UNC falls to VCU, 4-3, in NCAA tournament. Heels face Georgia in elimination game Sunday
For all that went right for No. 10 overall seed North Carolina over the past month, Saturday night’s NCAA baseball tournament in the winner’s bracket against Virginia Commonwealth felt like it all went wrong. And now for the Tar Heels to be in position to advance to the Super Regional, they’ll have to do it without coach Scott Forbes.
The school confirmed Saturday night the NCAA suspended Forbes for two games due to his ejection in the third inning of their 4-3 loss to VCU on Saturday. Forbes was tossed after wanting an explanation for a no-call on what appeared to be an infield fly rule.
It was the second controversial call that went against the Heels, and Carolina compounded that by going just 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position leaving 12 on base — and having their first multi-error game since a May 13 loss to Wake Forest.
It was all too much for Carolina to overcome, even while a ninth inning rally made things interesting, as the loss knocked it into the regional elimination bracket on Sunday.
The Heels will face Georgia at 1 p.m. at Boshamer Stadium. The Bulldogs eliminated Hofstra from the tournament with a 24-1 win on Friday. The winner of UNC-UGA will take on VCU at 6 p.m. Sunday. For Carolina to advance to the Super Regional, it will have to win three straight games, including two on Sunday. Forbes could be back if they force a final game on Monday.
It is not mandatory that Forbes receive a two-game suspension because of the ejection. The NCAA could have had him sit out one game, but Forbes got the added game possibly for not leaving the field in a timely manner.
UNC starting pitcher Brandon Schaeffer spoke to the media of the team’s resilience before word of Forbes suspension was released.
“We’re not done, I think everybody knows that,” said Schaeffer, who allowed four hits and one run in 5.1 innings. “There’s a lot of fight in this team. I’m excited to see what we’re going to do (on Sunday).”
UNC’s first run didn’t come until freshman Vance Honeycutt hit his 23rd homer of the year in the top of the eighth to trail 3-1. VCU’s Connor Hujsak answered by hitting his second solo homer of the game in the bottom of the eighth. Hujsak had just eight home runs entering the regional, also had two on Friday in the Rams’ win over Georgia.
It proved to be the game winner.
Carolina was poised to rally in the top of the ninth when Danny Serretti hit a two-out, two-run homer to right field. Honeycutt and Alberto Osuna drew walks to put runners on first and second. But VCU pitcher Nolan Wilson got Mikey Madej to pop out to third to end the game.
“We’ve been through a lot of difficult games and situations and circumstances over the course of the year, so I felt like our guys did a really good job responding to all of that,” said UNC assistant coach Bryant Gaines. “And I think that’s why we we made it really close to the end because we’ve been through the situation before and I know our players felt like we were still gonna win the game until the final last out.”
The Heels believed they could have broken the game open much earlier if at least one call in the second or third innings had gone their way.
Carolina had the bases loaded with one out in the top of the second inning when Johnny Castagnozzi hit a grounder to second..
As UNC’s Tomas Frick charged toward second base, he went into his slide knowing he was too late to be safe. He veered slightly to the right, after VCU shortstop Connor Hujsak tagged the base and began his throw to first, and his head collided with Hujsak’s left knee.
The collision was just enough that Hujsak’s throw to first was too late to get Castagnozzi out, and Osuna scored from third, appearing to give the Heels their first run. But second base umpire Mark Wagers called Frick out for runner’s interference. The call was upheld upon review, keeping the Heels scoreless.
“The ball was hit softly and I was going hard into second, I thought I had a chance,” said Frick, who was 3-for-4. “Maybe I got out — I felt like him hitting me in the head, or colliding, made me push out to the side a little bit from their eye I was out of line. But I felt like I was going hard directly in the bag.”
Carolina seemed to be getting to VCU starting pitcher Campbell Ellis, getting runners on first and second with one out in the top of the third inning, when another polarizing play occurred.
Serretti popped up a ball just past the pitchers mound. VCU second baseman Marcus O’Malley came sliding in trying to make the catch, but dropped the ball.
The problem for the Heels was Wagers didn’t invoke the infield fly rule, which would have allowed Colby Wilkerson to stay at second base and Mac Horvath to stay on first.
So when O’Malley dropped the ball he threw to second base for a force out and Wilkerson, who got a late start headed to third, got tagged out to complete a double play and end the inning.
The NCAA released a statement shortly after midnight from Randy Bruns, NCAA baseball’s secretary rules editor: “A statement may be made available after receiving reports from the umpires as to exactly what happened during and following a play in the third inning of tonight’s game at Chapel Hill. One rule that may have affected the situation is the Infield Fly rule (Rule 2-48) that requires that a fair fly ball must be able to be caught with ordinary effort by an infielder in order to be considered an infield fly.”
At issue is the phrase “ordinary effort.” It wasn’t one of those pop ups that seemingly hangs in the air forever. Even though O’Malley got to the ball, it was a hard play to make because of the short time the ball was in the air.
The combination of both plays in which Wagers was involved made Forbes heated between innings. He continued to yell from the dugout, at one point telling home plate umpire Jeff Henrichs he needed to, “be better.” Henrichs appeared to give Forbes a warning, before ejecting him from the game.
“We were all confused as to what was going on,” Gaines said. “I thought he had a very viable argument. And unfortunately, the umpires just didn’t see it that way. It’s unfortunate, but at the same time, it’s just part of it tonight. It’s just one of those things.”
It was the first postseason loss for Carolina (39-20), which had won eight straight games and 16 of its last 18 including the ACC tournament championship. VCU just happens to be a hotter team. The Rams are tied with Stanford for the second longest winning streak in the nation at 17 consecutive games.
Carolina only trailed 1-0 until the bottom of the seventh, when a pair of errors led to VCU runs.
Serretti fielded a grounder to short, but had trouble getting the ball from his glove before throwing to first. The error put VCU’s A.J. Mathis on base.
UNC pitcher Gage Gillian made an errant pick off attempt to first as Mathis moved into scoring position at second. Will Carlone singled to left, although it was shallow enough that Mathis could not head for home.
The Rams made Carolina pay for its mistakes when Cooper Benzin delivered a two-run double to take a 3-0 lead.
This story was originally published June 4, 2022 at 10:39 PM with the headline "UNC falls to VCU, 4-3, in NCAA tournament. Heels face Georgia in elimination game Sunday."