{"id":260364,"date":"2026-06-09T10:28:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T10:28:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/260364\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T10:28:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T10:28:24","slug":"unc-baseball-diamond-heels-add-former-queens-pitcher-joey-ruller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/260364\/","title":{"rendered":"UNC Baseball: Diamond Heels add former Queens pitcher Joey Ruller"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>June 8, 2026, 11:06 a.m. ET<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Just hours after <a href=\"http:\/\/tarheelswire.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/college\/tarheels\/baseball\/2026\/06\/07\/unc-baseball-ncaa-tournament-chapel-hill-super-regional-five-takeaways\/90451323007\/\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Owen Hull\u2019s walk-off RBI double<\/a> sent <a href=\"\/\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">North Carolina<\/a> back to the College World Series for the 13th time, the Tar Heels learned they had added another piece for next season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Former Queens pitcher Joey Ruller, a Charlotte native, announced his commitment to UNC on social media. He becomes the Tar Heels\u2019 second addition from the transfer portal, joining former William &amp; Mary shortstop Jamie Lskofski.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">This season, Ruller went 5-8 with a 4.47 ERA in 90 2\/3 innings, striking out a team-high 79 batters. He recorded a season-best 10 strikeouts in a 7-2 win over West Georgia on May 2. Despite the losing record, his performance stood out on a Queens team that finished 16-38 overall, helping him earn third-team All-ASUN honors.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"gnt_em_ig_bl\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DY5zJq5ERQ8\/?img_index=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" aria-label=\"view Instagram post: \"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">In 2025, he made 16 appearances, including eight starts, and worked 52.1 innings with an 8.25 ERA and 50 strikeouts.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">In 2024, he made six appearances, including five starts, before a season-ending injury. He tossed 21 innings and finished with a 4.71 ERA and 1.67 WHIP, as opponents hit .265 against the left-hander<\/p>\n<p>Need a news break? <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":body nav (play)|e|auto spike click:5|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_sp_a\" href=\"https:\/\/play.usatoday.com\/?itm_source=SPIKE&amp;itm_campaign=PLAYSPIKE&amp;itm_medium=ONSITE\">Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">In 2023, he made 13 appearances with six starts, the fourth most on the team. He logged 41 innings, the most among the newcomers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Follow us <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tarheelswire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">@TarHeelsWire<\/a> on X and like our page on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TarHeelsWire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Facebook<\/a> to follow ongoing coverage of North Carolina Tar Heels news, notes and opinions.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"June 8, 2026, 11:06 a.m. ET Just hours after Owen Hull\u2019s walk-off RBI double sent North Carolina back&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260365,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[679,9,24,63,122,124,123,101199,101200,92937,16419,3723,101202,13045,101201,1328,949,56574,682],"class_list":["post-260364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-accessfree","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-sourcetar-heels-wire","tag-sstssportscollegetarheelsbaseball","tag-sstsnbaseball","tag-tagbaseball","tag-tagcollege-sports","tag-tagcollege-world-series","tag-tagcolleges-universities","tag-tagnorth-carolina-tar-heels","tag-tagoverall-positive","tag-tagsports-news","tag-taguniversity-of-north-carolina-at-chapel-hill","tag-typestory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260364\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}