UNC shuts out Holy Cross in NCAA Tournament opener behind Jake Knapp gem
North Carolina never forgot how it felt to face a ninth-inning deficit in its NCAA Tournament opener last season, and the Tar Heels knew they didn’t want to experience that again.
No problems this year.
UNC, the No. 5 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, defeated Holy Cross, 4-0, on Friday at Boshamer Stadium thanks to a well-rounded outing and three-run outburst in the fourth inning.
“I would have predicted this was going to be a close game; had a feeling about it, watching them play,” Tar Heels coach Scott Forbes said. “They’re an older team, so I want to give a shout-out to Holy Cross. They have a really good team. They made us work extremely hard. At the end of the day, the story of the game was Jake Knapp, and I’m proud to be sitting up here beside him.”
Carolina’s (43-12) pitching and defense earned most of the credit in the Tar Heels’ opener after the Crusaders kept the UNC bats quiet for most of the day.
Knapp earned the start, his first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2023. In 8 1/3 innings, Knapp threw a career-high 119 pitches without allowing a run, and the win is his 13th of the season against no losses. His performance was the longest outing by a UNC pitcher in an NCAA Tournament game since Hobbs Johnson matched Knapp’s total against N.C. State in the 2013 Men’s College World Series.
Knapp wasn’t perfect — allowing the leadoff runner on base in five out of nine innings — but Knapp and his defense picked up key outs to stop any momentum.
“That’s my biggest goal going into every weekend is to try and get deep into a game and give us a chance to win,” Knapp said. “It’s been my mindset to just attack and try and let other teams put the ball in play, not necessarily chasing strikeouts or any of that; trying to get deep and have quick innings. The defense is great, and they’ve helped me all year.”
Knapp opened the game by giving up a leadoff walk to CJ Egrie, the Patriot League Player of the Year and Holy Cross’ leader in runs scored, but recorded three consecutive strikeouts to end the inning.
Holy Cross (31-26) got its lead-off hitter on base again in the second, but the Tar Heels fielded a fly ball and turned a double play to retire the side.
Holy Cross had an opportunity to score in the top of the sixth after loading the bases but did not capitalize. The Crusaders drew a seven-pitch walk, single and a 12-pitch walk. Chris Baillargeon flew out to left field but no runners advanced. Knapp escaped the jam by striking out Gianni Royer.
Crusaders second baseman Brendan Jones thought he would tag up from third, but Carolina center fielder Kane Kepley had momentum and decided to stay at third base.
“Jonesy made the right call, not going on that,” said Holy Cross head coach Ed Kahovec. “To be quite candid, I told him to go, and he didn’t. He would have been cooked. A really good decision by Jonesy, but that’s the type of trust that we put in these guys, especially with such an upper class and senior-laden team.”
UNC’s defense turned three double plays in the win. Knapp, meanwhile, allowed four hits, struck out seven and walked three batters.
“You can just focus on throwing strikes and pitch into contact,” he said on Monday. “You don’t necessarily have to strike guys out, unless there’s certain situations where you really need to strike out. That’s honestly, my goal; to have people put the ball in play. Beyond the infield, the outfield has been tremendous as well, and [Luke] Stevenson back behind the plate has been unreal. It makes pitching a lot easier.”
Walker McDuffie pitched the final two outs of the game in relief, getting a swinging strikeout to end the game.
The Tar Heels’ offense started 0 for 10 overall and 0 for 4 with a runner on base. Despite a lack of hits, Carolina batters made contact consistently in the early innings. Their first 10 outs were from balls put in play.
Third baseman Gavin Gallaher, who hit the walk-off grand slam last season against Long Island, started the mid-game scoring rally by hitting his first career triple in the fourth inning. First baseman Hunter Stokely followed things up with a single to plate Gallaher. The hit was Stokely’s first career RBI during an NCAA Tournament game.
“I’ve had a lot of close calls rounding second base, and I know myself as a runner,” Gallaher said. “I finally got one that bounced off the wall far enough away from the guy to really kick into the next gear. But, first hit of the game, get a guy in scoring position less than two outs — that’s always good to have. With this lineup, I know that if I’m in scoring position, I and got a good chance of scoring.”
The Tar Heels added to their lead with RBIs from right fielder Tyson Bass and designated hitter Sam Angelo.
In the following inning, second baseman Jackson Van De Brake led off with a double. Gallaher’s second hit of the day gave the second baseman enough time to cross home and put UNC up four runs.
Carolina finished 7 for 30 (.233) overall and 5 for 16 (.313) with runners on base. Gallaher led the Tar Heels at the plate, going 2 for 2 with two walks, two stolen bases and one RBI.
“Hitting is contagious, so when you have a guy on the mound that he’s got some good stuff like their pitcher had today, sometimes all it takes is one hit and it gets everybody else going,” Gallaher said. “I think that’s something that we’ve done really well. We’re able to capitalize on that momentum, keeping that on our side, and then taking advantage of mistakes when they give them to us.”
Danny Macchiarola started on the mound for Holy Cross and kept the Tar Heels at bay for three innings, not allowing Carolina to record a hit. Macchiarola departed in the top of the fifth. He allowed seven hits, four runs, two walks and threw one strikeout in 4.1 innings. He entered the game allowing only 1.51 earned runs in his previous eight starts.
Derek Volz came in as a reliever and shut down the Tar Heels’ scoring. Volz walked three batters and struck out another three in 3 2/3 innings. He did not allow a run.
This story was originally published May 30, 2025 at 3:18 PM.
