Scott Forbes explains why he wasn't surprised by Jason DeCaro's performance in Super Regional

North Carolina punched its ticket to Omaha for the 2024 Men’s College World Series on Saturday after sweeping West Virginia in the Chapel Hill Super Regional.

The Tar Heels’ Game 2 effort was led by 6-foot-5 freshman pitcher Jason DeCaro. He finished the game having allowed WVU’s lone run during the 2-1 victory, allowing just two hits and two walks across 6.1 innings. He also struck out five Mountaineer batters en route to securing his sixth win of the season.

Try Fubo for FREE today and don’t miss any of the action!

“Honestly it didn’t surprise me, he is a special kid and ultra competitive,” Forbes said postgame. “Here’s a kid that gave up his senior year in high school and trusted us. We thought doing that would give us a better chance to get him here and little do we know that he would get more draft attention because he pitched so well. But these (the older guys) guys saw right away this freshman class, how talented they were, how many arms we had.

“We had a really good feeling about Jason today and the matchup. Coach Bryant Gaines and Coach Jason Howell had a game and a pitcher has to go out and execute it. It’s fun calling pitches – I’ve been there – when he throws like he did tonight.”

On the season, DeCaro has appeared on the mount 17 times for the Tar Heels. Boasting a 3.89 ERA during his first season in Chapel Hill, DeCaro has struck out 72 batters across 85.2 innings of work during the 2024 season.

However, there was some concern heading into Game 2 given the fact that DeCaro’s turn on the mound during the Tar Heels’ regional against LSU didn’t end as well. His start was ended after two innings after allowing two runs on two hits.

“I wasn’t too happy with last weekend,” DeCaro said about the biggest motivating factor in his performance. “The coaches were great with helping me out and working with me to remind me just to stay within myself, not try to do too much, go out there and execute. That’s all credit to them for giving me the game plan to go out there and do it.”

It’s unclear what Forbes plan for DeCaro in Omaha will be, but if one thing is for sure — the first pitch between North Carolina and Virginia is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET and will air live on ESPN in what will be the first matchup of the 2024 Men’s College World Series.