North Carolina’s offense got going early, as a three-run home run off the bat of freshman Luke Stevenson got the Diamond Heels on the board. A Vance Honeycutt 447-foot blast, a Gavin Gallaher two-run single followed by another Stevenson RBI put the Tar Heels up 8-0 after two innings of action.
It looked like North Carolina was on the verge of mercy ruling the visiting Cardinals, as Casey Cook blasted a three-run homer of his own to put the Diamond Heels up 11-0. However, Lousiville would crawl back into the game as they scored six runs of their own in the fifth inning.
Fortunately, the Tar Heels’ offense wasn’t done, as Stevenson hit another three-run homer en route to his eight RBI performance, as North Carolina scored 16 runs in the ACC Coastal Division title clinching victory.
For the first time since 2018, the Diamond Heels have secured the ACC Coastal Division regular season title, as they can secure the No. 1 overall seed in the upcoming ACC Tournament with one win over rival Duke next weekend or a loss by Clemson.
It’s officially time to wrap up the recruiting cycle for the Class of 2024, as 247Sports has released its final individual rankings for this talented graduating class.
Along with the individual rankings comes the final team rankings, as Hubert Davis and the UNC basketball program have secured a top-10 spot.
“It is a modest class in volume for North Carolina, but the quality of the Tar Heels’ individual signees goes toe-to-toe with any haul in the 2024 cycle. Only seven schools have a higher average player rating, and that is in large part due to two-thirds of UNC’s class holding five-star status. Shooting guard Ian Jackson is the nation’s No. 8 overall prospect, and small forward Drake Powell checks in just behind him at No. 11. The former already embraced the rivalry with Duke ahead of his freshman season.”
North Carolina reeled in two five-star recruits: Ian Jackson (No. 8 overall in the class) and Drake Powell (No. 11 overall). The recruiting class is finished off by four-star big man James Brown.
