After crushing Pittsburgh in the ACC Tournament semifinals, the UNC baseball program is now set for a rematch with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in Sunday afternoon's title game.
Both teams have plenty to play for and want to return home ahead of the NCAA Tournament with a title to add to their already impressive resumes. Georgia Tech, the No. 3-ranked team in D1Baseball's latest top 25 poll, want some revenge against the No. 2-ranked Tar Heels, who secured a series victory when the two elite programs met during the regular season.
For North Carolina, the opportunity to claim back-to-back ACC Tournament titles is what is at the forefront of their mind.
In tournaments like this one, teams are tasked with playing a handful of days with little (to no rest) to go with it. For both teams (who ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the conference), the schedule was a bit lighter than other teams, given they secured double-byes into the quarterfinal round.
Still, both teams had to exhaust some key pitching to get here, which makes the title game one that both coaches will have to map out accordingly.
How might Scott Forbes elect to string together his pitching in the title game? We have some ideas of what he might be thinking.
Predicting Scott Forbes' ACC Tournament title game pitching plans
Call us crazy, but there probably is only one pitcher on the Tar Heels' staff who will be 100% unavailable on Sunday.
Ryan Lynch, who threw 90 pitches on Saturday as the starter of the semifinal game against Pittsburgh, will only see the mound if somehow the game goes 20+ innings deep (and even that might be a stretch).
With this in mind, here's how we think it plays out:
Starting Pitcher: Folger Boaz
Yes, this might be controversial, given how he struggled against the Yellow Jackets back in April, but expect the left-hander to be the first on the mound for North Carolina on Sunday.
Based on our plan, Boaz sees Georgia Tech's batting order one time around, as the hope is that will get the Tar Heels at least two innings of outs. If he can complete three innings, that's a huge win, but the leach will be short for Boaz with all hands on deck.
Next out of the bullpen: Jason DeCaro and Walker McDuffie
Yes, you read that right: the ace of the Tar Heels will be available out of the pen.
Given he threw just 55 pitches on Friday (and struggled), there's no doubt that DeCaro wants to get back out there to help his team win. If Forbes allows it, DeCaro could be good for anywhere from 45-50 pitches, which, in what is expected to be a tight game, could be a huge benefit for the Tar Heels.
McDuffie threw 45 pitches on Saturday but is no stranger to pitching on back-to-back days. In all likelihood, the Tar Heels would prefer to limit him to a max of two innings, but don't be stunned if McDuffie gives them more than that.
Given the scenario, McDuffie will come out of the pen first (with the hope of giving DeCaro a clean inning to enter in).
Yes, the Globe will talk his way into this one
After throwing 90 pitches on Friday, there's no way Scott Forbes would turn to Caden Glauber, the ACC Freshman of the Year, right?
Lol, joke's on you!
Glauber is a gamer and will come in relief of DeCaro to work out of a jam in the seventh. Forbes will let him roll for the eighth inning before pulling the plug, turning the game over to veteran Matthew Matthijs to get the final three outs.
To recap:
Of course, this is all dependent on how the game goes, but in a perfect world, here's how it could play out:
Boaz- 2 1/3 IP
McDuffie: 1 2/3 IP
DeCaro: 2 1/3 IP
Glauber: 1 2/3 IP
Matthijs: 1 IP
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