Not one, but two victories on Opening Day to begin the 2025 season for the UNC baseball program.
It was a great day for the Diamond Heels at Boshamer Stadium as the new-look Tar Heels showed fans why expectations are so high for this team for the upcoming season.
While new faces made their first impression, some returners had big days as well. Right-hander Jason DeCaro was outstanding on the mound, pitching five scoreless innings in Game 1 to set the tone for a 5-1 win for the good guys.
Texas Tech didn't get a hit off DeCaro until two outs in the fifth inning, as the sophomore was removed from the game due to pitch count reasons. Deeper into the season, you can expect to see DeCaro go deeper into the game, especially with how efficient and effective he was in his first start of his sophomore season.
North Carolina's offense got going right away, scoring each of their five runs over the first four innings of play. Transfer Sam Angelo got the party going with his first hit as a Tar Heel, an RBI single that drove in Rom Kellis to get the Diamond Heels on the board.
The Tar Heels added two runs in the second inning and had a pair of one-score innings to follow to give DeCaro a five-run lead to work with.
With the way he was throwing the baseball, the lead seemed like a very comfortable one.
After not pitching for 682 days, right-hander Jake Knapp made his return to the mound. One of the team captains for North Carolina, Knapp put together three strong innings of work, as it was great to see him back on the mound.
During Knapp's outing, newcomer Kane Kepley made an insane catch at the wall, one that reminded Diamond Heels fans of another talented center fielder who recently played the position for the UNC baseball program.
Fire us up Kane this is insane 🤯
— Carolina Baseball (@DiamondHeels) February 14, 2025
Something about a UNC center fielder... pic.twitter.com/9OnfO9k5Vo
Familiar face Matthew Matthijs came in to close things out in the ninth, securing the first win of the doubleheader.
Similar to Game 1, North Carolina wasted no time getting on the board in Game 2. as a Tyson Bass RBI single in the bottom half of the first inning drove in Kepley for the game's first run.
While Texas Tech's offense got going a bit in the early innings, the Diamond Heels scored five runs combined in the fourth and fifth innings to take the lead for good.
Aidan Haugh got the start, allowing one run over three innings of work. The right-hander worked in and out of trouble, as his high pitch count had Scott Forbes turn to the bullpen probably earlier than the Tar Heels expected.
After Kyle Percival threw 1.1 innings of work, true freshman Walker McDuffie was called upon out of the pen. The right-hander struck out five batters over 3.2 innings of work, showcasing why the Diamond Heels are so high on him heading into his first season on campus.
We saw another return to the mound as well as Folger Boaz struck out the side in his first appearance since missing most of the 2024 season due to the injury.
Friday was simply a glimpse of what we can expect from this year's UNC baseball team, a group that hopes to replicate the success of last year's squad. While Omaha is still a long ways off, everything that leads up to it plays a role in getting there, as North Carolina looks to tack on more series wins moving forward.
With inclement weather expected in the Chapel Hill area, the final game of the three-game series has been moved up to a 12:00 PM start time on Saturday afternoon.