It was the third inning of North Carolina‘s regional final victory over LSU when Tar Heels head coach Scott Forbes turned to Matthew Matthijs out of the bullpen. At that point, he came into the game and was able to help control it for North Carolina.
Following the game, Forbes praised Matthijs, explaining how he’s seen his pitcher improve during his time in Chapel Hill.
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“He’s gotten so much better,” Scott Forbes said. “Here’s a kid who went out in summer ball and on his first pitch he got hit by a line drive on his left wrist. So, he didn’t get to pitch and had to catch up. We were laughing about his first day back at conditioning and it didn’t go so well.”
Matthijs came into the game when LSU had tied the game at two and, initially, he stumbled, giving up a slight lead to the Tigers in the third inning. However, after that, he was able to settle down and pitched 4.1 innings while only giving up the one run on two hits. He also didn’t walk anyone while striking out three.
“But to give the kid credit he did it. You know he had been able to run that because of his (turning to Matthijs) remember that day? But he’s always been an ice water kid. A kid who committed to us really early. We’ve always felt like he’s loved the big moment. Again, him not pitching yesterday. Coach [Jason] Howell and Coach [Bryant] Gaines…those are two guys that working together that have really helped a guy like Matty understand his pitches,” Forbes said.
“Obviously he’s worked hard. He’s throwing harder. But because of what we have now at our fingertips in our new facility, you can figure things out more. That’s really helped Matty learn to throw the fastball, the cutter down, and you add the curveball to it.”
A sophomore for the Tar Heels, Matthijs is working hard to continue to grow as a pitcher. That’s going to, largely, come down to how well he’s able to continue working with Gaines and the rest of the North Carolina coaching staff.
“It’s a credit too,” Scott Forbes said. “I see him in the weight room with these pitchers and Coach Gaines, our pitching coach, he pitched here and he knows what a good pitching culture is and he’s been determined to get that instilled here and that’s a big credit to him.”
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