Ever since taking over for Mike Fox as UNC's head baseball coach,
Scott Forbes is continuing a tradition of college baseball excellence in Chapel Hill.
Forbes has North Carolina in the College World Series for a second time in three seasons. Thanks to their 3-0 start in Omaha, the Diamond Heels are
playing in the CWS Finals, breaking a 19-year drought.
UNC's Championship Series started off on a sour note, though,
losing 9-3 to Oklahoma on Saturday afternoon. North Carolina (53-13-1) scored three first-inning runs, leading many to believe the start of an offensive explosion, but bats disappeared and starting pitching struggled.
Forbes made the right decision to start staff ace Jason DeCaro in Game 1. DeCaro played a major role in the Diamond Heels even playing for their first championship,
going the distance in Game 2 of the Chapel Hill Super Regional.
The Sooners got to DeCaro early, tagging him for seven runs in just under four innings. Deiten LaChance slugged a 2-run home run in the first inning, then tied things with a third-inning solo shot. Kyle Branch broke out of his Omaha slump, giving the Sooners a 2-run lead they never relinquished with a fourth-inning single, while small ball chased DeCaro.
UNC left 10 men on base, creating flashbacks to the Chapel Hill Super Regional.
Jake Schaffner was the only North Carolina hitter with multiple base knocks, while Gavin Gallaher and Colin Hynek were the only two batters to drive in runs.
Sure, the loss is concerning because the Diamond Heels now face elimination. Look what UNC did after its Game 1 loss to USC.
Forbes will have his boys playing better baseball on Sunday. Check out what North Carolina's boss said postgame, courtesy of
Rykin Fuller at TarHeel247:
Opening comments
“Congrats to Oklahoma, they played really well I thought in all phases. That’s why they came out on top. The great thing about baseball, when you’re playing a weekend series, is you move on quickly. That’s what our team will do. They just beat us today. I thought Jason was aggressive, I thought he had really good stuff. In their big inning, they did it all with two outs and again, they got those big hits. We weren’t able to get those big hits. Love the way our guys competed. Love the way they carried themselves but you know, I believe you give credit where credit is due. And I thought Oklahoma played a pretty complete game. And when they took the lead, they applied some more pressure. I was really proud of Chewy (Tom Chmielewski) for going in there, never pitching here and keeping us in the game, giving us a chance to come back. We could just never piece it together and make that run that we generally do. So we’ll flush that quickly, like we have been doing all year. We’ll walk up and be excited to play tomorrow.”
On the bottom of UNC's batting order struggling:
“It’s a hot-and-cold game. Again, I thought they (Oklahoma) threw the ball well. I thought our guys looked calm in the box. I thought they had some good at-bats. I thought Rom (Kellis) hit two balls really really hard, didn’t have much to show for it. You get to this point, too, it’s all about positivity. Our guys are competing their tails off. The great equalizer in this game is the guy on the mound. They (the Sooners) equalized us there at the bottom, got a lot of confidence in the bottom. I feel like the bottom will do a good job tomorrow.”
On Rom Kellis pinch-hitting for Macon Winslow:
“I just felt like he’d been struggling a little bit and wanted to get a new look in there. Rom had great BP, so popped him in there.”
On game planning for a hot-hitting Oklahoma team:
“A lot. You saw that today. I thought Jason was good. Now the video will tell me how good he was, as far as how bad his mistakes were. I think you just, it’s pretty plain and simple, when a team is feeling that good, you can’t make many mistakes because they’re going to make you pay for it. He had one walk, six strikeouts, we didn’t give them free passes today. We did strike them out, but they made us pay for those mistakes. They got big hits in big situations and that’s how you win games, that’s how they’re here. But I also know that our guy tomorrow, Ryan Lynch, could equalize that in a heartbeat and I feel good about putting him out there.”
On Carter French's big catch in right field, UNC's second-inning collision:
“I think that was a heck of a play by Carter French. I feel like that was the old Bermuda Triangle right there (with the collision). That ball just dropped, everybody’s going as hard as they can at it. I think three people caught it at the same time. I’m just thankful that everybody got up from it because it was a pretty good collision, knocked the breath out of Jake. But I asked them when they came in, it was definitely not nerves with our guys. They were getting after it. I was impressed, honestly, how they jumped on us like that and we came right back. Obviously we gave up that 4-run inning, but that was just a tough play to make. They all caught it at the same time.”
On channeling motivation from previous Game 1 losses:
“Yeah of course. I’ve already done that. And it’s a weekend series. I just talked to them. I said, “you gotta forget this one, just like we forget all of them.” Win or losses, that’s being process-oriented. Don’t let outcomes be distractions. I told them before, you’re playing in a weekend series and we’re trying to do what we’ve done really well and win the series. Unfortunately, we lost Game 1 and that’s a stinker, but again, you gotta win two. We were in a really tough spot against a really good
Southern Cal team. We found a way. I have a confidence in these guys and we’ll go about our business the same way we’ve been doing it all year.”
On UNC's bats starting hot, cooling off as game progressed:
“I thought he (Oklahoma pitcher Cord Rager) started, he’s got a good arm obviously. But early on, he couldn’t land that breaker very much and he couldn’t throw his changeup for a strike. He started throwing those, especially in some big 3-2 counts. The team, a lot of times that wins those 3-2 counts, ends up winning the game offensively. And it wasn’t like it was a really electric pitch, but he did enough to get you off the fastball. I felt like that was a good adjustment by his part and him being able to land that, we had to adjust and be able to fight two pitches instead of one.”
On trust, checking in with his players before Game 2:
"This team has come too far. I trust them. We’ve believed in what we believed in all year. And I’m gonna tell them tonight, we did it all year. So when we get back, we’ll shower, we’ll turn in our loops, we’ll have a postgame meal. And I want them to spend time with their families. We’ll meet right before we go to bed, but I’m not gonna go in there and try to pump them up. I don’t need to do that with this team. I’ll remind them go to bed and forget about it. Either way, if you win you gotta forget about it because sometimes, it can be even harder to get that second one when you win the first one, because you know what you’re gonna get from the team that lost that first one. So we’ll just keep doing exactly what we’ve been doing all year. And I’ll trust that process and I’ll trust our players.”
On attacking Oklahoma's pitchers:
“You wanna try to get a pitcher uncomfortable as much as you can. And when you have to move a guy from the wind-up to the stretch, that means you’re applying pressure and you have runners on base. So obviously, that was one of our big goals to find a way. But that’s most all pitchers. We challenge our pitchers to be just as good out the stretch as you are the windup because usually, you have to make your most meaningful pitches out of the stretch. But for sure, that’s what we were trying to do, scratch and claw. We couldn’t get that leadoff hitter on a ton, again they did, so that’s when you can apply that pressure.”
On Tom Chmielewski and Cam Padgett's appearances giving the remainder of UNC's pitching staff much-needed rest:
“Absoultely. I mean it’s all hands on deck. Even though it’s a weekend series, we did it at
Clemson. We were tied and we went for it. Obviously, we have no choice but to go for it tomorrow. Everybody’s gonna be well-rested, Lynch will get us going and we’ll go from there. He will be ready to pitch.”
On the need for UNC to make big pitches and Oklahoma's 2-strike approach:
“I’m gonna have to watch and I’ll do that, I’ll watch some of his (DeCaro’s) pitches and Coach (Bryant) Gaines will do the same thing. Again, I thought he (DeCaro) looked really, really good and they’re (Oklahoma) hot. He made some offspeed mistakes and they made him pay for it. You always want to do a good job of executing those 2-strike pitches. Their approaches to get a swing off, that’s clear. They’re not spreading way out, just trying to move the baseball. They’re not afraid to strike out and if you put that ball where you want to with two strikes, you have a better chance to get a strikeout and prevent that damage.
This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: UNC Baseball: Scott Forbes reflects on losing Game 1 of CWS Finals
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