By R.L. Bynum
OMAHA, Neb. — The mission for No. 4-seed North Carolina is daunting: Win three games in as many days — including two against No. 1 Tennessee — to make the Men’s College World Series Finals or go home.
Coach Scott Forbes’s mission is to get his Tar Heels (48–15) to focus on beating No. 8-seed Florida State (48–16) at 2 p.m. ET Tuesday (ESPN) and proceed from there with the knowledge that the program has met a similar challenge before.
“You don’t look at what you have to do; you just look at what you can do right now,” said Forbes, who only wants his team worrying about beating the Seminoles and not victories over No. 1 Tennessee that would have to follow at 2 p.m. Wednesday and on Thursday (time TBA).
UNC pulled it off in the same situation as the No. 2 seed in 2007 after winning its opener and losing the second game. The Tar Heels beat unseeded Louisville (3–1) and No. 3 Rice twice (6–2 and 7–4) to make the CWS finals, where Oregon State swept them.
“I told them to keep your heads up,” Forbes said. “You’re at the College World Series. You have a great opportunity ahead of you.”
Monday was a time to quickly flush Sunday’s 6–1 loss to Tennessee and recharge. UNC didn’t practice and only had a one-hour lift session.
“It’s just baseball,” Forbes said. “You just move on. You don’t really talk about it at all. These guys know what they’re capable of doing. My job is to instill that confidence in them and say, hey, move on because it can flip just like that.”
To survive Tuesday’s elimination game against Florida State, UNC’s bats will have to awake from their slumber, or the Tar Heels will have to get shutdown pitching.
“Sometimes I feel like we have been on our heels recently,” said senior first baseman Parks Harber. “We need to go out there aggressive, let it all out there and play with no regrets.”
Carolina had scored three or fewer runs in back-to-back games once (14–1 and 2–1 losses at Miami in mid-March) before doing it in the last three games. The Tar Heels have four or fewer runs in four of the last five games.
Junior left-hander Shea Sprague was dominant for three innings, getting help from an outstanding defensive play from shortstop Colby Wilkerson (top photo). But after leaving a couple of changeups up, the Tar Heels faced a four-run hole after five innings after the Vols pounced on those pitches for two home runs.
“I thought we pitched it well enough to win the game and even pitched it better than six runs,” Forbes said. “They just capitalized and got that big hit. Didn’t leave many guys on base.”
Forbes said Sunday that he expects to give junior right-hander Aidan Haugh (4–2, 4.53 ERA). His best outing of the season was against another ACC team in Omaha, N.C. State (which Florida eliminated on Monday 5–4). He went a season-high six innings in Raleigh on April 20, giving up six hits and two runs with one walk and three strikeouts.
Should UNC get past the Seminoles, right-hander Jason DeCaro (6–1, 3.81 ERA) would likely start Wednesday against Tennessee on four days of rest.
The spacious Charles Schwab Field Omaha makes it tough to hit home runs. But, like the Volunteers, the Seminoles haven’t had much trouble. Florida State has home runs in its last 17 games, including two in Sunday’s 7–3 win over Virginia from left fielder Jaime Ferrer and one from shortstop Alex Lodise.
“They’re extremely offensive,” Forbes said. “Some high picks in that lineup. It will be a big challenge for us, but we feel like we’ll be up for that challenge.”
ACC Player of the Year James Tibbs III leads the Seminoles in hitting (.366), home runs (28) and slugging percentage (.790). Ferrer is hitting .324 with 22 homers and 66 RBI, while Marco Dinges is hitting .326 with 15 homers and 69 RBI.
FSU, which leads the all-time series with UNC 42–28, has a 2–1 edge over UNC in NCAA tournament games, with the teams splitting a pair of 1966 District II Regional contests (FSU winning 6–5 and UNC winning 6–4) and the Seminoles beating UNC 4–2 in their 1989 MCWS opener.
Florida State also lost to Tennessee in heartbreaking fashion on Friday, blowing a lead in a 12–11 setback.
UNC and FSU haven’t played since the Tar Heels swept a three-game series in Boshamer Stadium to finish the 2022 regular season, winning 7–5, 10–4 and 11–0.
Carolina will be the home team for the game.
Men’s College World Series
At Charles Schwab Field Omaha in Omaha, Neb.
Bracket 1
No. 1 Tennessee (3–0), No. 8 Florida State (2–2), No. 4 North Carolina (1–2), No. 12 Virginia (0–2)
Bracket 2
No. 3 Texas A&M (3–0), Florida (2–2), No. 2 Kentucky (1–2), No. 10 N.C. State (0–2)
Pool play
(All listed times are EDT)
Friday’s results
Game 1: No. 4 North Carolina 3, No. 12 Virginia 2
Game 2: No. 1 Tennessee 12, No. 8 Florida State 11
Saturday’s results
Game 3: No. 2 Kentucky 5, No. 10 N.C. State 4, 10 innings
Game 4: No. 3 Texas A&M 3, Florida 2
Sunday’s results
Game 5: No. 8 Florida State 7, No. 12 Virginia 3; Virginia eliminated
Game 6: No. 1 Tennessee 6, No. 4 North Carolina 1
Monday’s results
Game 7: Florida 5, No. 10 N.C. State 4; N.C. State eliminated
Game 8: No. 3 Texas A&M 5, No. 2 Kentucky 1
Tuesday’s result
Game 9: No. 8 Florida State 9, No. 4 North Carolina 5; North Carolina eliminated
Wednesday’s results
Game 10: Florida 15, No. 2 Kentucky 4; Kentucky eliminated
Game 11: No. 1 Tennessee 7, No. 8 Florida State 2; Florida State eliminated
Game 12: No. 3 Texas A&M 6, Florida 0; Florida eliminated
MCWS Finals
(Best-of-3 series)
No. 1 Tennessee (60–13) vs. No. 3 Texas A&M (53–15)
Game 1: Texas A&M 9, Tennessee 5
Game 2 Tennessee, 4, Texas A&M 1
Game 3: Tennessee 6, Texas A&M 5; Tennessee wins national champinship
| Date(s) | Day/ month | Times/ scores | Opponent (current rank) | Record/ TV * |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February | ||||
| 13 | Friday | W, 9–4 | vs. Indiana | 1–0 |
| 14 | Saturday | W, 12–2 (7); W, 4–3 (11) | vs. Indiana | 3–0 |
| 17 | Tuesday | 4 p.m. | vs. Richmond | |
| 18 | Wednesday | 4 p.m. | vs. Longwood | |
| 20–22 | Fri.-Sun. | 4 (Greenville), 2 (DBAP), 2 (CH) | vs. East Carolina | Friday ESPN+ |
| 24 | Tuesday | 4 p.m. | vs. N.C. A&T | |
| 25 | Wednesday | 4 p.m. | vs. VCU | |
| 27–28 | Fri., Sat. | 4 p.m., 2 p.m. | vs. Le Moyne | |
| March | ||||
| 1 | Sunday | 1 p.m. | vs. Le Moyne | |
| 3 | Tuesday | 4 p.m. | vs. Elon | |
| 6–8 | Fri.-Sun. | 4, 2, 1 | vs. Virginia | |
| 10 | Tuesday | 4 p.m. | vs. Bucknell | |
| 13–15 | Fri.-Sun. | 9, 5, 4 | at California | |
| 18 | Wednesday | 4 p.m. | vs. UNCG | |
| 20–22 | Fri.-Sun. | 8, 2, 1 | vs. No. 8 Louisville | Friday ACCN |
| 24 | Tuesday | 6:30 | vs. South Carolina in Charlotte | |
| 27–29 | Fri.-Sun. | 6:30, 3, 1 | at Notre Dame | |
| 31 | Tuesday | 8 p.m. | vs. Campbell | ACCN |
| April | ||||
| 2–4 | Thur.-Sat. | 6, 6, 2 | vs. Boston College | |
| 7 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | vs. Charlotte | ACCN |
| 10–12 | Fri.-Sun. | 6, 2, 12:30 | at No. 19 Clemson | Sunday ACCN |
| 14 | Tuesday | 6 p.m. | vs. UNCW | |
| 17–19 | Fri-Sun. | 6, noon, 1 | vs. No. 5 Georgia Tech | Sat., Sun. ACCN |
| 21 | Tuesday | 6 p.m. | vs. High Point | |
| 23–25 | Thu.-Sat. | 7, 6, 3 | at Duke | Thurs. ACCN |
| 28 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | vs. No. 6 Coastal Carolina | ACCN |
| 29 | Wednesday | 6 p.m. | vs. Queens | |
| May | ||||
| 3 | Sunday | 2 p.m. (non-conference game) | vs. Duke | ACCN |
| 6 | Wednesday | 6 p.m. | vs. Winthrop | |
| 8–10 | Fri.-Sun. | 6, noon, 1 | vs. Pittsburgh | |
| 12 | Tuesday | 6 p.m. | at UNCW | |
| 14–16 | Thurs.-Sat. | 7, 6, 1 | at No. 17 N.C. State | Thurs. ACCN |
| 19–24 | Tues.-Sun. | ACC tournament | Charlotte | ACCN (final ESPN2) |
| 29–31 | Fri.-Sun. | NCAA Regionals | Campus sites | |
| June | ||||
| 5–7 | Fri.-Sun. | NCAA Super Regionals | Campus sites | |
| 12–22 | Fri.-Mon | College World Series | Omaha, Neb. |
- Games not on TV stream on ACC Network Extra unless otherwise note.
Photos courtesy of UNC Athletics
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