Heels Win Marathon, Take 5-4 Victory Over Campbell After 14 Innings

Tuesday, March 31

Chapel Hill

8 PM

North Carolina

25-4-1

Campbell

18-10

Campbell

North Carolina

Heels Win Marathon, Take 5-4 Victory Over Campbell After 14 Innings

April 1, 2026 | Baseball

Box Score

By: William Soulé

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – A four hour and forty-six-minute ,14 inning rock fight ended in a 5-4 win for Carolina baseball over the visitors Campbell in a game that started on Tuesday night and ended early Wednesday morning in Boshamer Stadium.

The No. 6 Tar Heels (25-4-1) emerged from the rubble victorious thanks to a Rom Kellis V RBI single in the bottom of the 14 after the two teams had failed to produce a run in the five previous extra innings. Campbell scored their fourth and final run in the top of the fourth and would be shutout for the final 10 frames.

Carolina needed a season-high 49 at-bats to get their fifth and final run and claim their third extra innings walk-off of the season. Seven different UNC arms combined to throw 225 pitches, both highs for the 2026 campaign.

Newly extended head coach Scott Forbes would have had to go deeper into his bullpen had it not been for the heroic effort of freshman Jackson Rose. The lefty entered in the eighth with UNC trailing by a run and absolutely shutdown the Campell attack. He would end up with a career long outing of 6.0 IP with zero runs allowed on two hits with five strikeouts. He also produced the game's only double play that ended the 13^th.

When you go 14 innings and only allow four runs, there's bound to be a couple of impressive performances on the mound. Beyond just Rose, Carolina got a combined 6.1 shutout frames with eight punchouts from Walker McDuffie, Camron Seagraves, Matthew Matthijs, and Tom Chmielewski (who got the win).

On the offensive end, Gavin Gallaher made it five straight games scoring in the opening frame for the Tar Heels with a solo shot to right center. It was his sixth of the season, still producing for his team as he battles through a slow start. A leadoff walk in the 14^th turned into the winning run.

Cooper Nicholson followed Gallaher's lead in the second with a home run of his own. The West Des Moines, Iowa, native was the star of the night at the plate for Carolina. To supplement his third home run in four games, the Heels' third baseman produced a hit arguably as clutch as Kellis' walkoff when his double off the wall in the bottom of the eighth tied the game for the first time since the second.

With their weekend series against Boston College pushed up a day, the Tar Heels will return to Boshamer Stadium in one day's time to face off with the newly ranked No. 22 Eagles. First pitch of the opener is set for Thursday night at 6 p.m.