Sensational Schaeffer Blanks Virginia Tech, Sends UNC to ACC Tournament Semifinals
The lefty tossed the 6th postseason complete-game shutout by a Tar Heel since 1999
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Scott Forbes had gotten everything he could have wanted out of Brandon Schaeffer. But as they sat down, along with Vance Honeycutt, for Friday’s postgame press conference, the North Carolina head coach considered turning to his pitcher one more time.
“I should let this guy sitting two seats down from me make the opening statement,” Forbes said, looking up from his box score and then toward Schaeffer.
But there was no need. Schaeffer’s performance had already done the talking for him.
Making his first postseason appearance for the Tar Heels, Schaeffer spun a complete-game shutout in eighth-seeded UNC’s 10-0 win over top-seeded Virginia Tech on the final day of ACC Tournament pool play. The lefty needed just 102 pitches to complete the masterpiece, allowing six hits and striking out six without a walk in nine innings. And in doing so, he became just the fifth Tar Heel in the Super Regional era (since 1999) to pitch a complete-game shutout in the postseason and the first since Kent Emanuel in the 2013 ACC Tournament against Miami.
That alone made the outing notable. Factor in who it came against — a Hokies team that crushed Clemson 18-6 a day earlier and ranks among the nation’s best in several offensive categories — and Forbes found himself comparing it to some of the best in his 21 seasons on UNC’s coaching staff.
“At the ACC Tournament, we’ve had some really good ones,” said Forbes, the Tar Heels’ pitching coach for 11 seasons from 2006-16. “But against that type of offense, to throw a complete-game shutout, it definitely ranks at the top. … That’s a tough lineup, one of the best in baseball, so it’s gonna rank up there pretty high for me.”
The fact that Emanuel was the last UNC pitcher to toss a postseason complete-game shutout seemed fitting considering Forbes has compared Schaeffer to the former Tar Heel lefty from almost the moment he arrived on campus last summer.
Like Emanuel, Schaeffer isn’t one to overpower hitters, with a fastball that sits in the 88-92 mph range. But his strike-throwing ability — as evidenced by his 79:4 strikeout-to-walk ratio at WVU Potomac State College last season — gives him the potential to throw a complete game every time he pitches, as Forbes has often said.
That trait was on display all offseason, as Schaeffer dominated UNC’s hitters. Most impressively, he improved with each start, culminating with five shutout innings in which he allowed just one hit and one walk while striking out six. A week later, the Auburn, Pennsylvania, native took the mound at Boshamer Stadium as the first Tar Heel pitcher in 25 years to make his UNC debut as the Opening Day starter.
Schaeffer’s first three turns through the rotation went rather smoothly, as he posted solid starts against Seton Hall, East Carolina and Coastal Carolina. When ACC play started, though, his struggles began. And before long, he was out of the rotation.
“Early on, I had a bit of a rude awakening coming into this league,” he said. “I wasn’t throwing as good as I wanted to and lost a little bit of confidence in myself.”
Coincidentally, he started to rediscover it against the Hokies.
With the Tar Heels up 10-6 and trying to avoid a sweep, Schaeffer entered the series finale against Virginia Tech on April 3 with no outs and runners on first and second in the top of the ninth. He quickly got one out, striking out Nick Holesa on just four pitches. He then induced a groundball back to the mound for a game-ending double play, as well as his first and only save at UNC.
At the time, Forbes’ decision to turn to Schaeffer in that situation felt like a major gamble, considering he could have lost all the confidence he had left if he struggled. The move was a clear indication, though, of how much the coaches trust him, and he’s shown exactly why they do over the last two months.
“At the end of the day, what Brandon found out is this is a tough league,” Forbes said. “You can have a great preseason and you can even be good against your own hitters. But this league is the best in the country, in my opinion, this year, and he found that out. It’s a credit to him, because what’s cool about this game is we took him out of the rotation and we were fighting for our lives on that Sunday against Virginia Tech, and we brought in Brandon Schaeffer to close the door, and he closed it. Since then, he’s pitched pretty dang good.”
Schaeffer entered Friday looking especially sharp as of late, having allowed three runs in 7 1/3 innings against Wake Forest on May 14 and three runs in 6 2/3 innings against Florida State last week. The starts were his two longest of the season, but he shattered both marks against the Hokies — and in dominant fashion, no less.
Backed by six runs in the first two innings, Schaeffer faced the minimum through five, throwing 36 of his 50 pitches for strikes. He finished the night with 73 strikes on 102 pitches, good for an absurd 71.6% strike percentage. He also threw first-pitch strikes to 21 of the 31 batters he faced while allowing only one to advance past first base.
Schaeffer’s fastball was particularly effective, as he threw it early and often.
“From my perspective, from a right-handed hitter, when he threw it up, the ball was carrying,” said Virginia Tech’s Tanner Schobel, a first-team All-ACC selection and a likely early-round pick in July’s MLB Draft. “When he threw it middle, it was tailing. When he threw it down, it was sinking. On the scoreboard, you see it as one pitch, but when he throws it different locations, it comes across as three different pitches.”
Behind it, Schaeffer handed Virginia Tech its first shutout loss of the year. He also lowered his ERA to 3.46 over his last 11 games (nine starts), dating back to his relief appearance against the Hokies.
With Schaeffer’s sensational start coming just three days after Max Carlson also delivered one of his best games of the year (6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K), the quality 1-2 punch that UNC envisioned coming into this season appears to be taking shape. And it couldn’t be happening at a better time, as the Tar Heels head into Saturday’s ACC Tournament semifinal against Notre Dame in position to earn a national seed in the NCAA Tournament.
“Pitching is just like hitting,” Forbes said. “You can have a pitching slump, and that’s kind of what we were in. We were thin, and all of a sudden, our guys started stepping up and that’s been cool to see. But I know, from Coach (Bryant) Gaines’ standpoint, how much time he spends preparing and watching Virginia Tech and getting a game plan with Brandon. And then obviously, Brandon came out and executed it.”
“That was about as impressive of a pitching performance, and I’ve seen a lot of impressive ones at UNC.”