Was there ever a doubt?!
The UNC baseball program put together a dominant performance on Sunday afternoon en route to their 9th ACC Tournament title.
Coming into the game, pitching seemed to be the main concern for North Carolina. In their dogfight battle against Florida State, Scott Forbes used both Jason DeCaro and Aidan Haugh, two of his three weekend starters, leaving a question as to who would get the ball to start the championship game for the guys in Carolina Blue.
Freshman Ryan Lynch drew the assignment, and man was he ready for the spotlight in his first collegiate start!
Lynch gave the Tar Heels exactly what they needed: four scoreless innings of work. Even when facing adversity, such as the bases loaded, nobody out jam he worked himself into in the top half of the fourth inning, Lynch showed composure, finding a way to make it through the inning unscathed.
While Lynch was dealing on the mound, the Tar Heels offense was putting together an offensive display!
In the bottom of the first, Gavin Gallaher roped an RBI double off the left field wall, scoring Luke Stevenson (who reached on an error the previous play) opening up the score. A Kane Kepley sacrifice fly and a Jackson Van De Brake RBI single added two more runs for North Carolina, while Alex Madera would add an RBI single of his own the following inning.
The real fun began in the bottom of the fifth, as the UNC baseball program scored eight runs and clobbered three home runs over the 30-minute half inning.
Hunter Stokley got the home run derby underway with a two-run blast to left, and Tyson Bass followed it up a few batters later with a towering blast to left center field. Van De Brake, who has had an outstanding week in Durham, capped the inning off with a three-run homer that powered over the towering wall in left field.
The UNC baseball program went into this week's tournament action as a likely host for an NCAA Tournament region. All they did was confirm that and more, picking up a few victories over two very good teams in Florida State and Clemson.
Oh yeah, and an ACC Tournament title to add to the resume!
Now, we await the decision of the NCAA Tournament committee to see how the field shapes up. While there will be more baseball played at Boshamer Stadium this season, we'll have to wait and see if the Tar Heels resume is enough to get them a national seed (allowing them to host a Super Regional if they advance to that point).
In case there's any doubt, the UNC baseball program is arguably the best overall team in the country, and their latest efforts in Durham all but solidify