Baseball Topples Tigers To Win ACC Title, 14-4

Sunday, May 25

Durham, N.C.

12 PM

North Carolina

Clemson

May 25, 2025 | Baseball

Box Score Photo Gallery

DURHAM, N.C. - The North Carolina baseball team earned its ninth ACC Tournament title on Sunday, defeating Clemson 14-4 at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The third-ranked Tar Heels defeated Boston College, Florida State, and the Tigers en route to their first tournament championships since 2022.

The Tar Heels' (42-12) offense exploded to amass the program's largest ever margin of victory in a title game. They now sit in a tie for the second most tournament championships in conference history.

Every single starter scored for Carolina as the bats erupted for 13 hits, three doubles, and three home runs (all in the same inning). 14 is the most runs UNC has scored in an ACC tournament game since 2007.

Captain Jackson Van De Brake led the way, as he did all weekend, with five RBIs on two hits including a mammoth three-run shot as part of the eight run fifth inning for the Heels. The senior has powered the Heels down the stretch, leading the team in hits (15) and RBIs (19) across their last 10 games.

But the danger came from the top to the bottom of the Carolina lineup, a recurring theme throughout their ACC tourney run.

Carolina struck first through Gavin Gallaher, who pinged a towering ball off the blue monster in left for a double that scored fellow sophomore Luke Stevenson. That started an avalanche of offense that would run unchecked, scoring 14 unanswered and putting up a crooked number in five of the first six frames. Gallaher, who had an incredible tourney at the plate, collected three hits and two doubles on Sunday afternoon to wrap the weekend with a .400 batting average.

Kane Kepley, Van De Brake, and Alex Madera picked up RBIs on a sac fly and two singles respectively to put Carolina firmly in the driver's seat up 4-0 in the third inning. All that good work came dangerously close to falling apart in the fourth as true freshman Ryan Lynch, working his first collegiate start, gave up back to back singles and walk to start the frame.

With the bases loaded and no outs in his favor, Lynched locked in to put on a pitching masterclass. Strikeout looking, strikeout swinging, and a groundout to Van De Brake at second got him out of the inning and kept the Tigers off the board. When his team needed him he stepped big, finishing his 4.0 IP of shutout work with seven strikeouts and just two hits.

"I thought the story of the game was Ryan Lynch," head coach Scott Forbes said after the game. "Going out there as a true freshman, pitching like that, and then loading the bases and not giving up one run? That's hard to do against a team like Clemson."

The fifth inning put the game out of reach for good, eight runs, three homers, and nine Tar Heels reaching safely later. Hunter Stokely had the first of the big shots, a 399 foot moonshot to right for his 13th of the year and the first postseason home run of his career. Two batters later it was Tyson Bass 377 feet to left center and four batters after that it was Van De Brake's rocket 408 feet over the blue monster in left.

Two more runs in the sixth made it 14-0 Carolina before Clemson scratched back a few consolation runs. Catcher Luke Stevenson was named the tournament's MVP and was joined on the All-Tournament team by Jake Knapp and Van De Brake.