Baseball Downed by No. 15 North Carolina as Tar Heels Pull Away Late

Tuesday, March 10

Chapel Hill, N.C.

3 p.m.

Bucknell University

4-10

North Carolina

14-3-1

Bucknell

North Carolina

Photo by: Alisa Mitchell

Baseball Downed by No. 15 North Carolina as Tar Heels Pull Away Late

3/10/2026 6:29:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – No. 15 North Carolina broke open a tight game with an eight-run seventh inning and defeated Bucknell 13-3 on Tuesday at Boshamer Stadium. Ty Lagoni and Zach Selfon delivered game-tying hits earlier in the game, but it slipped away late after some bouts of wildness on the mound.

A big positive takeaway for the Bison was the return of Jake Schultz after more than a year away due to an arm injury. Schultz, who was a weekend starter as a freshman in 2024 but made only two appearances last season, touched 93 mph with his fastball in the first inning. He walked the leadoff batter on a close 3-2 pitch just off the corner, then induced a double-play ground ball. He did allow a long two-run homer to Macon Winslow later in the inning, but all in all it was a successful return for the junior righthander.

The Bison got those two runs back in the top of the third when Andrew Swenson led off with a walk and Billy Fluharty followed with a single. Michael Trommer advanced the runners with a ground ball to the right side, and then Lagoni jumped on a hanger from Jake Cackovic and ripped a line drive down the line in left. Lagoni was out on a close play trying to stretch it into a double, and the call was upheld on replay review.

We're all tied up in Chapel Hill, as Ty Lagoni drives in two with a solid knock to left. He was thrown out on a close play at 2nd, and it held up on replay review, but it's 2-2 heading to the bottom of the 3rd. #rayBucknell @ESPN | @PatriotLeague pic.twitter.com/AsdWeviMaj
— Bucknell Baseball ⚾️ (@Bucknell_BB) March 10, 2026

Colin Hynek's sacrifice fly gave the Tar Heels the lead back in the bottom half of the inning, but the Bison drew level once again in the fifth. Fluharty was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, and Lagoni walked with one out. After a long fly out from Michael Chiaravallo moved Fluharty to third, Selfon delivered a two-out, two-strike base hit off Preseason All-America reliever Walker McDuffie.

We're tied again, as Zach Selfon comes through with a 2-out, 2-strike RBI single off Preseason All-America reliever McDuffie. It's 3-3 as Tyler Hawkins comes out of the pen in the bottom of the 5th. #rayBucknell @ESPN | @PatriotLeague pic.twitter.com/px0y1HkJIf
— Bucknell Baseball ⚾️ (@Bucknell_BB) March 10, 2026

The first four Tar Heels reached against Tyler Hawkins in the bottom of the fifth, with a bases-loaded walk to Hynek plating the go-ahead run. Liam Jones did well to limit the damage coming in with the bags full and no outs. He allowed one more run on a ground out and then escaped the jam with a double play grounder, with the final out awarded on an illegal slide at second base.

Ryan DeLaney worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the sixth to keep it a 5-3 game, but it got away from the Bison in the seventh as North Carolina plated eight runs on only three hits. Bucknell pitchers conceded runs with the bases loaded on three walks, a hit batsman and a wild pitch. Back-to-back seeing-eye singles by Owen Hull and Hynek made it 13-3 and invoked the 10-run rule.

Bucknell finished with three runs on five hits, while the Tar Heels scored 13 runs on only nine hits, but they drew 12 walks. Freshmen Tyler Seidman and Jones both had scoreless outings as the Bison used eight different pitchers in the mid-week tussle. McDuffie (3-1) earned the win with three innings of relief, allowing just one hit while striking out four.

Both teams will now head into conference series this weekend. North Carolina (14-3-1) travels across the country to face California, while the Bison return home to start Patriot League play against Lafayette. The series starts on Friday at 3 p.m. at Depew Field, with coverage on ESPN+.