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North Carolina head coach Scott Forbes spoke to the media after the Tar Heels defeated West Virginia 5-2 to advance to the national semifinal in the College World Series.
North Carolina (52-12-2) rode clutch hitting from Omaha veteran Gavin Gallaher and a lights-out bullpen to a 5-2 win. Gallaher delivered the go-ahead two-run triple in the seventh inning, and relievers Walker McDuffie and Caden Glauber closed the door.
McDuffie earned the win to improve to 9-3, working 3 2/3 scoreless innings while allowing three hits and striking out four. Glauber recorded his fifth save of the season, striking out both batters he faced with two runners on to end the game.
The Tar Heels will face the winner of Troy and West Virginia. UNC will get much-needed rest, with the next game scheduled for Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET.
Here’s what Forbes had to say after the game
Your starter, anytime, the more length they give you, the better the chances, especially when you really like your bullpen, like we do. And that’s what you have to have to win championships.
And both those guys, we feel like we got 1-A and 1-A the whole season. His slider wasn’t as on as it was the last two outings, but he still battled. You said it was just a gritty performance. His stuff is so nasty, and it plays up. You know he can get out of an inning, especially getting a double-play ball. And that’s a credit to our infield. They make those plays behind him.
But big pitchers or clutch pitchers make clutch pitches in big situations. And I told him that I thought that was the biggest pitch of the game. The momentum had shifted a little bit, in my opinion. And they had first and third with no outs. And then, boom, just like that, they only get one run. It’s 2-2. And we get back in the dugout. So that was huge for us, for him to almost get to the fifth.
Yeah, I’ve been saying it over and over in my head: We need to get the lead-off going; we just haven’t done it a lot.
But it gives you momentum. Our guys are good base runners. We have some good distributed throughout the lineup. Gives you an opportunity to possibly bunt and put more pressure.
And it’s not like we’re not trying to get the lead-off going. It’s one of those things I probably shouldn’t talk about to the hitters because I don’t want to jinx it. But we would like to do that more, I can tell you that.
We like to think that we try to make practice harder than the game. I think that’s important. This time of year, even though it’s short, like yesterday, we had the machine cranked up and it was throwing cheese. You’ve got to be ready to get in there and compete.
We always preach to our players, as coaches, we’re going to try to make practice as difficult as possible. Buy into it. Understand how important practice is. Trust us, we’re not going to go out there and practice four hours this time of year.
But it’s that preparation thing. It gets rid of that little birdie doubting yourself, if you’ve done something really hard over and over and over — it’s like fundamental defense. Our guys know, like, you’re going to do it every single day that we practice because that’s just what we’re going to do. And so understand how important that is.
And this group, credit to them, they’ve bought into it. And they’ll come tomorrow, whatever I have on the practice plan, whether or not it’s just a lift, they’ll do it and they’ll do it at a high level.
I mean, I believe in honesty. It feels great. I mean obviously we want to prepare and play well on Wednesday.
But my first year back here as pitching coach in 2006, I wasn’t in here. Coach Fox was in here after a Robert Woodard complete game at Clemson. But we haven’t won that second game since then.
So obviously it feels great to win that game. I’m glad that I’ve been in that position. Maybe that can help me prepare and make sure that our guys don’t get too comfortable and understand that, hey, our goal is just to play really well on Wednesday. But I think I’ll sleep pretty good tonight after going 2-0, that’s for sure.
We had heart break last year. He was part of that heart break. He didn’t pitch as well as he wanted to pitch, obviously. Walker’s from — he doesn’t say he’s from my hometown, but he is. He’s from Broadway. I’m from Sanford.
I know the character that he has. I know how bad that hurts. Matter of fact, when I was leaving the stadium, after we lost to Arizona, I pulled up to the stoplight right by the hospital and looked over to my right after we lost that game three and I saw Walker McDuffie and we just kind of looked at each other.
We talked about that the other day, how those things make you better. And he’s worked his tail off to be more of a complete pitcher. He didn’t have the change-up last year. It’s allowed him to be one of our MVPs. What him and Caden Glauber have done, they’re such weapons. And when you know the character of the kid, too, it makes it even better.
Zero thought of anybody else except Caden Glauber. I thought McDuffie was really pitching well, too, and he had all three pitches working.
But I knew in my mind, okay if we get to a certain point, I’m going to probably make a change. We liked the match-up with McDuffie.
It’s easy for me as the head coach to want to go to Glaub quicker sometimes. And Coach Gaines we met today — we always meet before the game — and he felt really strongly that Walker McDuffie was a really good match-up against them.
But when you get to that point and you’ve seen enough hitters, you want to bring in one of your best guys who can recover and has that fastball. Man, he’s fun to watch, isn’t he? I’m just glad he’s not — for any future kids that we try to get to do that, it’s probably a good idea just come a year early. (Laughter).
Back to that first inning, I thought Cooper Nicholson — he’s been locked in; he doesn’t have a lot to show for it — but him moving the ball and us getting another run was huge, in my opinion, and going up 2-0 instead of 1-0.
But he’s good. I mean, we knew he was good. And you’re seeing it out here. You look at Georgia’s starter last night. We faced him last year at Stanford. If a pitcher’s on you’ve got to match him. That’s basically what I was thinking. We can’t give up runs right here because he’s just a tough at-bat. Maybe we can get him out of there. Maybe they’ll make a mistake and somebody will juice one. That’s what Gavin did.
But I thought he was really good. For a lefty without a change-up, it’s unusual that he’s that dominant against right-handed hitters. But our righties really had trouble with him. Our lefties were a little bit better. But man, he was good. And he got on quick after that first inning.
Gavin Gallaher is the definition of a baseball player — old school, can play all over the field, doesn’t care where he plays. He played two years at third. Tough position to learn. Moved over to second, our middle infield. He’s been outstanding.
We had him and Jake Schaffner at shortstop pretty much the whole fall. I told him he was playing second. He don’t care. He just wants to win.
Raised the right way. His dad played at Wake Forest. Phenomenal family. And I don’t know if Adam Lucas is in here, but Adam Lucas called me when he was young, Gavin Gallaher, and said, hey, this kid plays with Asher. And he’s a really good baseball player. And the next thing you know, we’re offering him. And so I always tell Adam Lucas, that was a good recruit for you.
Yeah, Colin, he’s level-headed. He’s been so good. It’s been tough on Macon. Shout out to Macon Winslow. He’s been playing, fighting that wrist that he got hit against High Point. I don’t think a lot of kids would play. That’s my kind of guy, that’s, like, hey, I’m going to play and help my team win.
And there’s no doubt something really good’s going to happen for Macon Winslow moving forward. Hynek has been outstanding. He has got some clutch in him and he knows how to make a big play offensively and defensively, and that was a huge play. I’d forgotten about that. I should have brought that up.
I was hoping — I couldn’t tell if he was safe or not. I was just glad that they decided he was out. But that was a really good throw by Colin Hynek.
Follow us @TarHeelsWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of North Carolina Tar Heels news, notes and opinions.
This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: UNC Baseball: Scott Forbes' thoughts on WVU win, advancing to semis
Continue reading...
North Carolina (52-12-2) rode clutch hitting from Omaha veteran Gavin Gallaher and a lights-out bullpen to a 5-2 win. Gallaher delivered the go-ahead two-run triple in the seventh inning, and relievers Walker McDuffie and Caden Glauber closed the door.
McDuffie earned the win to improve to 9-3, working 3 2/3 scoreless innings while allowing three hits and striking out four. Glauber recorded his fifth save of the season, striking out both batters he faced with two runners on to end the game.
The Tar Heels will face the winner of Troy and West Virginia. UNC will get much-needed rest, with the next game scheduled for Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET.
Here’s what Forbes had to say after the game
You talked about Ryan Lynch. I know you mentioned him in your opening statement. But feels like he went out there and gritted out 4.2 innings there and did a job to get you to McDuffie and then Glauber. How important is he? I think his postseason ERA is sub-3.00 now, and he’s been very good over 30 innings. Talk to me about his performance today and how he did his job to kind of bridge that gap.
Your starter, anytime, the more length they give you, the better the chances, especially when you really like your bullpen, like we do. And that’s what you have to have to win championships.
And both those guys, we feel like we got 1-A and 1-A the whole season. His slider wasn’t as on as it was the last two outings, but he still battled. You said it was just a gritty performance. His stuff is so nasty, and it plays up. You know he can get out of an inning, especially getting a double-play ball. And that’s a credit to our infield. They make those plays behind him.
But big pitchers or clutch pitchers make clutch pitches in big situations. And I told him that I thought that was the biggest pitch of the game. The momentum had shifted a little bit, in my opinion. And they had first and third with no outs. And then, boom, just like that, they only get one run. It’s 2-2. And we get back in the dugout. So that was huge for us, for him to almost get to the fifth.
I think across two games here, every inning you’ve scored, the lead-off man has reached. How important is it to kind of generate that early traffic on the base paths and give yourself an opportunity to plate someone?
Yeah, I’ve been saying it over and over in my head: We need to get the lead-off going; we just haven’t done it a lot.
But it gives you momentum. Our guys are good base runners. We have some good distributed throughout the lineup. Gives you an opportunity to possibly bunt and put more pressure.
And it’s not like we’re not trying to get the lead-off going. It’s one of those things I probably shouldn’t talk about to the hitters because I don’t want to jinx it. But we would like to do that more, I can tell you that.
Whether it’s a double-play ball or putting pressure on the defense, how do you describe this team’s ability to continue to thrive in these pressure-packed moments, whether it’s at the plate or on the mound or in the field?
We like to think that we try to make practice harder than the game. I think that’s important. This time of year, even though it’s short, like yesterday, we had the machine cranked up and it was throwing cheese. You’ve got to be ready to get in there and compete.
We always preach to our players, as coaches, we’re going to try to make practice as difficult as possible. Buy into it. Understand how important practice is. Trust us, we’re not going to go out there and practice four hours this time of year.
But it’s that preparation thing. It gets rid of that little birdie doubting yourself, if you’ve done something really hard over and over and over — it’s like fundamental defense. Our guys know, like, you’re going to do it every single day that we practice because that’s just what we’re going to do. And so understand how important that is.
And this group, credit to them, they’ve bought into it. And they’ll come tomorrow, whatever I have on the practice plan, whether or not it’s just a lift, they’ll do it and they’ll do it at a high level.
As the head coach of North Carolina, you know the program’s pedigree but you also know the history. You’re currently 2-0. You don’t play again until Wednesday. How difficult is it to sit in the driver’s seat and have your hands firmly on the steering wheel?
I mean, I believe in honesty. It feels great. I mean obviously we want to prepare and play well on Wednesday.
But my first year back here as pitching coach in 2006, I wasn’t in here. Coach Fox was in here after a Robert Woodard complete game at Clemson. But we haven’t won that second game since then.
So obviously it feels great to win that game. I’m glad that I’ve been in that position. Maybe that can help me prepare and make sure that our guys don’t get too comfortable and understand that, hey, our goal is just to play really well on Wednesday. But I think I’ll sleep pretty good tonight after going 2-0, that’s for sure.
How have you seen Walker grow these past few weeks of just being thrown into the fire and going through postseason baseball?
We had heart break last year. He was part of that heart break. He didn’t pitch as well as he wanted to pitch, obviously. Walker’s from — he doesn’t say he’s from my hometown, but he is. He’s from Broadway. I’m from Sanford.
I know the character that he has. I know how bad that hurts. Matter of fact, when I was leaving the stadium, after we lost to Arizona, I pulled up to the stoplight right by the hospital and looked over to my right after we lost that game three and I saw Walker McDuffie and we just kind of looked at each other.
We talked about that the other day, how those things make you better. And he’s worked his tail off to be more of a complete pitcher. He didn’t have the change-up last year. It’s allowed him to be one of our MVPs. What him and Caden Glauber have done, they’re such weapons. And when you know the character of the kid, too, it makes it even better.
Talk about the poise for a guy who should be a senior in high school coming in. He’s got the tying run at the plate and gets two strikeouts. Did you have any notion of bringing somebody else in, or was that Glaub’s to finish?
Zero thought of anybody else except Caden Glauber. I thought McDuffie was really pitching well, too, and he had all three pitches working.
But I knew in my mind, okay if we get to a certain point, I’m going to probably make a change. We liked the match-up with McDuffie.
It’s easy for me as the head coach to want to go to Glaub quicker sometimes. And Coach Gaines we met today — we always meet before the game — and he felt really strongly that Walker McDuffie was a really good match-up against them.
But when you get to that point and you’ve seen enough hitters, you want to bring in one of your best guys who can recover and has that fastball. Man, he’s fun to watch, isn’t he? I’m just glad he’s not — for any future kids that we try to get to do that, it’s probably a good idea just come a year early. (Laughter).
Yehl got ahead early and often. He used his hammer curve and then his power slider. How did you see this lineup just keep grinding out those at-bats?
Back to that first inning, I thought Cooper Nicholson — he’s been locked in; he doesn’t have a lot to show for it — but him moving the ball and us getting another run was huge, in my opinion, and going up 2-0 instead of 1-0.
But he’s good. I mean, we knew he was good. And you’re seeing it out here. You look at Georgia’s starter last night. We faced him last year at Stanford. If a pitcher’s on you’ve got to match him. That’s basically what I was thinking. We can’t give up runs right here because he’s just a tough at-bat. Maybe we can get him out of there. Maybe they’ll make a mistake and somebody will juice one. That’s what Gavin did.
But I thought he was really good. For a lefty without a change-up, it’s unusual that he’s that dominant against right-handed hitters. But our righties really had trouble with him. Our lefties were a little bit better. But man, he was good. And he got on quick after that first inning.
It seems like every day Gavin earns a new nickname. What’s it like when he comes up to bat and more times than not you know that he’s going to come up clutch for you guys?
Gavin Gallaher is the definition of a baseball player — old school, can play all over the field, doesn’t care where he plays. He played two years at third. Tough position to learn. Moved over to second, our middle infield. He’s been outstanding.
We had him and Jake Schaffner at shortstop pretty much the whole fall. I told him he was playing second. He don’t care. He just wants to win.
Raised the right way. His dad played at Wake Forest. Phenomenal family. And I don’t know if Adam Lucas is in here, but Adam Lucas called me when he was young, Gavin Gallaher, and said, hey, this kid plays with Asher. And he’s a really good baseball player. And the next thing you know, we’re offering him. And so I always tell Adam Lucas, that was a good recruit for you.
Colin Hynek starting a rally again in the sixth. He reached on that error. I know he got forced out at second. But he also had the caught stealing of Guzman at third base in the early innings. Felt like a big play in that game and obviously the error led to the three runs. What can you say about his performance tonight?
Yeah, Colin, he’s level-headed. He’s been so good. It’s been tough on Macon. Shout out to Macon Winslow. He’s been playing, fighting that wrist that he got hit against High Point. I don’t think a lot of kids would play. That’s my kind of guy, that’s, like, hey, I’m going to play and help my team win.
And there’s no doubt something really good’s going to happen for Macon Winslow moving forward. Hynek has been outstanding. He has got some clutch in him and he knows how to make a big play offensively and defensively, and that was a huge play. I’d forgotten about that. I should have brought that up.
I was hoping — I couldn’t tell if he was safe or not. I was just glad that they decided he was out. But that was a really good throw by Colin Hynek.
Follow us @TarHeelsWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of North Carolina Tar Heels news, notes and opinions.
This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: UNC Baseball: Scott Forbes' thoughts on WVU win, advancing to semis
Continue reading...
