Here’s what the Carolina baseball coach and first baseman said Sunday night, after the Tar Heels suffered their first loss in this regional.
Evan Rogers
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — North Carolina was unable to climb out of an early deficit and fell to LSU 8-4 in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday night at Boshamer Stadium, setting up a winner-take-all game for the regional title on Monday night.
LSU cracked open the game early with a two-run homer from Josh Pearson in the first inning. By the end of the fifth, the Tigers built an 8-1 lead. LSU won two elimination games here on Sunday, slugging past Wofford 13-6 in the afternoon before taking down UNC in the nightcap. The Tigers racked up 32 hits and 21 runs across the two games.
Anthony Donofrio recorded three hits and drove in three runs for Carolina (44-14). Aidan Haugh struggled in his first starting assignment in 15 days, lasting three innings and surrendering five hits, four runs and two walks.
Monday night's final game of the double-elimination regional will be a 6 p.m. start. Read and watch what UNC coach Scott Forbes and first baseman Parks Harber said following the loss Sunday night …
Opening Comments:
FORBES: "I've got to give LSU credit. I thought (Thatcher) Hurd came out the gate really good. That's a good arm and he didn't walk anybody. He didn't make any mistakes, really proud of our team to (fight back). … Obviously we say all the time as a team failing to prepare is preparing to fail. So we had to plan. We were hoping Aidan (Haugh) would give us a little bit more length, but he competed his tail off. I have nothing negative to say at all about our team. It's a special group and 6 p.m., primetime at the Bosh, LSU and North Carolina. I told our guys it doesn't get any better than that, so we will really be excited for that game and I'm excited to see our crowd come out and watch us play."
Was there any rust with Aidan tonight?
FORBES: "I don't think so. I just think he had a good fastball right out of the gate, 95 (mph), or maybe 96. LSU is a powerful team. You make mistakes, they make you pay and if you look at it we walked seven and only struck out five. That's not a good recipe to win, so we just didn't make enough good quality pitches."
Did you consider saving Cameron Padgett for tomorrow?
FORBES: "We had a plan and we stuck to it."
Where does that leave you for tomorrow?
FORBES: "With all our horses ready to go."
Would you consider throwing a starting pitcher who may be on one- or two-days rest?
FORBES: "All of our horses, they'll be ready."
Parks, can you talk about the approach when you guys go down early?
HARBER: "I'd say just the biggest thing for us was to continue to have good at-bats. It didn't matter the score because this game was important. We want to grind as many at-bats as we could and I thought we did a really good job. Unfortunately, we didn't get maybe the big hit tonight, but that's how baseball is sometimes. So that's just gonna motivate us for tomorrow to come out even more ready to go."
On trying to get the offense going with two outs:
HARBER: "I think it's just kind of part of our character as a team. Just resilient, tough and you saw it tonight. I think we scored the runs with two outs. So I think they're just big and (Anthony) Donofrio's had a really, really good bat and he's carrying us a lot right now."
What's the overall mood in the locker room right now?
HARBER: "I mean, I think we were disappointed we lost for about 10 seconds and then we flipped the switch and realized that we have an awesome opportunity tomorrow. With the home crowd, and so we're all just pumped up and ready to go."
What’s the message for the team going into Monday night?
FORBES: "Keep getting those guys on base. Keep getting them on base and somebody's going to get a big knock for us. And, you know, as good as the arms that were thrown out there, that was big for us. If we go down more, they don't have to use some of those guys and that adds up in this game. So that was a great job by the guys. And let me tell you. we had some opportunities to if we hit a ball in the gap, the game is a game of inches. Gavin (Gallaher) right there at the end, it's a really good swing. Just barely under it, that's what makes baseball what it is. So really the message is do what you've done all season and be aggressive. Play aggressive and go after."
What was Fletcher Hurd doing that made him so difficult tonight?
FORBES: "He basically did whatever he wanted. He was feeling it and he was really good. We couldn't get a base runner on. And when we got a base runner on he wasn't quite as sharp, because he had to be a little bit quicker because he knows we're gonna run on him. But man he had pitches going, good velocity, he was ahead in the count. Really, he looked like a Friday night started early on for sure."
On Gavin Gallaher’s defensive play at third base throughout the weekend:
FORBES: "It's the hardest position to transition to if you've been a middle infield guy your whole life. And he's worked really hard over there. To learn like it is the hot corner and I've got to work my tail off to get good at it, that's a hard transition. Credit to Gavin, to be his age and put in that work and get better it's really helped us no doubt. If he hadn't been able to make some of those plays, the game wouldn't have been as close."
Parks, did your at-bats tonight give you some confidence given how the weekend had been going?
HARBER: "Definitely. I think, obviously I've had a kind of rough last week or two maybe. But (tonight's) at-bats were huge for me to build some confidence, but you always step up to the plate with confidence. Sometimes baseball just works out that way. Like last two weeks I haven't been great, but you know, just really looking forward to getting out there tomorrow night and trying to get some good at-bats for the team."
Did you change your approach any?
HARBER: "No, not really. Just kind of stuck with what I'm good at. Coach Forbes just kept reminding me to just stick with the process. You know, do what you do well, so just kind of continue to do those things."
Given how many runs LSU scored against Wofford earlier today, was the two-run homer in the first inning a big confidence builder for the Tigers?
FORBES: "Anytime you strike first, that makes your team more confident obviously. And they did it with two outs and this game's about getting big hits. I thought Aidan made some tough pitches to Jones, he made a first pitch fastball that was right, center cut and you gotta give the kid credit, he squared it up. We had the same opportunities, which we couldn't quite square that ball up tonight."
