There have already been some big-time upsets to open Regional play this NCAA Baseball championship, but the Diamond Heels of North Carolina made sure that they were not going to be among the highly-ranked teams to find themselves in the losers’ bracket. The Heels rode a gem of a start from Ryan Lynch to post a combined 2-hit shutout and put the game away late offensively to finish Friday night with an 8-0 win.
After a 1-2-3 inning from Lynch to set the tone, the Heels’ bats struck early against VCU
ace Patrick Steitz. UNC got 4 straight 2-out hits, including a 2-run double from Erik Paulsen, to put up 3 runs in the first inning and grab an early multi-run lead. They then threatened to break things open with the second by loading the bases via 2-out walks, but Steitz managed to get out of that jam and keep things manageable.
Cooper Nicholson added a solo home run in the 3rd, his team-leading 16th, to put his team up 4-0, and from there, the game became a pitchers’ duel. Lynch was shoving on one end, inducing plenty of ground balls and limiting traffic, while Steitz and reliever Dawson Newman (who came in after 4 innings and pitched 3.2) battled with runners on, getting a couple of inning-killing double plays and doing just enough to keep the Heels from expanding the lead. Between the 2nd and 7th innings, the Heels had just 4 hits including Nicholson’s homer, and they finished the game having stranded 10 runners.
The top of the 6th felt like a turning point in the game. Lynch walked the leadoff batter, the only leadoff man he let aboard in his 7 innings, and then walked another batter with one out on a play that looked like a strike ’em out, throw ‘em out but was instead called Ball 4. Lynch, unfazed, induced a 5-3 double play from the next batter to get out of the only inning where VCU seemed like they might get back into the game. Despite it looking like he was losing command, having thrown 93 pitches through 6, he came back out for the 7th and worked a quick 1-2-3, emptying the tank and throwing 97 MPH gas after crossing the 100-pitch mark. He finished his night having thrown a career-high 108 pitches through 7 innings, allowing 2 hits, 4 walks, and striking out 5 in maybe his best outing of the year.
The Heels couldn’t extend the lead in the bottom of the 7th, either, which necessitated an appearance from Walker McDuffie, who worked a quick 14-pitch 8th thanks to a web gem from Erik Paulsen at 1st base to get the 3rd out:
That might have jumpstarted the Heels’ bats, because after VCU opened the bottom of the 8th by hitting Colin Hynek, the offense got going in a major way. Carter French moved Hynek over with a sac bunt, then Jake Schaffner, Owen Hull, and Gavin Gallaher had consecutive RBI hits — soon joined by Paulsen to complete a 4-run inning and give the Heels an insurmountable 8-0 lead. Matthew Matthijs came in to conserve McDuffie and struck out the side in the 9th to make the result official.
UNC now finds itself in the winners’ bracket and will face East Carolina on Saturday at 5:00 PM after the Pirates came out on top of a 14-inning marathon with Tennessee, 7-3. Scott Forbes probably couldn’t have scripted this day much better for UNC; he got 7 innings from Lynch and basically completely conserved his bullpen in a win while his Game 2 opponent was forced to burn both of their top starters and several high-leverage bullpen arms. Nothing is given, of course, but it appears that his decision to hold ace Jason DeCaro until Saturday has been vindicated.
