By R.L. Bynum
CHARLOTTE — Jake Schaffner has been Carolina’s sparkplug at the top of the order all season, and the shortstop was the Tar Heels’ catalyst offensively on Friday.
Schaffner blasted drives to the outfield wall for a double and a triple and drove in four runs as No. 2 UNC rallied to roll past No. 7-seed Virginia Tech 10–4 in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament at Truist Field.
Schaffner said UNC’s plan to keep pressuring opponents shows up most when the chances for extra bases appear.
“Our coaches have done a really good job preparing us for doing that,” he said. “We work a lot on that in practice, and we can see it translating in the game. When we get those chances, we execute on them.”
The Tar Heels (44–10–1) play in Saturday’s second semifinal at 5 p.m. against the winner of Friday’s second quarterfinal game between No. 14 Pittsburgh (32–23) and No. 3-seed and No. 22-ranked Florida State (37–15). In Saturday’s first semifinal at 1 p.m., No. 1-seed Georgia Tech (46–9) meets No. 5 Miami (38–17), with both games on ACC Network.
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“He’s a winner,” UNC coach Scott Forbes said of Schaffner. “He’s a tough kid. He’s played through some nicks and bruises, and he sets that tone, just like last year with [Kane Kepley], and that can be huge for us. He’s also been really good when getting those runners on third with less than two [outs.].”
Every UNC batter reached base, seven had hits, and three collected two hits: Schaffner, Owen Hull and Colin Hynek.
On a day that UNC ace Jason DeCaro didn’t have his best command but struck out five in 3⅓ innings, ACC Freshman of the Year Caden Gauber (9–0) pitched the last 5⅔ innings, giving up three hits, one run and two walks while striking out six.
“I just have to get ahead, stay ahead,” Gauber said. “Getting behind is a hitter’s advantage, so if I can do my best to get ahead and stay ahead, then I think any hitter is going to be at their weakest.”
DeCaro (six hits, three runs, two walks) had his fourth-shortest start of the season. He’d given up two homers twice in his career and only once this season before doing it against back-to-back Hokies in the third inning.
Virginia Tech (30–24) got both of its blasts off DeCaro to left-center field. Ethan Gibson belted a four-seam fastball 400 feet for a two-run homer, and Hunter Cooke followed by launching a sinker 413 feet. DeCaro gave up consecutive one-out singles before averting further damage with two fly outs, the latter a Gates drive to the right-field wall.
Forbes said the play that could have swung the game came in that inning, with the bases loaded when right fielder Carter French snagged Sam Gates’ drive to the gap to end the inning. A few feet longer and higher, and it would have been a grand slam and a 7–2 Hokies lead.
“I think that game is a completely different game if he doesn’t make that play,” Forbes said.
After leaving two runners stranded in the first inning, UNC plated a pair of two-out runs in the second inning off surprise Hokies starter Griffin Steig, a sinker-slider pitcher. He started instead of ace Brett Renfrow, who had worked heavy innings late in the regular season.
Virginia Tech coach John Szefc said Renfrow “wasn’t ready to pitch” and “hadn’t recovered the whole way,” so the Hokies opted to give him rest.
Schaffner hit a 2–2 sinker to the left-center field wall for a two-run triple after center fielder Sam Gates couldn’t make a play. That scored Tyler Howe, who had walked, and Carter French, who singled to center field.
Gauber came in after DeCaro gave up a one-out single in the fourth inning and struck out two consecutive batters to get out of the inning.
Forbes said making the move is rarely simple, especially against a lineup he described as hot, but he trusted Gauber to steady the game.
“The hardest decision as a head coach is when to make the move,” Forbes said. “Jason didn’t quite have it today, but we’ve had games like that, and one of the reasons we’ve won so many games is we pick each other up, and Caden came in and did exactly that.”
Steig (3⅓ innings, three hits, five runs, five walks, four strikeouts) exited after hitting Schaffner with a bases-loaded pitch with one out in the fourth inning. After reliever Ethan Grim struck out Gavin Gallaher, Hull dribbled a two-run single through the right side of the infield to give UNC a 5–2 lead.
Virginia Tech’s Ethan Ball launched a 413-foot homer to right-center in the fifth inning off Gauber. UNC got that run back in the sixth when Hynek drew a leadoff walk and scored on Gallaher’s single to right field.
UNC blew the game open with four runs in the eighth inning, highlighted by Schaffner’s RBI triple to right center, Hull’s RBI single and Macon Winslow’s two-run homer to center field, a 423-foot blast. It was Winslow’s career-high 10th home run.
Schaffner’s triple came with a burst of visible emotion on the bases, which he said comes from how much he enjoys being part of this group.
“I love playing with this university,” Schaffner said. “I love playing for Coach Forbes, all the other coaches and my teammates. It’s been an unbelievable experience here, and sometimes I let a little bit too much emotion out, but I love it so much here. It’s hard not to express it sometimes.”
On the other side, Szefc said his team battled deep into the afternoon but fell behind too often in counts against UNC’s arms.
“I think we went to like 15 three-ball counts, which is not what you want to do,” Szefc said, noting the challenge of seeing DeCaro and then Glauber, calling it “difficult going from a guy like DeCaro to Glauber,” and facing “arguably their top two arms.”
Notes
— D1 Baseball’s latest NCAA tournament projection has UNC as the fourth overall seed and Georgia Tech as the second overall seed.
— Glauber’s outing was the longest in the postseason by a UNC reliever since Will Sandy pitched 5⅔ innings against Auburn in Game 3 of the 2019 Chapel Hill Super Regional.
— DeCaro previously gave up two home runs in a game at Virginia during his freshman season, and earlier this season, on March 28 at Notre Dame. In neither game did they both come in the same inning.
— In the first inning, Gallaher worked a 14-pitch walk on a 3–2 pitch after fouling off nine pitches.
— Carolina is 12–2 in ACC tournament play under Forbes, 96–73 overall and 3–0 against Virginia Tech.
— UNC leads the all-time series with the Hokies 87–34–2, including 7–0 at neutral sites.
— Carolina hasn’t met Florida State this season and swept a three-game home series against Pittsburgh.
No. 2 UNC 10, No. 7 Va. Tech 4
ACC tournament
At Truist Field in Charlotte
Buy tickets here.
Final on ESPN2; all other games on ACC Network
Tuesday’s first round
No. 16 Duke 21, No. 9 N.C. State 12
No. 12 Stanford 11, No. 13 California 4
No. 10 Notre Dame 5, No. 15 Clemson 4
No. 14 Pittsburgh 16, No. 11 Louisville 8
Wednesday’s second round
No. 8 Virginia 6, Duke 4
No. 5 Miami 11, Stanford 2
No. 7 Virginia Tech 17, Notre Dame 10
Pittsburgh 7, No. 6 Wake Forest 4
Quarterfinals
Thursday’s results
No. 1 (No. 3 ranked) Georgia Tech 16, Virginia 10
Miami 8, No. 4 Boston College 2
Friday’s games
No. 2 (No. 2 ranked) North Carolina 10, Virginia Tech 4
Pittsburgh (32–23) vs. No. 3 (No. 22 ranked) Florida State (37–15), 3 p.m.
Saturday’s semifinals
Georgia Tech (46–9) vs. Miami (38–17), 1 p.m.
North Carolina (44–10–1) vs. Pitt-FSU winner, 5 p.m.
Sunday’s championship
Noon
| Date(s) | Day/ month | Times/ scores | Opponent (current rank) | Record/ TV * |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February | ||||
| 13–14 | Fri., Sat. | W, 9–4; W, 12–2 (7); W, 4–3 (11) | vs. Indiana | 3–0 |
| 17 | Tuesday | W, 10–0 (7) | vs. Richmond | 4–0 |
| 18 | Wednesday | W, 5–3 | vs. Longwood | 5–0 |
| 20–22 | Fri.-Sun | W, 10–0 (8); L, 10–3; T, 3–3 | vs. East Carolina | 6–1–1 |
| 24 | Tuesday | W, 9–1 | vs. N.C. A&T | 7–1–1 |
| 25 | Wednesday | W, 13–3 (7) | vs. VCU | 8–1–1 |
| 27–28 | Fri., Sat. | W, 16–3 (7); W, 12–2 (7) | vs. Le Moyne | 10–1–1 |
| March | ||||
| 1 | Sunday | W, 21–1 (7) | vs. Le Moyne | 11–1–1 |
| 3 | Tuesday | W, 5–1 | vs. Elon | 12–1–1 |
| 6–7 | Fri., Sat | L, 13–3 (7); L, 9–2; W, 8–7 (12) | vs. Virginia | 13–3–1, 1–2 ACC |
| 10 | Tuesday | W, 13–3 (7) | vs. Bucknell | 14–3–1 |
| 13–15 | Fri.-Sun. | W, 8–1; W, 6–2; W, 10–2 | at California | 17–3–1, 4–2 |
| 18 | Wednesday | W, 8–2 | vs. UNCG | 18–3–1 |
| 20–22 | Fri.–Sun. | W, 11–1 (8); L, 2–0; W, 7–6 | vs. Louisville | 20–4–1, 6–3 |
| 24 | Tuesday | W, 9–1 | vs. South Carolina in Charlotte | 21–4–1 |
| 28, 29 | Sat., Sun | W, 6–5; W, 13–7; W, 15–10 | at Notre Dame | 24–4–1, 9–3 |
| 31 | Tuesday | W, 5–4 (14) | vs. Campbell | 25–4–1 |
| April | ||||
| 2–4 | Thur.-Sat. | L, 6–1; W, 5–2; W, 8–7 | vs. Boston College | 27–5–1, 11–4 |
| 7 | Tuesday | W, 8–4 | vs. Charlotte | 28–5–1 |
| 10–12 | Fri.–Sun. | L, 9–5; W, 6–4 (14); W, 12–5 | at Clemson | 30–6–1, 13–5 |
| 14 | Tuesday | W, 14–5 | vs. UNCW | 31–6–1 |
| 17–19 | Fri.-Sun. | W, 5–2; W, 14–4 (8); L, 5–2 | vs. No. 3 Georgia Tech | 33–7–1, 15–6 |
| 21 | Tuesday | W, 9–2 | vs. High Point | 34–7–1 |
| 23–25 | Thur.–Sat. | W, 3–1; L, 3–1; W, 22–5 (7) | at Duke | 36–8–1, 17–7 |
| 28 | Tuesday | L, 12–2 | vs. No. 24 Coastal Carolina | 36–9–1 |
| May | ||||
| 3 | Sunday | W, 13–0 (7) (non-conference game) | vs. Duke | 37–9–1 |
| 8–10 | Fri.-Sun. | W, 4–1; W, 12–2 (8); W, 7–3 | vs. Pittsburgh | 40–9–1, 20–7 |
| 12 | Tuesday | W, 13–7 | at UNCW | 41–9–1 |
| 14–16 | Thur.-Sat. | W, 9–4; W, 17–7 (8); L, 7–2 | at N.C. State | 43–10–1, 22–8 |
| ACC tournament | Charlotte | |||
| 22 | Friday | W, 10–4 | Quarterfinal vs. Virginia Tech | 44–10–1 |
| 23 | Saturday | 5 p.m. | Semifinal vs. (with QF win) FSU or Pitt | ACCN |
| 24 | Sunday | Noon | Championship | ESPN2 |
| NCAA tournament | ||||
| 29–31 | Fri.-Sun. | Regionals | Campus sites | |
| June | ||||
| 5–7 | Fri.-Sun. | Super Regionals | Campus sites | |
| 12–22 | Fri.-Mon | College World Series | Omaha, Neb. |
Photos courtesy of the ACC
