UNC’s young pitching shines as Heels top Pack in special environment at DBAP

By R.L. Bynum

DURHAM — It was October baseball with some quirky twists, with rivals UNC and N.C. State meeting in the Battle of the DBAP.

The exhibition began under Carolina blue skies and gave fans a sneak peek at the newcomers for both programs, featuring 10-batter lineups that included two designated hitters — the second termed an “additional hitter” — as well as players who returned after being pinch-run for and batters hitting in more than one slot.

Carolina’s pitching ruled the evening in a 3–1 win Thursday that was a tiebreaker of sorts after the teams split two regular-season matchups last weekend. It may not have counted, but you wouldn’t have known it by the players standing on the dugout rails or the crowd of 4,558 that was into the game.

UNC coach Scott Forbes said that the game produced exactly the sort of atmosphere he and N.C. State coach Elliot Avent wanted.

“I wanted to do it, No. 1 for the fans, but also for the players,” Forbes said. “An environment like this is hard to find in the fall.”

Carolina returned to Durham Bulls Athletic Park, where the Tar Heels won the ACC championship in May. The offense that earned that title didn’t return until late, but UNC got enough to back up its excellent pitching.

Forbes wanted that stage for his youngest arms, and was able to use three freshmen: right-hander Caden Glauber (1⅓ innings, 1 hit, 1 strikeout), left-hander Jackson Rose (1 strikeout) and right-hander Talan Holiday (1⅔ innings, 2 hits, 1 walk, 1 strikeout).

“The biggest thing for me is, I wanted to get as many guys that haven’t been in this environment, in this environment,” he said.

Junior left-hander Folger Boaz threw two impressive scoreless innings, flashing a sharp new cutter and a fastball sitting in the low-to-mid 90s.

“He hasn’t logged a ton [of innings], but I wanted to get him back out there,” Forbes said. “He’s worked really hard on some different pitches. He’s got way more weapons. He looks like we thought he was going to look like eventually, so that’s great to see.”

The Tar Heels’ offense, meanwhile, sputtered early, and two baserunners got picked off in the first four innings, cutting short rallies and falling behind 1–0 in the seventh inning before tying it in the bottom of that inning.

Sophomore right-hander Walker McDuffie, the winning pitcher, struck out Mikey Ryan on an 82-mph slider with two runners on in the eighth inning before UNC got two runs in the bottom of that inning.

Carolina had only two hits before pounding out three in that key eighth.

Freshman left fielder Tyler Howe’s leadoff single and stolen base set up back-to-back RBI doubles to right field from senior Carter French and graduate transfer Michael Maginnis, the 10-hole hitter. Howe scored despite running out of his right shoe (below).

“I know what I’m going to get from Carter French,” Forbes said. “He has ice water in his veins.”

McDuffie made sure the lead held, sealing the game in the ninth with a strikeout and a game-ending double play.

“McDuffie was one of the few pitchers we shut down because they had such a big workload,” he said. “We wanted to pitch him tonight. He threw a ton of changeups — that’s something we’ve added. We didn’t let him throw many sliders last year, but we let him throw more tonight.”

Behind the mound, Carolina leaned on a reshuffled lineup.

Transfers dotted the infield, with North Dakota State transfer Jake Schaffner at shortstop, Iowa Central Community College transfer Cooper Nicholson at third, Stony Brook transfer Erik Paulsen at first and Georgia State transfer Colin Hynek catching.

Gavin Gallaher is the only returning regular infielder, and he’ll shift from third base to second base, where he let a grounder go off his shin for a seventh-inning error.

“We lost a ton,” Forbes said. “All those guys were new.”

Carolina’s depth showed late, especially in the bullpen. Right-hander Camron Seagraves came on in the sixth to escape a two-on, one-out jam with a strikeout, continuing what Forbes sees as steady growth.

“He’s gotten better,” Forbes said. “His velocity went up some, but he’s becoming more of a pitcher. The changeup is something, though, last year that he threw at Florida State, but it wasn’t as good as it is now. He’s starting to do that.”

Rose, the lone lefty on the night, got one big out, and Forbes liked what he saw.

“I think he’s going to be a weapon,” Forbes said. “He’s a freshman, but I think he’s going to be throwing 92 to 93 when it’s all said and done. I like Rosie.”

It wasn’t a flawless night as the Tar Heels were caught stealing twice in addition to the error and the pickoffs. But the takeaways from the game were strong.

“We want to apply a lot of pressure,” Forbes said. “Sometimes you mistime the ball, and they pick, and you get picked off. But it’s something that we want to be able to do. We want that to be a weapon.”

In the stands, the crowd made it feel like something more than a fall scrimmage.

“Obviously, it’s not in the record book, but the players know, the coaches know. You want to see how they’re going to compete in this environment,” Forbes said.”

He graded the pitching “around a B-plus,” and for October, he said, that’s just fine.

“Good pitching is always ahead of even good hitting,” Forbes said. “And I thought that was the case tonight.”

Pitchers Jason DeCaro and Ryan Lynch were both shut down for the fall season and didn’t play, along with Olin Johnson and freshman left-hander Tim Lawson.

Both teams scored seventh-inning runs.

The Wolfpack, who beat Wake Forest 11–5 earlier this week, ended Seagraves’ night in favor of left-hander Tom Chmielewski after a leadoff single to left field by State shortstop Mikey Ryan. Ryan scored on Brayden Freeman’s infield after advancing on a wild pitch and groundout. Holiday came on to get the last out with two on to avoid further damage.

Carolina’s run came without getting the ball out of the infield.

Schaffner drew a leadoff walk, stole second, took third on an error by State catcher Drew Lanphere and scored Nicholson’s groundout to first base.

The Tar Heels’ 45-day fall window ended with this game, and Forbes left encouraged.

“Anytime you have a new group, that’s the joy of coaching,” he said. “How well are they going to get to know each other, keep the team first, the Carolina way? They’ve passed that.”

The season starts in February.