Scott Forbes addresses making history by winning Regionals out of losers bracket

After North Carolina dropped the second game of its Regional to VCU on Saturday, Scott Forbes found himself in a position that no other Tar Heels baseball coach had gotten out of before. To make it to Super Regionals, UNC now had to reel off three straight wins out of the losers bracket.

To make things even more difficult, Forbes was suspended for the next two games.

The Tar Heels narrowly escaped Georgia with a 6-5 win on Sunday to set up a rematch with VCU later that same day. Despite having played just hours earlier, North Carolina got off to a hot start with seven first-inning runs and never looked back on its way to a 19-8 victory that forced a win-or-go-home contest for Forbes’ return on Monday.

Once again, the Tar Heels started strong with four runs in the opening inning and never trailed on their way to a 7-3 triumph. The Regional win was the first for any UNC team after being put in the losers bracket. Despite the odds being stacked against his team, Forbes wasn’t shocked at all to see them pull it off.

“It’s a sign of toughness for sure,” he said postgame. “We talk about that. What is true toughness? What is true grit? We start early in the weight room with coach (Greg) Gatz. There’s so many people that don’t get the credit that deserve the credit and Greg Gatz is one of them. I’ve always thought he’s one of the hardest working people here in our athletic department. He’s been with us a long time and our guys get stronger, more physical and stay healthy and that’s a big part of him and our training staff. So it didn’t surprise me with this group. We even talked about we’d love to host. But with this team, the road is gonna be the road and nothing will surprise me with ’em.”

Gatz has served as Carolina’s director of strength and conditioning for Olympic Sports for the past 19 years. In that time he has worked directly with the baseball team, helping guide them to six recent appearances in the College World Series (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013). He now hopes to add another to that resume if Scott Forbes and UNC can make it out of Super Regionals.

The Tar Heels now turn around to host a best-of-three series against Arkansas beginning Saturday at 11 a.m. ET. The winner of the series will advance to the College World Series in Omaha with a chance to take home the championship.