With UNC baseball coach suspended, Heels beat Georgia, 6-5, advance to face VCU again
The UNC baseball team is one game away from getting their coach back and two wins away from advancing to the Super Regionals.
Facing elimination, the Tar Heels defeated Georgia, 6-5, in their first game on Sunday. With the win, UNC (40-20) advances to a 6 p.m. showdown with Virginia Commonwealth (ESPNU).
The Rams (42-18) defeated Georgia on Friday and UNC on Sunday to advance to Sunday’s late game in the Chapel Hill regional. VCU is one of the hottest teams in the country, riding a 17-game win streak. That streak is second in the nation to only Stanford.
The Tar Heels got back in the win column after VCU ended their eight-game win streak on Saturday. It was the first postseason loss for North Carolina. Since the 64-team modern day NCAA baseball tournament format, UNC has had to go through the losers bracket 10 times. It has never won a regional in those 10 journeys through the losers bracket.
With the early win Sunday, Carolina improves to 46-21 all-time in the regional round of the NCAA tournament and 30-6 in the regionals at Boshamer Stadium.
In losing to VCU on Saturday night, the Tar Heels also lost their head coach, Scott Forbes, to a two-game suspension. Forbes, whose jersey hung in the UNC dugout, is serving the suspension for arguing a call on Saturday. Assistant head coach Bryant Gaines led the Heels in their win over Georgia on Sunday. Following the win over the Bulldogs, Gaines told the media that he had several conversations with Forbes leading up to the game.
“I think at the end of the day he trust us,” Gaines said. “That’s why he hired us. As frustrated as he is not to be in the dugout, at the end of the day, he only cares about one thing and that’s winning the game. It was obviously a different experience for all of us.”
With Forbes’ jersey hanging in the dugout, Gaines said, “He was there in spirit.”
If UNC can beat the Rams, Forbes’ suspension will be over and the Tar Heels will play Monday for a chance to return to Super Regionals for the first time since 2019. Georgia, coming off a 24-run game in its win over Hofstra on Saturday, was cooled down by seven UNC pitchers.
“It’s a team sport, we talk about it all the time,” UNC starting pitcher Will Sandy said. “As a staff what we want to do is pick each other up. My job is to go in there and come out of that game and give our team a chance to win.”
Sunday’s early game didn’t come without some drama of its own. In the top of the ninth, with UNC up 6-2, Georgia’s Connor Tate hit a shot toward the center field wall. The ball hit the top of the wall, but bounced back in play. Tate rounded the bases, thinking he had a two-run homer, but after a review it was ruled a double. His teammate, Chaney Rogers, hit a three-run home run off of Connor Bovair to make it 6-5 with one out remaining. Josh Mcallister appeared to have another home run, but UNC freshman center fielder Vance Honeycutt climbed the ladder to snag the ball at the wall.
“I told the team just now that’s about the story of our year,” Gaines said. “Just when you think you got it done and it’s in the bag against a good team, you have to make some plays, have to make some pitches and that’s what we did.”
Left-hander Caden O’Brien came in to face pinch hitter Corey Collins and struck him out looking to seal the win.
The Bulldogs (36-23) left 12 runners on base. With Georgia going 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position, UNC took advantage of its chances against the Bulldogs, going 3-for-10.
“Last night we had a lot of tough breaks,” Gaines said about the first game against VCU. “When you have an offense like we have, so potent from top to bottom, it’s only a matter of time before somebody breaks through and fortunate for us it happened today.”
Carolina’s bats got going in the third inning, putting three runs on the board to take control of the game.
After scoring an unearned run in the top of the second, Mikey Madej drove in two runs in the top of the third. Bulldogs pitcher Jaden Woods threw a wild pitch that allowed another runner home, making it 4-0 in favor of the Tar Heels.
Tomas Frick started the sixth inning with a solo home run, his third of the season. Madej added to his day, with another RBI in the top of the seventh, scoring Honeycutt.
Georgia got on the board in the bottom of the sixth, pulling within three runs on a Cory Acton double. Carolina’s Davis Palermo came in and fanned the only batter he faced to get Carolina out of the inning. Palermo was impressive, going 2.1 innings, surrendering four hits and zero runs, while striking out four batters.
This story was originally published June 5, 2022 at 5:00 PM with the headline "With UNC baseball coach suspended, Heels beat Georgia, 6-5, advance to face VCU again."
