tie the game back up 3-3.

In his young college career, Hargett has made a major impact over and over again. With just five appearances and four starts under his belt, he is hitting .368 with eight RBIs, four extra base hits, and six runs scored.

Some UNC small ball put a run on in the eighth. Back-to-back singles for Alex Madera and Jackson Van De Brake were paid off by a sac fly from Rom Kellis V to give UNC a one run lead. Coastal answered back however, tying the game in the ninth and sending Carolina into its first extra innings contest of the year.

Junior Cameron Padgett entered in the top of the 10^th and threw two crucial scoreless innings to keep Carolina in the contest. He was helped out by an incredible relay from Bass to Van De Brake to Luke Stevenson at home to prevent a go-ahead run from Coastal's Jake Books in the top of the 11^th.

My oh my what a relay!! We're stilling fighting!

📺 ACCNX pic.twitter.com/ydhYhwJyec
— Carolina Baseball (@DiamondHeels) March 5, 2025

The bottom of that same inning brought the celebrations for Carolina. Van De Brake lifted a single over his Coastal counterpart at second base to get things started. A key Carter French sac bunt and a wild pitch moved him into prime position on third with only one out. Back-to-back walks brought up Gallaher, who skied a ball into deep center to bring in Van De Brake and walk it off.

The Tar Heels will look to keep their momentum rolling as they begin ACC play against Stanford this weekend. Friday's game in the Bosh is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. ET with coverage on ACCNX.