Tar Heels Searching for Edge

UNC has dropped 9 of its last 12 games

Photo courtesy of Joey Bray

Unranked and unmentioned in every preseason NCAA Tournament projection, North Carolina entered this spring with something to prove.

For nearly five weeks, that mentality carried the Tar Heels as they rattled off win after win on their way to their best start since 2016. But following their 7-6 loss to North Carolina A&T on Tuesday, their ninth in 12 games, Angel Zarate found himself wondering where the chip on the team’s shoulder has gone.

“I know in the beginning of the year we had that edge,” said the fifth-year outfielder. “We weren’t ranked, we weren’t talked about. People were saying we weren’t going to be any good, and we were like, ‘Alright, keep thinking that. We’ll show you.’ I think that’s kind of gotten away from us a little bit, and that goes a long way.

“Right now, we’re not a team that can have an off-day and win. Maybe early on in the season that happened, but this is the ACC. You can’t make too many mistakes. You can’t give them the extra outs or the extra walks, and we can’t give away at-bats and still win ballgames.”

As much as doing all the above has contributed to its recent skid, UNC’s pitching has been at the center of its struggles. Entering Game 1 of the Miami series on March 25, the Tar Heels ranked third nationally with a 2.07 ERA. But over the last 12 games, in which they’ve given up five or more earned runs 10 times, they’ve posted a 6.69 ERA (85 earned runs over 114 1/3 innings).

Among the staff’s biggest problems has been its propensity to give up the long ball. With North Carolina A&T’s grand slam Tuesday – its biggest swing in a six-run fourth – UNC has allowed 20 home runs over its last nine games. Entering that stretch, the Tar Heels had surrendered just 18 homers in their first 24 games.

“Our guys just aren’t making good pitches and they’re not making good pitches with two strikes. …” head coach Scott Forbes said. “Honestly, I think our hitters are through that tentative phase. I think they’re being more aggressive, and for some reason, our pitchers are pitching a little bit tentative and scared right now.”

Which might explain why they’re issuing so many walks.

Entering the Miami series, UNC ranked 19th nationally and first in the ACC with 3.03 walks allowed per nine innings. But over the last 12 games, the Tar Heels have averaged 5.67 walks per nine, which would rank 257th of 293 Division I teams and last in the ACC on the season. Of the 72 walks UNC has issued in that stretch, 34 have come on 3-2 pitches. That’s compared to just 19 strikeouts, another indication of the staff’s troubles with putting batters away.

While the walks and home runs are new concerns, the Tar Heels have also continued dealing with the season-long issue of getting few innings from their starters.

Early on, it was easy to chalk that up to strict pitch counts and a couple of injuries, namely to Max Carlson and Brandon Schaeffer – who each exited their start against Duke early due to a blister and back spasms, respectively. Carlson was also coming off significant offseason elbow surgery, which led the coaches to be especially cautious with his workload. Almost two months into the season, though, UNC has gotten just eight starts of five or more innings, including just one in its last 12 games.

“It’s amazing we’ve won as many games as we have with the lack of starting pitching that we’ve had. …” Forbes said. “We haven’t had but eight starts when we’ve been into the fifth? That’s not good. We’ve got to have some guys step up and pitch better from that starting standpoint.”

Despite this recent stretch, the Tar Heels still find themselves at 21-12 overall and 7-8 in ACC play, just two games behind Virginia for second place in the Coastal Division. They’re also still in the NCAA Tournament mix; Baseball America currently projects them as the No. 3 seed in the Knoxville Regional.

With a critical home series coming up this weekend against Georgia Tech, though, UNC can’t afford to allow the frustrations of the last few weeks to pile up.

“We’ve just got to keep getting better and not getting too down on ourselves because we still have a long way to go and we’re still in a good position,” Zarate said. “Some of the younger guys, they probably think, ‘Oh, we’ve lost a couple of games.’ I don’t know if they’re thinking we’re out of something, but that’s not the case at all. There are still a lot of games left, there’s still room to improve. We’ve got to have that edge back, and that will take us a long way.”