With College World Series trip on line, UNC baseball looks to create more ‘Bosh Magic’
Baseball players rely on the numbers of the game probably more than any other sport. And there are some impressive numbers that bode well for No. 10 seeded North Carolina before it takes on Arkansas on Saturday at Boshamer Stadium in their best-of-three NCAA tournament Super Regional.
Since the tournament expanded in 1999, 80 percent (140 of 176) of teams that won Game 1 in the Super Regional advance to Omaha, Neb. for the College World Series. Considering the Heels have a 33-7 record at home, that would seem to be in their favor.
UNC coach Scott Forbes said he wasn’t putting so much pressure on winning Saturday’s 11 a.m. game, despite the statistics that say it matters.
“When you’re in the ACC, the SEC or whatever league it is, you’re trying to win series and that’s what we’re trying to do this weekend,” Forbes said. “I explained to them that things are going to happen throughout these games, throughout this series, that we’re going to have to deal with. And a lot of times the team that can deal with those the best and have the best reaction and get back up off the mat end up coming out on top.”
If Carolina can’t rely on math against the Razorbacks, it has no problem relying on magic.
Playing at home for UNC tends to generate a level of optimism, especially when it is facing improbable odds — like if it ends up being in the 20 percent of teams to lose Game 1 and still end up in Omaha.
“The ‘Bosh Magic,’” UNC freshman center fielder Vance Honeycutt said, “is real.”
The latest display happened last weekend when Carolina won two games on Sunday facing elimination against both Georgia and Virginia Commonwealth all while Forbes was serving a two-game suspension. UNC won Monday’s winner-take-all game against VCU to advance to the Super Regional.
It has to be supernatural, right? They can’t find a mundane reason why it happens.
“Being here so long and seeing games that sometimes, even as a coach, you think, ‘Man, I don’t know about this one, I don’t know if we’re gonna get it done,’ and all of a sudden, you’re celebrating,” Forbes said.
It was among the first things former coach Mike Fox told senior left fielder Mikey Madej when he transferred to UNC from junior college in 2019. Madej went along with it, like he understood what Fox was talking about.
“I didn’t really realize it until the spring came around,” Madej said. “But the Bosch magic is real and I mean, there’s nowhere else where I want to play other than home especially in the Super Regionals.”
In Arkansas, Carolina is facing an opponent used to being in this round. The Razorbacks lead the nation with their fourth consecutive trip to the Super Regionals, which is the equivalent of making four straight Elite Eights in the NCAA basketball tournament.
The Heels and Razorbacks have similar stats as a team, especially in last week’s regionals, where UNC led the nation with a combined total of 14 home runs and Arkansas was second with 12.
UNC vs Arkansas
All games at Boshamer Stadium in Chapel Hill
Game 1: 11 a.m. Saturday
Game 2: 1 p.m. Sunday
Game 3: (if necessary) TBD, Monday
This story was originally published June 10, 2022 at 6:41 PM.