The North Carolina Tar Heels came out scorching hot on Thursday in ACC Tournament play, crushing three straight home runs to break the game open against Pitt. The Tar Heels didn’t look back the rest of the way, cruising to a 12-2 victory. Following the win, UNC head coach Scott Forbes spoke with the ACC Network broadcast crew, about a number of topics, including the status of star Vance Honeycutt moving forward.
How impressed was he that his team set the tone early and they didn’t overlook the Pitt Panthers? “Yeah, we talked about it. In this game, you can’t just flip it on and flip it off. You need to keep playing well because you want to be playing well into next week. Because that’s when obviously the NCAA Tournament starts. I really wasn’t worried about this group. We’ve got a deep team. It would be disrespecting the guys that are in the lineup if we weren’t ready to play,” Forbes explained.
What was so impressive about Jason DeCaro? He fired six strikeouts on Thursday in seven innings of work. “Gollee, you know. He’s impressed me all year. Here’s a kid that reclassed up to come in a year early and then had a chance to sign professionally, still. So, we had to fight that. He was in summer school thank goodness. Made the decision to come. He keeps getting better. And I watch him work. I get to see the same things everybody else gets to see. He spends that time in that weight room…” Forbes continued.
“You noticed that fastball holds and it starts ticking up a little bit. And you don’t see that a lot, especially, he’s only 18. It’s impressive. It reminds me a lot of Alex White, who was a bulldog for us. If you didn’t get Alex early in the game, he was gonna get better. And he bounced back quick like DeCaro did tonight when he gave up two runs,” Forbes said.
The Tar Heels didn’t have to dip into their bullpen at all on Thursday. What advantage does that give them moving forward? “Yeah, we had a plan going into the night. Obviously, we wanted to get his pitch count up. And he was not happy at all when we took him out. Because no doubt about it, he expects to finish what he starts. And I told him. I said, hey we’re gonna take you out here. We’ll let you go to 110, maybe even 120. Because you get into that NCAA Tournament and you’ll have actually seven days this time. But, man, he had four pitches going, too. That’s impressive for a kid that age. The touch he has for the ball,” Forbes explained.
Has he always been able to calm himself down after running into some trouble, all year long? “Pretty much all year long. He’s very competitive. Coach Gaines does a good job. He doesn’t take a lot of trips. When he takes them, we keep up. We chart them. What happens after. So, do we need to bust chops or not. Was it a good trip or was it a bad trip. And just talk to him a little bit. When he slows down. You had him throwing an offspeed pitch. You know. In a hitter’s count. He was able to do that after they scored, too,” the UNC head coach noted.
Has he ever seen such an incredible start like that, with back-to-back-to-back home runs to start the game? “Man, you know, we’ve hit some home runs. But I don’t know if I’ve seen it like that. Like boom, boom, boom. Just like that. And then the next guy gets out then boom. That’s always a fun start I can tell you that when you’re at third base,” Forbes smiled.
North Carolina is the first team in college baseball to do that this season. And no MLB team has done it either.
Scott Forbes on the injury status of Vance Honeycutt
One of the last questions Forbes fielded on Thursday night was about the status of his superstar, the 2024 ACC Defensive Player of the Year, Vance Honeycutt. What’s his status moving forward for their game vs. Wake Forest?
“Yeah, you know, I was close to putting him in there. It just spazzed up kinda later on in the afternoon. I mean, every game’s meaningful. If it had been a game to advance, I probably would have put him in. But Vance, it’s hard to play Vance if he’s 95%. Because it’s hard for him to play 95%. I mean, he’s a speed guy. The way he breaks. So, I thought, okay, let’s just get this spasm. Gallaher had one earlier in the year. We sat him a game. A lot of treatment the rest of today. He’ll be ready to go tomorrow. I’ll be shocked if he’s not,” the UNC head coach said.
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