A banner along the concourse welcomes North Carolina baseball fans.

The interlocking NC logo is painted in Carolina blue and outlined in white on the grass behind home plate.

As best it can, the UNC baseball team has made the year-old facility its home, and the Tar Heels have found it to be a nice fit. Halfway through its season-long stay in Cary, UNC is 14-4 at home (25-6 overall).

“I love it out here,” Carolina coach Mike Fox said after his team’s 7-0 win over Appalachian State on April 2. “I really do. Everybody’s been so nice and accommodating. I think we’re getting more and more used to the ballpark and it feels like it’s home for us. I couldn’t be happier.”

But things didn’t start off so hot.

UNC lost two of its first three home games, including an 8-6 defeat in 10 innings to Old Dominion in the Feb. 26 home opener. Two weeks later, they suffered an 11-4 loss to Coastal Carolina.

No one blamed the new surroundings for those results, though. In those two games, the Tar Heels allowed a combined 15 unearned runs on seven errors.

“We just didn’t play well,” Fox said. “We kicked the ball around. You can’t fret over it. It’s a long marathon in college baseball.”

The Tar Heels responded from the loss to Coastal by winning their next nine home games in a row and 13 of the next 15.

The reasons for Carolina’s success are to be shared by both the pitching staff and the offense.

The facility seems to have emerged as a pitcher’s park. The staff ERA is more than one run lower at home than on the road, and the Tar Heels score nearly two runs less per game at home than on the road. UNC pitchers have a combined ERA of 1.80 in Cary. Of the eight pitchers who have logged at least 10 innings so far, six have an ERA under 1.85.

Fox couldn’t say for sure if the park favors pitchers, but he believes it’s important that his pitchers think it does.

“Our pitchers think it is, and that’s what I care about,” he said. “I don’t want anybody to tell them. I think it got in our pitchers’ heads early in the fall, ‘Oh gosh. This place is huge.’ I think it’s a mental thing. Whatever’s working, it’s fine with me.”

Freshman right hander Matt Harvey is among the pitchers who have thrived in Cary. In seven appearances, Harvey is 3-2, with a 1.85 ERA, and opponents are hitting .211 against him. He leads the team in innings pitched at home (24.1) and strikeouts (31).

“It’s a pretty big park and it takes a lot to get the ball traveling here,” Harvey said. “I’ve just been trying to throw strikes and get ground balls, and there’s a good squad behind me.”

Patrick Johnson, also a freshman right hander, has also fared well at the USA Baseball Complex. He is 3-0 with a 1.31 ERA, 27 strikeouts and eight walks in five appearances.

The pitchers aren’t exactly struggling on the road, either. Away from Cary, Carolina has an ERA of 3.38 and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 3:1. The Tar Heels have a record of 8-2 on the road.

Offensively, UNC has outscored its opponents 121-55. As was the case during the fall season, Carolina isn’t hitting a lot of home runs this spring. They’ve hit just 10 in Cary, versus 20 on the road. Opponents are also finding the longball hard to come by in Cary; they’ve hit only five home runs.

“This is certainly a deep field, especially in the gaps and in center field,” sophomore outfielder Tim Fedroff said. “It plays big. We’ve hit some balls good here that don’t get out and we’ve hit some that do get out. On the road, maybe we’re catching a few more breaks. I don’t know what it is.”

Fedroff has gotten the most comfortable in the temporary home. He leads the team in batting average (.480), at-bats (75), runs (26), hits (36), home runs (four), slugging (.747) and on-base percentage (.512).

“I just like hitting in Cary I guess,” Fedroff said. “I don’t know what it is. I definitely feel more comfortable. I just seem to find the holes here more than on the road.”

By no means is Fedroff struggling on the road, though. He’s hitting .340, with three home runs and 11 RBIs away from Cary.

Conversely, first baseman Dustin Ackley has struggled in Carolina’s new surroundings but has thrived away from them. At home, he’s hitting .282, with 20 hits in 71 at-bats, one home run, eight RBIs and 21 runs scored.

On the road, he’s batting a staggering .476, with 20 hits in 42 at-bats, four home runs, 13 RBIs and 20 runs scored.

“I’m not sure exactly what it is,” Ackley said. “There’s no difference here than on the road, except this is a big park. I think maybe I’m trying to do too much. I’m just trying to hit balls hard here and I’m not having success.”

Carolina has played before modest crowds throughout the season. They average about 700 fans per game. Their highest attendance to date was the 2,531 who turned out for the March 28 game against N.C. State.

The Tar Heels have 12 home games remaining during the regular season, and they could host games during the NCAA tournament, depending on how the next two months play out.

While they might have been leery about spending a year away from Boshamer Stadium, their on-campus home that is in the midst of a $25 million renovation, their temporary home has proven more than suitable.

“I don’t really mind it,” Harvey said. “I haven’t had the luxury of playing at the Bosh yet, but coming out here and playing at a beautiful park is awesome. … It’ll be nice to have the Bosh, but this is nice, too.”