No. 5 overall seed UNC baseball moves to NCAA Super Regional with win over ECU

Before Tar Heel first baseman Erik Paulsen Jr.’s father died on the morning of July 4, 2025, he told his son, “I cannot wait to see you in those baby blues.”

Erik Sr. saw Erik Jr. transfer to North Carolina from Stony Brook last summer, yet didn’t live to see his son play for UNC. But Erik Jr. always feels his dad’s presence with him, as detailed in Ryan McGee’s moving ESPN feature.

That was no different this weekend, which saw Erik Paulsen Jr. earn the Chapel Hill Regional Most Outstanding Player honors after No. 5 overall seed North Carolina defeated ECU, 9-3, on Sunday to advance to NCAA Super Regionals. The Tar Heels went 3-0 against the field this weekend — their first regional sweep since 2019 — and will move on to their 13th Super Regional in program history.

“I know he’d be very proud of me,” Paulsen said of his late father on Friday. “I was very fortunate that he was able to see that I committed here. He came down on my visit, and met Coach Forbes and all the coaches, so I was really grateful for that. He knew I was in good hands.”

UNC faced one of the toughest regionals in this year’s NCAA Tournament — what coach Scott Forbes considered “the toughest regional on paper.” This weekend, North Carolina hosted a Tennessee team that won a national title two seasons ago, as well as VCU and ECU squads fresh off conference tournament championships.

Despite the competition, Paulsen was confident his team would come out on top.

“Yeah, we knew it was the region of death for everybody else,” the UNC junior said Sunday. “If we play our game of baseball, and play our best, nobody can beat us.”

Paulsen certainly played his best. His two RBI single in the bottom of the second inning marked his fifth and sixth runs batted in on the weekend. In the field, the first baseman recorded 29 putouts over three games.

But the moment that hit him the most, at least emotionally, was his double in the bottom of the eighth inning on Sunday.

“Then I went back out there in the top of the ninth, just looking around Boshamer Stadium and seeing how packed it was,” Paulsen said Sunday, “and wishing my dad was in the stands.”

“While I was taking all that in a pop-up got hit to me,” Paulsen added with a laugh.

It was a reminder, perhaps, of the work that remains for Paulsen and the rest of the Tar Heels.

This is the third straight Super Regional — and fourth in five years — for North Carolina under Forbes. UNC advanced to the College World Series in 2024 thanks to a sweep of West Virginia. Last year, UNC lost to Arizona in the Super Regional and, this past offseason, underwent significant roster turnover.

This year’s Tar Heel offense heavily features new faces, with North Carolina replacing 76.3% of its scoring from 2025. At least seven of UNC’s starting batters this weekend didn’t wear the baby blue a year ago — the majority playing at other Division I programs, or in high school (like freshman Tyler Howe) or at a JUCO (like Cooper Nicholson).

That slate of newcomers includes Paulsen, a sought-after transfer who hit .358 as a sophomore at Stony Brook. Paulsen planned visits at programs throughout the Southeast last summer as he pondered his next move. He cancelled them all once his family stepped foot in Chapel Hill.

“It was a tremendous visit,” Forbes recalled Sunday. “As soon as they walked on the field, (his dad) was just like, ‘Man, this place is awesome.’”

“He committed pretty quick,” Forbes later added, “And I think his dad had a big part of that, and told him that this is probably where he needs to be, and what is he waiting on? I can hear him saying that.”

Paulsen and the rest of the Tar Heel batters didn’t wait to get going on Sunday either — scoring eight runs in the first three innings.

“We just couldn’t get off the field in those first three innings,” ECU baseball coach Cliff Godwin said Sunday after his team’s season-ending loss. “We made a couple errors — to me, freebies — and North Carolina made us pay for it.”

With the bases loaded in the bottom of the first, North Carolina third baseman Cooper Nicholson reached on a fielding error by ECU shortstop Nick Parham, scoring UNC second baseman Gavin Gallaher. Tar Heel right fielder Tyler Howe followed that up with a single up the middle to score center fielder Owen Hull and put North Carolina up 2-0.

UNC quickly loaded the bases again in the second inning and scored when Hull was hit by a pitch, setting the table for Paulsen’s RBI single that put North Carolina ahead 5-0.

ECU leadoff batter Grady Lenahan finally got the Pirates on the board with a solo home run in the top of the third, but UNC answered right back. Hull stayed hot in the bottom of the third, singling up the middle to score two. A sacrifice fly to deep center field by UNC designated hitter Macon Winslow added another run and gave the Tar Heels an 8-1 lead.

East Carolina added on two runs in the top of the fifth inning before North Carolina scored again thanks to a Jake Schaffner RBI double in the bottom of the seventh to make the final score 9-3.

UNC’s Sunday starter, junior left-handed pitcher Folger Boaz, was after pitching 3.1 innings and allowing one run. But it was the freshman, Tar Heel lefty pitcher Jackson Rose, who was charged with the win. He posted a 2.55 ERA in four innings pitched.

“Rosie was outstanding,” Forbes said. “(The pitchers) just pick each other up. And, as far as the debate, we just feel like Folger is better when he starts, and Rosie’s starting to get used to coming out of the bullpen and look really good.”

And when Rose wasn’t striking batters out — he recorded four on Sunday — the freshman was inducing weak contact from opposing batters. That included the pop fly that jolted Paulsen in the ninth inning, and then soon after, a groundout that Nicholson threw to Paulsen for the final out of the inning.

Paulsen’s father wasn’t there to see the final out, or all of his son’s hits in Chapel Hill this weekend, or the jubilant celebrations with his teammates on the field and later with the rock music blasting in the locker room. But Paulsen is still sharing this moment with him — he wears his father’s NYPD shield each game in a chain around his neck — and the rest of his family.

“My mom was up in the stands,” Paulsen said Sunday. “She’s the strongest woman I know. I was really happy to see her smile and I can’t see her when I get out of here.”

This story was originally published May 31, 2026 at 8:03 PM.