Here’s what the Carolina baseball coach and star center fielder said after Friday's night loss, which eliminated the Tar Heels from the ACC Tournament.
Evan Rogers
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Top-seeded North Carolina dropped a 12-inning thriller to Wake Forest 9-5 on Friday night at Truist Field.
The defeat in pool play ended UNC's stay in the ACC baseball tournament, as the Demon Deacons advanced to Saturday's semifinal round. Wake Forest ace Chase Burns racked up 15 strikeouts across his six innings of work. Nick Kurtz drove in the tying run with Wake Forest down to its final strike in the ninth inning, and the slugger cranked a two-run homer in the 12th inning to put the Demon Deacons ahead for good. Earlier, in the eighth inning, Parks Harber gave the Tar Heels a 5-4 lead with a two-out single, two batters after Vance Honeycutt's two-out double off the wall tied the game at 4-4.
These teams traded blows for more than 4½ hours as Friday night's game went past midnight, and on and on. Carolina (42-13) now awaits its postseason designation, as one of the projected top national seeds in the NCAA Tournament field. Here's what UNC coach Scott Forbes and the star center fielder Honeycutt said following the loss …
Opening Comments
FORBES: "What a game. Obviously would have been a much better game if we'd come out on top. Want to give Wake Forest the credit that is due, a heck of a club. That's what the fans came for, a sold-out and unbelievable atmosphere. You know, we had some chances to get it done and we didn't. But you also have to give them credit. Chase Burns was electric and we hung around. It's a big credit to Shea Sprague. What I'm most pleased with with our guys, I mean there's some things that we did not do well. That was clear, especially the little things in the small ball. But one thing that this team always does well, is they play their tails off. That's what I'll tell them, flush it and move on and get ready for a great week."
How tough was it going against Chase Burns?
HONEYCUTT: "He's good, no way around that. We just knew to try to have some good at-bats, put some together and get his pitch count up a little bit. And then once we got him out of the game, just try to have some good at-bats after that. But I think that was kind of the name of it. You know, once that guy kind of gets out of the game, obviously a little bit more confidence. So just really trying to battle and plug each at-bat."
What do you need to see moving forward?
FORBES: "Honestly, just flush it and move on. I've been fortunate to be here a long time, fortunate to be a part of some really, really good teams. Seven Omaha trips and feel like we should have had a couple more. But you know, some of those trips, we don't win the ACC Tournament. We sure tried to and there's no reason to dwell on things. That's where the coaching comes in. You go back and say, 'hey, this is why a bunt is so important. This is why we keep working on it. The right base-running decision.' But again, I'm gonna remind the guys the aggressiveness and going after it doesn't need to change, that's how you win a championship. But we also have to use our head a little bit and make some smarter decisions. And we'll work on stuff, that's where our job comes in to help these guys make those better decisions. Man, these guys, they're a pleasure to coach that's for sure. So I'll tell them honestly just move on. Trust us, we'll get back to work on Monday or Sunday."
Did the missed opportunities in the 11th inning snowball into what happened in the next inning?
FORBES: "I wouldn't use the word snowball, you know I wouldn't use it. I didn't give Nick Kurtz credit either but I mean, he's a pretty good player. The game could have been over there, (Matt) Poston was hurling it in there at 97 mph. He was trying to elevate and for sure not throw him a strike, and you know players make mistakes. And Matt Poston sure not trying to do that, it was an elevated fastball and give Kurtz credit. He got inside of it just enough. But we don't believe anything bleeds into anything. We have short memories. We talk about it all the time, flush it fast. I told the (Athony) Donofrio after the baserunning mistake, you gotta move on. And it starts with me quickly, because if you don't, everybody dwells on it and it's a negative emotion in the dugout."
On having Wake Forest down to its last strike:
FORBES: "Yeah, it sucks. I mean, nobody likes to lose and you're talking, you're looking at somebody that hates it worse than a lot of people probably. But sometimes, these things happen to set you up for future success, hopefully. Because you're going to be back in that same situation, and you can't win a title without beating a really good team with a potential first rounder on the mound and two or three first rounders in the batter's box. You got to make those pitches. So, but again, the great thing is, it's not the last game. You get a chance to learn from it and get ready for the NCAA Tournament."
How can you clean up some of the small-ball mistakes?
FORBES: "Just work on them. Colby (Wilkerson) is a really good bunter. Just get in the cages and put that hack attack machine on to do what we've been doing since we started, whenever it was, first day classes in August. And I learned that a long time ago. I was fortunate to play at North Carolina Wesleyan and Coach (Mike) Fox brought that here. Just the importance of being able to execute and we work on it every single day. But these kids are human, too. Colby Wilkerson sure is heck isn't trying to pop that bunt up. But we'll work on that, and that's where our job comes in about being positive and say, 'hey, let's try to pull that bat back and push the ball down and get the ball down.' "
On the Carter French play at home plate:
FORBES: "It was a force, that was a heck of a play by (Marek) Houston, who was in between. So he could either turn a double play or go to the plate. And I was just hoping that there was no lane for French to slide into, because the rule is you can't block the plate before the ball comes. I haven't gone and looked at it on the replay. But obviously, they didn't see that and that's what they're paid to do."
What are your overall thoughts on the missed chances in the extra innings?
FORBES: "We had a lot of them. But again, we also did a lot of things when they had chances and you gotta tip your hat to them. We didn't get it done there at the end, they did. You know, really, it's just baseball. And Gavin's looking for something up in the zone and didn't get it to move it to the outfield and Colby's got big hit after big hit all season for us. And I was expecting after Gavin didn't do what I expected Colby to do it. But, you know, you're sure once it doesn't happen, you got to keep playing. Even that last inning when Vance is leading off with that double. We're trying to get the tying run to the play. And, you know, these guys are going to play until that last out is made and unfortunately we ran out of outs and we were behind."
