UNC baseball embracing win-now approach in transfer portal era
North Carolina baseball’s 2025 season had ended less than 24 hours earlier — the sting of postseason elimination still fresh — when the Tar Heels welcomed North Dakota State transfer Jake Schaffner to Chapel Hill.
It was Monday, June 9, and the portal wasn’t waiting.
“We were hoping that we’d have a really fun, celebratory visit [and] it didn’t quite work out that way,” North Carolina baseball general manager Carter Hicks told the N&O. “But, ultimately, that’s just how quick the portal moves … I just remember his visit, and we’re all sitting there, and I guess we faked it pretty well because he ended up coming,”
By the time No. 11 UNC opened its 2026 season Friday night at Boshamer Stadium, Schaffner was leading off and playing shortstop as one of eight newcomers in the starting lineup.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, with the game still within reach, Schaffner ripped a triple into the left-center gap, driving in two runs during a six-run frame that broke the game open. He later scored on a wild pitch, helping fuel a 9-4 season-opening win. The Tar Heels went on to sweep the series.
The relative ease of the victory was set up by an offseason of aggressive roster construction — work that started before last season had ended.
North Carolina returns 20 players from its 2025 ACC championship squad but also added a 16-man signing class that includes six Division I transfers, one junior college player and a group of freshmen.
Schaffner was one of four Tar Heels ranked among the top 50 transfers nationally by D1Baseball.com. Schaffner (No. 20) is joined by former Duke catcher Macon Winslow (No. 16), George Mason outfielder Owen Hull (No. 21) and first baseman Erik Paulsen (No. 33) in UNC’s starting lineup.
Winslow, who transferred across Tobacco Road after Duke coach Chris Pollard left for Virginia, started behind the plate Friday. Hull opened in center field. Paulsen manned first base. Former Georgia State infielder Colin Hynek added a two-run double down the left-field line during the decisive sixth inning.
Six DI Tar Heel transfers accounted for seven runs in the opener — immediate returns on an offseason overhaul engineered by Hicks, coach Scott Forbes and their staff.
“We’re not looking three years out right now,” Forbes said at UNC baseball’s media day in early February. “We’re looking at this year’s team. How can we maximize this team and then next year’s team? Who do we think, after going through the fall and most of the preseason, who do we think is back on next year’s team that has a legitimate chance to play for us?”
A big part of the process is Hicks, a 2018 UNC graduate who returned to Chapel Hill in 2022 as director of player and program development.
“When Coach Forbes hired me back, he said, ‘There’s this portal, there’s this NIL thing now and everything’s kind of changing. I need someone to help me deal with that,’” Hicks recalled.
He was promoted to general manager last August — a formal title for responsibilities he and Forbes joke Hicks was already handling.
College baseball has shifted rapidly in recent years in myriad ways. Roster limits dropped from 40 to 34 players. Revenue sharing and name, image and likeness opportunities have altered recruiting. UNC, like every program, has had to adapt.
Forbes and Hicks both support the 34-man roster limit, which they argue allows for more individualized development, but the smaller roster also requires sharper evaluation. The Tar Heels can no longer absorb as many developmental pieces, and every scholarship — and every roster spot — carries weight.
For years, baseball programs like UNC split 11.7 scholarships across large rosters. Now, Hicks said, full scholarships are more common, with revenue sharing and NIL opportunities layered on top.
“In our sport, it’s getting closer to the basketball and football model,” Hicks said. “An offer is generally assumed to be a full scholarship. And then it’s what can you do on top of it?”
Even so, North Carolina likely won’t outspend the national heavyweights at this point.
“We’re never going to be the highest bidder,” Hicks said. “If that’s what someone is looking for, this probably isn’t the place.”
Instead, the staff leans into fit and relationships — values Forbes believes still determine success.
“I don’t think you’re going to get the most out of your players if you don’t get to know every one of them individually,” Forbes said. “You just have to work harder because you’re going to have more new guys every year, and they’re going to be here less. That’s part of it.
“But I don’t think you’ll get the most out of your guys, no matter how much money is on the field, if it’s not relationship-driven.”
This story was originally published February 16, 2026 at 5:30 AM.