By R.L. Bynum
CHAPEL HILL — It took Colin Hynek’s red-hot bat, along with some between-pitches words from Coach Scott Forbes, to ignite Carolina’s offense.
Hynek’s game-tying three-run homer in the fourth inning was the catalyst as the No. 4 Tar Heels erased an early three-run deficit to knock off East Carolina 7-5 in a winners bracket game Saturday at the Chapel Hill Regional.
Before a packed house of 4,254 fans at Boshamer Stadium, sensational freshman right-hander Caden Glauber (10-0) made seven middle-inning runs hold up to put the No. 1 regional seed Tar Heels a win away from advancing to a Super Regional.
UNC (47-11-1) will play at 5 p.m. Sunday against the winner of a noon elimination game between No. 3 seed East Carolina (37-23-1) and No. 4 seed VCU (37-24). The Rams eliminated No. 23 Tennessee, the No. 2 seed, 5-4 on Saturday afternoon.
Hynek tied it with one swing for his third home run in nine games, a three-run shot that was a moment he had envisioned when he transferred to Carolina.
“It was a lot of fun, being able to bring the team back into that game,” Hynek said. “I haven’t played in the postseason, haven’t played past the conference tournament, so that’s part of why I came here, is to be in moments like this and be able to come through. That was pretty special.”
After Erik Paulsen and Tyler Howe singled, and after a brief conversation with Forbes during the at-bat, Hynek unloaded on a 90 mph fastball from ECU starter Luke Payne (3⅓ innings, 5 hits, 3 runs, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts). Hynek launched the drive 415 feet into the batter’s eye in center field to tie it and end the evening for Payne, who had kept UNC off stride with his off-speed stuff.
Hynek said Forbes’ message was simple and timely.
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“He just told me to stay short, hit something in the gap, and that he believed in me,” Hynek said. “He said if he was betting, he was betting on me. A couple times now this year, he’s stopped me to let me know that he believes in me, and that means a lot, especially coming from your head coach. It gives you an extra confidence boost.”
Forbes saw a hitter who needed one clear thought more than anything else.
“My gut was, being a pitching coach for all those years, I know what I probably would have called. If I was throwing the first-pitch changeup, then probably going fastball, trying to go at the top,” Forbes said. “I’m glad he got the fastball, but he did it, so all credit to him. I just felt like I didn’t want him in between on what to look for, just be short to it and try to find a gap.”
It looked for a while as if Payne had the Tar Heels speeding up at the plate. Then Hynek changed the game with one swing.
“It was the swing of the game. That’s what makes this great game so awesome,” Forbes said. “A guy can be out there throwing the ball really, really well. He has good stuff, too. We knew if he was in the zone, it was going to be tough, and he was filling it up. I just felt like after that our guys settled in. They were really excited today about this game in a good way, so my job the whole time was just trying to get them to breathe a little bit and have fun.”
Glauber came in after junior right-hander Jason DeCaro failed to go at least four innings in back-to-back games for the first time in his career. With a fastball consistently in the mid-to-upper 90s, Glauber was outstanding, striking out eight and giving up three hits and two runs in 4⅓ innings. Walker McDuffie struck out the side in the ninth inning for his sixth save.
DeCaro couldn’t replicate Ryan Lynch’s long outing the night before. After going 3⅓ innings against Virginia Tech in the ACC tournament, he lasted 3⅔ innings, giving up six hits, three runs and three walks while striking out two.
DeCaro exited after a two-out fourth-inning walk, and Glauber quickly steadied the game. After issuing a walk, he retired eight in a row, including striking out the side in the sixth inning.
“Just trying to stay calm, collected, not take it too high, not take it too low,” Glauber said. “The fans just get you going, so just try to use that momentum to your advantage every time.”
After UNC left the bases loaded in the top of the first, mostly light contact produced two first-inning ECU runs with four two-strike hits, including an infield single and a dribbler through the middle of the infield. Jeff Sabater hit a bouncing RBI double on an 0-2 pitch down the right-field line with two outs before DeCaro struck out Austin Irby swinging.
Following a strike-him-out, throw-him-out double play to end the UNC third inning, ECU got the leadoff man on for the third straight inning. Braden Burress walked, stole second and scored on Sabater’s single to shallow right field.
Gavin Gallaher led off the fifth inning with a double down the left-field line and scored on Paulsen’s sacrifice fly to give UNC its first lead. Carolina added three more in the sixth on consecutive RBI doubles by Jake Schaffner, down the right-field line, and Gallaher, just fair down the left-field line, the latter plating two more.
The latest regional performance from Gallaher (2 for 5 with two RBI) came as little surprise to his teammates. In 10 Chapel Hill Regional games over three seasons, Gallaher is 22 of 42 with 13 runs, 18 RBI and five home runs.
That makes him a good veteran to advise a player playing in his first NCAA tournament series
“I don’t think there’s any exotic advice that he’s given us,” Hynek, a Georgia State transfer, said of Gallaher. “This all goes back to August. Gav works his butt off day in and day out, so in order to be your best in spots like this, you’ve got to be able to fall back on that work. You don’t rise to the occasion, you sink to the level of your training, and I think Gavin’s a great example of that.”
The extra offense mattered for Glauber, who said the Tar Heels never felt out of the game.
“It’s huge, for sure,” Glauber said of the lead he worked off of. “Momentum is game-changing, and I’m never worried about getting behind with this lineup. They can put up runs no matter what, any inning.”
ECU trimmed its deficit to two on Sabater’s two-out, two-run triple that ricocheted off the side wall down the left-field line in the seventh inning, but Glauber and the bullpen kept Carolina in control. After Gallaher bobbled a grounder before helping turn an inning-ending double play, Forbes saw the kind of response his team has shown all season.
“We talk all the time, Dean Smith rule — you point and pick each other up, and that’s what we’ve done all season” Forbes said. “When something negative happens, you’ve got to get the next guy. That will prevent a big inning, and that was a huge pitch for us and a big double play.”
Glauber, who said every pitch had to be an “A pitch” against ECU’s disciplined lineup, leaned heavily on a sharp slider to finish hitters off.
“This ECU lineup’s a really good lineup, so every pitch has to be your A pitch,” Glauber said. “You’ve got to get your slider good, better, best, and they can swing it and hit with a good eye, so you’ve got to make sure you throw any pitch with conviction.”
Forbes credited Glauber for changing the tone the moment he entered.
“I thought Jason battled. I thought he had pretty good stuff, he just could not get to his off-speed, and they’re very disciplined,” Forbes said. “Globe came in really, really well, kind of a big out with Norby after they scored two.”
McDuffie handled the rest after Forbes and pitching coach Bryant Gaines settled on the move late.
“Give credit to Coach Gaines,” Forbes said. “I was in the middle in the ninth. I needed to be pushed over because I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, and when your pitching coach feels very strongly that we need to go to McDuffie, we did.”
Now the Tar Heels are one win from moving on, with Boshamer Stadium buzzing the way Forbes remembers from Carolina’s return to hosting regionals two decades ago.
“A great win, a great crowd,” Forbes said. “I’m just happy for everybody here, because I think about 2006 and that first regional that we had hosted in forever, and how much it has grown here, how excited everybody is, and how baseball’s a big deal. I just think that’s awesome.”
Notes
— Forbes said that Folger Boaz is the likely Sunday starter but Jackson Rose is also a possibility.
— Hynek is 11-for-34 in the last nine games with multiple hits in five of them.
— VCU’s Saturday afternoon 5–4 win over Tennessee drew 3,715 fans.
— Carolina was the visiting team for the game, but still used its usual dugout.
— Schaffner and Hynek both got hit by pitches, extending the program record for HBPs in a season to 114.
— UNC is 4–0 in NCAA tournament play against East Carolina, earlier winning 10–1 and 9–3 in a 2009 Super Regional and 5–3 in the 2012 Chapel Hill Regional.
— Carolina leads the all-time series with ECU 65–37–1, including 39–11–1 in Chapel Hill.
No. 4 UNC 7, ECU 5
Chapel Hill Regional
At Boshamer Stadium
Friday’s results
No. 3 seed East Carolina 7, No. 3 seed (No. 23-ranked) Tennessee 3, 14 innings
No. 1 seed (and No. 4-ranked) North Carolina 8, No. 4 seed VCU 0
Saturday’s games
VCU 5, Tennessee 4; Tennessee eliminated
North Carolina 7, East Carolina 5
Sunday’s games
VCU (37–24) vs. East Carolina (37–23–1), elimination game), noon
North Carolina (47–11–1) vs. winner of VCU-ECU game game, 5 p.m.
Monday’s game (if needed)
Deciding game should winner of Sunday’s noon game also win the 6 p.m. game, time to be determined
| 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. 2 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. 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 | W, 13–5 | Semifinal vs. Pittsburgh | 45–10–1 |
| 24 | Sunday | L, 13–6 | Championship vs. No. 2 Ga. Tech | 45–11–1 |
| NCAA tournament | ||||
| Chapel Hill Regional | ||||
| 29 | Friday | W, 8–0 | VCU | 46–11–1 |
| 30 | Saturday | W, 7–5 | East Carolina | ACC Network |
| 31 | Sunday | 5 p.m. | ECU or VCU | TBD |
| June | ||||
| 1 | Monday | TBD | (if needed) | TBD |
| 5–7 | Fri.-Sun. | Super Regionals | in Chapel Hill (if UNC advances) | TBA |
| 12–22 | Fri.-Mon | College World Series | Omaha, Neb. | TBA |
Photos by Smith Hardy
