UNC baseball will face Arkansas at home in Super Regional. What to know about Tar Heels
For the first time since 2019, North Carolina will host a Super Regional at Boshamer Stadium.
Not long after the Tar Heels knocked off VCU to win the Chapel Hill regional, Arkansas did Carolina a favor.
Miles away in Stillwater, Oklahoma, the Razorbacks defeated Oklahoma State, 7-3. With Arkansas upsetting the Cowboys, the No. 7 overall seed in the NCAA tournament, it provided No. 10-seeded UNC with the opportunity to continue to play in front of its home fans.
It’s the 10th Super Regional in program history for UNC (42-20) and the third in the last four seasons. It’s also the Razorbacks’ 10th Super Regional appearance, and their fourth straight.
The Heels and Hogs (41-19) will begin their best-of-three series on Saturday at 11 a.m. Their second game will be Sunday at 1 p.m. Their first game will be broadcast on ESPN and the second matchup will appear on ESPN or ESPN2. If a third game is necessary, it would be played on Monday.
It will be just the second meeting all-time between the two schools. Arkansas beat UNC, 7-3, in the 1989 College World Series, ending the Heels’ season that year.
Does UNC have what it takes?
VCU coach Shawn Stiffler was asked if the Tar Heels have what it takes to advance to Omaha.
Stiffler laughed before giving his answer. The Rams had their 17-game win streak snapped in Chapel Hill and dropped consecutive games for the first time since the middle of April. Safe to say, Stiffler was more than qualified to evaluate UNC’s title hopes.
“Certainly,” Stiffler said. “Postseason is just as much about being hot and lucky as it is being good. That lineup is dynamic and what gets overlooked is their defense, their ability to get off the field. Don’t ever overlook that, they are tremendous defensively.”
One day after Georgia scored 24 runs in the Chapel Hill regional, North Carolina held the Bulldogs to five runs. Arkansas is coming out of a region that set the NCAA record for runs (148) and home runs (41) at a regional site. The Razorbacks hit seven home runs in their win over the Cowboys on Monday night.
Stiffler also spoke highly of the UNC pitching staff.
“Bullpens are just as important as anything when it comes to Super Regional play,” Stiffler said. “They are as good as any team out there, they’ll be fine.”
The Rams couldn’t figure out the trio of UNC arms on Monday, including starter Brandon Schaeffer, who returned to the mound after just one day of rest.
‘Just a little stitious’
UNC baseball coach Scott Forbes borrowed a line from Michael Scott from ‘The Office’ when asked what the next couple of days will look like for UNC.
“I’m not superstitious,” Forbes said. “I’m just a little stitious.”
When he was an assistant coach under Mike Fox, Forbes always noticed Fox on his laptop, tying out itineraries for the team. Forbes did the same thing ahead of the ACC tournament, writing out a schedule through Sunday, the day of the championship.
The Heels ended up staying in Charlotte the entire time, winning the tournament title. He did the same thing over the weekend for the Chapel Hill regional.
“I didn’t have us coming through the losers bracket,” he said.
Monday morning, hours before they played VCU, Forbes already had an itinerary for the rest of the week typed up and ready to go as soon as the game was over.
“I think that’s good luck,” Forbes said. “We’ll get right back at it and start that process of getting ready for this weekend tomorrow (Tuesday).”
The road less traveled
The losers bracket had not been kind to the Tar Heels in the past. In fact, UNC had never won a regional going through the losers bracket. That changed Monday.
VCU ended the Tar Heels’ eight-game win streak during their first meeting. UNC responded by winning three straight, including two against the Rams, to advance.
“It’s really unbelievable,” Forbes said. “But it’s a credit to them. To come out of the losers bracket like that is the tell-tell of this team. It doesn’t surprise me, nothing surprises me with this group. I’m just thankful to be in it with them.”
The losers bracket got more complicated considering Carolina had to play two games on Sunday without its head coach. Forbes was assessed a two-game suspension for extensively arguing a call on Saturday.
‘A home field advantage’
Carolina improved to 33-7 at home this season. Arkansas is 7-8 in true road games this season. The Razorbacks went 3-1 in the Stillwater region.
On Monday, UNC knocked off the Rams in front of 4,160 fans, including former men’s basketball coach Roy Williams and current women’s basketball coach Courtney Banghart.
“I’m thankful for our crowd,” Forbes said. “They were tremendous. I’ve been in a lot of games here and it’s been big games, but I felt like our crowd this entire regional was phenomenal. That’ s a home field advantage and that’s another reason we won.”
Winning pitcher Gage Gallian and Mikey Madej, the MVP of the Chapel Hill regional, both remember what it was like playing a regional at Texas Tech a year ago.
“Not having thousands of fans against you, it’s nice to have them cheering for you,” Gallian said. “In the Texas Tech game last year, I couldn’t even hear myself think. Coming in (here) and not being able to hear myself think for the right reason was really nice.”
Madej added his “vision was shaking” in Lubbock a year ago. Being at home doesn’t guarantee anything, but he said he’ll take the Bosh over being on the road.
“Baseball is baseball,” Madej said. “We want to win, but it’s a lot easier being at home.”
This story was originally published June 7, 2022 at 11:39 AM.
