The North Carolina Tar Heels baseball program capped off a dominant week with a three-game sweep of Le Moyne.
The sweep marks the first time the Diamond Heels have won three straight in the series. UNC is 11-1-1, with seven of those 11 wins coming via running rules. The series is the Tar Heels’ final non-league weekend of the 2026 regular season.
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North Carolina beat the Dolphins 49-6 with 35 hits, 15 extra-base hits and seven home runs. First baseman Erik Paulsen went 6-for-10 with six RBIs and his fifth home run of the season, while outfielder Cooper Nicholson hit two home runs.
Here’s a recap of each game.
Game 1 – UNC 16, LeMoyne 3 (7 innings)
A disciplined and deep lineup helped North Carolina hold off visiting LeMoyne by a score of 16-3 on Friday.
The Tar Heels combined patience with pop, walking a season-high 10 but striking out just five. They scored five runs in the first inning, sparked by Nicholson’s two-out bases clearing run to right-center.
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Gavin Gallaher hit a two-run homer in the second inning and ended his night with a home run and three runs batted in. Colin Hynek jumped off the wall to third base in the fourth and reached safely in all five games, tallying three hits, a double and three walks.
The fifth of seven turned the game into a rout, capped by Nicholson’s two-point shot to left. Four Tar Heels made their college debuts, including pitchers Jake Kakowicz and Riley Leatherman, who each pitched an inning and combined for three strikeouts while allowing just one baserunner.
Jason DeCaro (3-0) earned the win, allowing three runs (ERA) on nine hits, striking out five.
Game 2 – UNC 12, LeMoyne 2 (7 innings)
Preseason All-American Ryan Lynch worked seven innings to help North Carolina earn its first win of the season, 12-1, over Le Moyne on Saturday.
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Lynch went six innings, striking out six and allowing one run, before veteran right-hander Matthew Mathis ended the game with a strikeout in the seventh.
Carolina’s offense started slower than it did in Friday’s opener, with the Dolphins getting a first down. But seven runs were scored in the fourth inning to pull away. RBI singles by Nicholson, Perry Hargett and Ben Schaffner gave the Tar Heels the lead before Anthony Paulson hit a three-run homer to right center to take an 8-1 lead, UNC’s highest single-inning score of the season.
Schaffner hit a solo homer down the right field line in the sixth inning, his second of the year. Macon Winslow’s RBI single and Paulsen’s wild pitch pushed the lead to 12-1, capping the game with a run-rule run.
Game 3 – UNC 21, LeMoyne 1 (7 innings)
The Tar Heels closed out a historic weekend with a 21-1 run win in seven innings on Sunday. The 20-point lead was their largest since a 20-0 victory over Virginia Tech in 2017, and the 21-point lead was their largest in a single game since 2021.
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UNC immediately took control of the game with nine runs in the first inning, its highest scoring inning of the season. Heinicke opened the floodgates with a bases-clearing double, followed by a two-run homer by Nicholson and a three-run double by Paulson.
The Tar Heels scored three more runs in the third inning and then Heinicke added two runs in the fourth. Nunez will be remembered for his first career grand slam: a laser slam to left in the sixth inning that was UNC’s first pinch-hit grand slam since 2008.
Right-hander Folger Boas earned the win, allowing one run on five hits and striking out six in five innings, before Tom Hemiewski and Kyle Percival ended the game with scoreless innings, with Hemiewski striking out three.
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This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: UNC Baseball: Tar Heels sweep LeMoyne
