Tim Federowicz helped the North Carolina baseball team reach three straight College World Series, where the Tar Heels twice finished as the national runner-up.

Though he wanted to win a national championship with UNC, the allure of starting his professional career was too strong to bring him back to Chapel Hill for his senior year.

Last week, Federowicz signed with the Boston Red Sox, who selected him in last month’s amateur draft in the seventh round, the 232nd pick overall.

“I knew after my junior year is when it was going to be time to go,” Federowicz said by phone from Auburn, N.Y., on Sunday. “I’d been [in Chapel Hill] for three years and you have more leverage as a junior in the draft. I just feel like I’ve been to Omaha three years in a row and played on the biggest stage that I could, and I feel like it’s time to move on.”

After signing on July 7, Federowicz was sent to the Single A Lowell (Mass.) Spinners of the New York-Penn League. The 5-foot-11, 200-pound catcher made his professional debut on July 9 in a 5-1 win over the Batavia (N.Y.) Muckdogs. He went 2-for-3, with a walk and a run scored. He also picked off a runner at second base.

“I was excited to get back in there,” said Federowicz, who hadn’t played since UNC’s season ended June 22. “My body was feeling good. That was the first time I saw live pitching in a while. It helped me get off to a good start.”

Federowicz was a fixture in the UNC lineup the last three seasons, arguably the best three-year stretch in program history. He appeared in 208 of the Tar Heels’ 209 games during the last three years, with 207 starts. He had a .319 batting average, 21 home runs, 175 RBIs and 127 runs scored for his collegiate career.

He was primarily a catcher, but he also played first base and was a relief pitcher the last two seasons. He had a fielding percentage of .993 and in 34.2 innings pitched, he had a 4.63 ERA and 39 strikeouts and 12 walks.

Among the highlights during Federowicz’s UNC career was the ninth-inning grand slam he hammered at this year’s College World Series in a 7-3 elimination-game victory over LSU.

After UNC’s season ended with a 6-1 defeat to eventual national champion Fresno State, Federowicz got a call from the Red Sox scout who drafted him, saying the organization would meet his asking signing bonus (Federowicz declined to share that figure). He flew to Boston, had a physical and a drug test, and once everything checked out, he signed.

“It’s time to move on and try to make it up to the big leagues,” he said.