Scott Forbes commends UNC players for battling adversity from outside doubt

North Carolina punched their ticket to the College World Series in Omaha for the 12th time in program history following a dramatic 2-0 Chapel Hill Super Regional series win over West Virginia this weekend.

The Tar Heels baseball program is prestigious with a rich history dating back to 1867. But this year’s squad has been constructed in a unique way in the team’s fourth season under head coach Scott Forbes. Especially in the current state of collegiate athletics.

From former Division III players to those who have battled back from injuries, this year’s North Carolina team features plenty of players who have had to battle outside doubt and adversity throughout their careers. Leading to Forbes being asked if the personal resiliency from his players has played into the overall resiliency his team has displayed this postseason.

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“100%. Yes,” Forbes said. “And every program does it different, we’re all seeing in basketball and football. If you watch the Dan Hurley interview that he did on CBS he has his way sometimes you walk away from a more talented player for the right player to come in your program.”

“You still have to have talent, but you got to get the right fit to have a great team and that’s what we believe in here.”

North Carolina has found their fit in a variety of different ways, which can be seen by looking at the top of their batting lineup against the Mountaineers this weekend. Which features leadoff batter and one of the top prospects in the upcoming MLB Draft Vance Honeycutt, who was a part of the Tar Heels 2021 high school recruiting class along with two-hole hitter Casey Cook.

Parks Harber joined the Tar Heels this offseason through the transfer portal from Georgia. But the team’s clean-up hitter Anthony Donofrio who bats after him made stops at The State University of New York at Cortland, Stony Brook, and Quinnipiac before also joining the program though the transfer portal ahead of the season.

All followed by true freshman Gavin Gallaher batting fifth for North Carolina as one of the youngest contributors on the team.

“Yes, we will take some guys off the transfer portal, but we also still believe in our high school players. We believe the ones that come in here are talented enough to get better,” Forbes explained. “We count on them getting better through development, but we also want to get the right guy out of the transfer portal and the guy that’s going to be here for the right reasons, and we feel like we got lucky.”

“Obviously, the harder you work, the more lucky you get and our coaches did a phenomenal job last summer of not just identifying the talent. But working hard to figure out the backbone of the kid and is he genuine? Does he have high character?” Forbes asked.

The work of Forbes and his staff has clearly paid off as the Tar Heels are in arms reach of winning their first national championship in program history. A group that has displayed plenty of toughness throughout the postseason and will look to continue doing so as they face Virginia to start off the College World Series.