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Has there ever been a journey like Jake Knapp’s?
Carolina baseball is one of those seasonal sports in Chapel Hill, with a loyal fan base that fills about half of Boshamer Stadium for most regular season games. When it is Duke, N.C. State or one of the other ACC contenders, the crowd gets bigger.
But there is nothing like what happens this weekend when the Tar Heels host the NCAA tournament regional for the second straight year. It’s a good bet that hundreds of people clamoring for tickets will be attending their first Carolina game of the spring.
And those may not know much about the Tar Heels “super senior” starting pitcher against Holy Cross today at noon. Jake Knapp has reached 24 years of age after his winding – and frankly, unbelievable – road to taking the ball against the Crusaders.
Knapp played at Page High School in Greensboro but wasn’t good enough to get a scholarship and enrolled as a walk-on at UNC-Wilmington, where getting cut and spending the next two years at Walters State Junior College in Tennessee did enough to attract interest from the Tar Heels.
His second season in Chapel Hill was wiped out by an injury that required Tommy John surgery. Now he takes the mound as the ACC Pitcher of the Year after going 12-0, leading the conference in ERA (2.14 for the seventh lowest in the country), opposing batting average, innings pitched and victories.
When he hurls the first pitch to his All-ACC battery mate Luke Stevenson, Knapp may still have to pinch himself as he gets a huge ovation from the sellout, standing-room-only crowd.
Page High School is not known for its baseball, and Knapp is the ace of the top-ranked college team in the country. “It was tough trying to just find a path to play college baseball,” he told WFMY in Greensboro. “Going into the second year at Walters, my mindset changed to being better and I attacked things.”
He is one of seven Tar Heels to make the All-ACC team, so his emergence may be the story of the year in college baseball. He never gave up when he underwent surgery and stayed determined to reach his goal with the support of Scott Forbes and his coaching and training staff.
“That’s one of the biggest reasons that I love Carolina so much,” Knapp added. “I told them in preseason if I get hurt again, I’m at peace with it. I’ve done all I can do. Once we get into conference play, I just want to leave it all out there.”
Turns out he hadn’t done all he can do and has another chance to leave it all out there as his amazing journey continues to help the Tar Heels get back to the College World Series.
chapelboroaudio.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/2025/05%20-%20May/30/Art%27s%20Notebook%20053025%20-%20FINAL.mp3Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
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