UNC completes historic sweep of NC State

Mike Fox has been to the College World Series six times with North Carolina.

He has led the Tar Heels to six division titles, two ACC titles and 365 conference wins in 20 years.

The longtime UNC coach had never swept N.C. State in Raleigh, though, at least not until Sunday.

Ike Freeman drove in three runs and UNC’s freshmen pitchers delivered in the clutch again for a 5-4 win over the Wolfpack on Sunday.

UNC, ranked No. 4 in the RPI, won Friday’s game 6-5 and came back Saturday with an 8-6 win. It was first series win for UNC (31-13, 18-6 ACC) in Raleigh since 2007 and first road sweep ever of the Wolfpack (31-11, 15-9).

“If I’m smart, I never come back here again,” Fox joked.

The old rivals first played in 1895 but it wasn’t until 1992 that they started staging three-game sets at one site. N.C. State had won 8 of the 12 series in Raleigh.

The Tar Heels have been the hottest team in the ACC since a loss at Florida State on March 25 left them 5-4 in the ACC.

With a seemingly endless supply of pitching, the Tar Heels have turned their season around and won 16 of 19 games, including 13 of 15 in the ACC.

“We’re playing, obviously, with a lot of confidence,” Fox said. “Now that’s the biggest thing: believing you’re going to win.”

After a dream start, N.C. State (No. 12 in the RPI) finds itself trying to handle its first ACC series loss of the season and falling out of first place in the Atlantic Division.

Clemson, which swept Virginia, now has a two-game lead in the Atlantic Division.

The Wolfpack got two home runs from senior Brock Deatherage but it left 14 runners on base and couldn’t get to UNC’s young relievers.

“The only thing we can do is just to continue to get better and learn from it,” Deatherage said.

“Maybe we needed this.”

The nature of the setbacks could give the Wolfpack some resolve. It lost by a run on Friday night and again on Sunday. UNC freshman Ben Casparius walked the bases loaded in the ninth with outs but got Stephen Pitarra to fly out to right to end the game.

“We did just enough,” Fox said. “We made just enough plays, just enough pitches.”

The Tar Heels were able to overcome nine walks and three hit batters from their pitchers. Freshman Caden O’Brien worked four innings, after starter Tyler Baum struggled, to improve to 4-0.

Casparius, who got the win in relief on Friday, didn’t give up a hit in the final two innings.

“I can’t give those kids enough credit,” Fox said of his freshmen relievers, which also included Joey Lancelloti, who closed out Friday’s win.

There was no shortage of tense moments all weekend and each side was feisty early on Sunday.

A collision at home between Michael Busch and N.C. State catcher Jack Conley emptied both benches.

“It’s N.C. State vs. UNC,” Freeman said. “I figured that would have happened Friday night.”

The umpires ruled Busch didn’t intentionally collide with Conley (which he can’t do) and he was called safe. It was one of two runs UNC scored in the first inning.

Freeman made it 3-1 in the third with a two-out RBI single. UNC was 5-1 in the fifth before Deatherage blasted a two-run shot, his second of the game, to make it 5-3.

N.C. State was able to manufacture a run in the eighth but couldn’t breakthrough in the ninth.

Wolfpack coach Elliott Avent liked that his team rallied in all three games. He just didn’t like the final result. He also realized the Tar Heels are running hot.

“If that’s the mark of the best team in the country — which it may be — then we know we have to get a little bit better,” Avent said.

This story was originally published April 29, 2018 at 4:49 PM with the headline "UNC completes historic sweep of NC State."