Scott Forbes pinpoints where UNC's confidence at the plate comes from

North Carolina led by 11 runs entering the fifth inning against Louisville on Saturday as the Tar Heels look to complete the series sweep in front of the home fans.

The big lead was accumulated in the second inning where four different UNC bats found a way to score at least one run before the end of the inning. Tar Heels head coach Scott Forbes revealed where his team’s confidence at the plate comes from.

“Obviously, you want to be good. You should be great when you’re playing at home because you have the advantage of sleeping in your own bed. But I really think the confidence came when we went to Wake [Forest], won that series and it’s just carried over. And we just happen to play a lot of home games.”

UNC’s series against Wake Forest came in late March. Since then, the Tar Heels have strung together a 19-7 record over that time and have scored 10 or more runs in 11 of those games — including twice against the Demon Deacons.

North Carolina’s second inning scoring onslaught began with a three-run home run from Luke Stevenson with no outs in the second inning. Colby Wilkerson reached base after that before Vance Honeycutt did what he does best — hit home runs. Now leading 5-0, Gavin Gallaher added to the fun with a two-RBI singe as well. UNC was in the driver’s seat when the top of the order returned as Stevenson added another RBI on a single to center field.

Stevenson finished the inning 2-2 with four RBIs to help to Tar Heels take an eight-run lead early on in Sunday’s matchup.

After a quiet third inning, Casey Cook stepped up to the plate in the fourth with two runners on base and launched a no-doubter to right field to push the lead to 11 runs before the end of the inning.

Louisville jumped came rallying back in the fifth inning, scoring six runs and cutting the lead to just five runs after the lead appeared to be insurmountable just half an inning before. You can catch the exciting finish live on the ACC Network.

After this series wraps up, North Carolina will move on to play a mid-week road matchup against UNC Wilmington on Tuesday. They’ll wrap up the regular season with a series down the road at Duke from Thursday through Sunday ahead of the 2024 ACC Tournament.