By R.L. Bynum
OMAHA, Neb. — Junior left-hander Folger Boaz, who was North Carolina’s No. 3 starter most of the season, will start for the No. 4 Tar Heels on Wednesday at the College World Series.
It’s a decision Coach Scott Forbes said fits both the moment and the larger path UNC believes can carry it through the rest of the week.
Boaz (3–3, 7.03 ERA) last pitched on May in the 9–3 victory over East Carolina that clinched the Chapel Hill Regional title. In that game, he gave up five hits, one run and one walk with four strikeouts in 3⅓ innings. It will be 17 days between starts.
Forbes said the Tar Heels are sticking with the same formula that worked then, rather than chasing the temptation to empty everything into a game that could send UNC to the championship series.
While acknowledging that many would want him to start freshman sensation Caden Glauber, there are reasons that the right-hander isn’t Forbes’ choice.
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“The way this format is set up, if you start Caden Glauber, he might be done for the rest of the tournament if he does 100 pitches,” Forbes said at a media availability Tuesday morning at the Hilton Omaha, UNC’s hotel that’s located a couple of blocks away from Charles Schwab Field Omaha. “We’re doing the same thing we did in the regional. I thought Folger Boaz was outstanding against East Carolina. I thought he threw the ball well, especially early against Georgia Tech, one of the best offenses in the country. I think he can beat anybody.”
The Tar Heels will play at 2:07 p.m. Wednesday against the winner of the 2:07 p.m. Tuesday elimination game between No. 9 West Virginia and Troy, needing one win to clinch a spot in the CWS Finals. A loss would force a deciding game in Bracket 1 on Thursday.
Even with that setup, Forbes has no interest in framing the opportunity as if the finish line is within reach.
“That’s exactly what we’re not saying, that we’re one win away,” Forbes said. “Obviously, a lot of people are going to say that. I just told them I’ve been in that position in 2006, and I learned a lot from it. We’re not going to count outs, and we’re not going to listen to the noise. We’re just going to focus on what we’ve been doing all year.
“We’re going to practice hard [Tuesday],” Forbes said. “We’re going to be process-oriented. We’re going to wake up [Wednesday], have a pregame meal, take BP and try to win [Wednesday]. The longer this thing goes, it’s human nature to look at the end instead of where you are right now. If you do that, that’s dangerous.”
Forbes was an assistant on North Carolina’s 2006 team that came within a win of playing for the national title, and he said that experience still shapes the way he handles these moments. He remembers the sting of what slipped away. But, more than that, he remembers how quickly a team can get punished for looking too far ahead.
“My philosophy has been, really since that season, to go to your best guy in the biggest moment of the game, and the biggest moment of the game is not always the eighth or the ninth inning,” Forbes said. “I also took away the importance of not counting outs. I told our guys we’re going to play until they tell us to stop, and that’s what we’ve done. They’ve really bought into that. We haven’t talked all year about one more, one more. We’ve talked about trying to be process-oriented so that when we play, we’ll play well.”
That approach applies as much to the scouting report as it does to the pitching plan. UNC’s staff has spent the past two days preparing for both possible opponents, but Forbes said the emphasis remains on how the Tar Heels play, not on getting lost in matchup charts and hypotheticals.
“I’ve already watched Troy, I’ve watched West Virginia, but none of it matters if we don’t play well,” Forbes said. “If we play well, I like our chances against anybody, and I think we can beat anybody. But out here, as we’ve seen, the line is so thin, so we have to play well.
“This is just like a regional,” Forbes said. “You’re watching East Carolina and VCU, you don’t know who’s going to win, and you have to be ready for both. At the end of the day, as long as we’re ready, we’ll play well.”
The confidence in Boaz is not built only on the East Carolina outing. Forbes said the left-hander’s preparation and recent work have given the staff no reason to worry about the layoff, especially because UNC will not need him to carry the game alone.
Two available pitchers who haven’t thrown a pitch in Omaha this week are freshman left-hander Jackson Rose and senior right-hander Matthew Matthijs. Walker McDuffie is also available after throwing 63 pitches on Sunday. In Boaz’s last two starts, he was effective the first time through the opponent’s order but couldn’t sustain that.
The Tar Heels also have enough depth behind Boaz to attack the middle innings aggressively if the game demands it.
Forbes said he isn’t concerned with the long break between outings for Boaz.
“Not really,” Forbes said. “That’s where you trust your preparation. You get him on the mound, and I think there would be some concern if he didn’t pitch well his last outing, but I thought he pitched really, really well. I think his confidence is at an all-time high. He’s given us some huge innings this year. We wouldn’t be where we were without him and the other guys that are available tomorrow, and we have some depth.”
College World Series
At Charles Schwab Field Omaha in Omaha, Neb.
Sunday, June 21, game on ABC, all other games on ESPN
Bracket 1
No. 5-seed and No. 4-ranked North Carolina (51–12–1), No. 16-seed and No. 9-ranked West Virginia (46–15), Troy (39–31) and No. 23-ranked Ole Miss (41–23; eliminated)
Bracket 2
No. 3-seed and No. 3-ranked Georgia (52–13), No. 6-seed and No. 6-ranked Texas (46–14), Oklahoma (40–22) and No. 7-seed and No. 16-ranked Alabama (42–21; eliminated)
Pool play
All listed times are ET
Last Friday’s results
West Virginia 7, Troy 5
North Carolina 6, Ole Miss 2
Last Saturday’s results
Oklahoma 9, Alabama 0
Georgia 7, Texas 1
Sunday’s results
Troy 12, Ole Miss 8; Ole Miss eliminated
North Carolina 5, West Virginia 2
Monday’s results
Texas 14, Alabama 2; Alabama eliminated
Oklahoma 4, Georgia 3
Tuesday’s games
Troy (right-hander Cooper Elingworth; 2–4, 6.15 ERA) vs. West Virginia (right-hander Dawson Montesa; 5–5, 5.78 ERA), elimination game, 2:07 p.m.
Texas vs. Georgia, elimination game, 7:07 p.m.
Wednesday’s games
North Carolina (junior left-hander Folger Boaz; 3–3, 7.03 ERA) vs. Troy-West Virginia winner, 2:07 p.m.
Oklahoma vs. Texas-Georgia winner, 7:07 p.m.
Thursday’s games
Deciding Bracket 1 game if UNC loses on Wednesday, 2:07 or 7:07
Deciding Bracket 2 game if Oklahoma loses on Wednesday, 2:07 or 7:07
CWS Finals
(Best-of-3 series)
Game 1: Saturday, 8:07 p.m.
Game 2: Sunday, 1:37 p.m.
Game 3: Monday (if needed), 8:07 p.m.
Times in brackets are Central Time, with games starting 7 minutes after the listed times.
| 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 |
| 30–31 | Sat.–Sun. | W, 7–5, W, 9–3 | East Carolina | 48–11–1 |
| June | ||||
| Chapel Hill Super Regionals | ||||
| 5–7 | Fri.–Sun. | L, 9–5, W, 4–0, W, 4–3 | Southern Cal | 50–12–1 |
| College World Series | Omaha, Neb. | |||
| 12 | Friday | W, 6–2 | No. 18 Ole Miss | 51–12–1 |
| 14 | Sunday | W, 5–2 | No. 9 West Virginia | 52–12–1 |
| 17 | Wednesday | 2:07 p.m. | vs. Tuesday’s WVU-Troy winner | ESPN |
| 18 | Thursday | TBA | vs. WVU or Troy (if UNC loses Wed.) | ESPN |
| 20–22 | Sat.-Mon | 8:07, 1:37, 8:07 (if needed) | CWS Finals (if UNC wins Wed. or Thursday) | ESPN, ABC, ESPN |
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
