Pitching Decision Pays Off as Ryan Lynch Dominates VCU

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — On his 108th pitch of the night, Ryan Lynch reared back and unleashed a 96-mile-per-hour fastball — one that VCU second baseman Alec Warden could only wave at before making the walk back to the visitors’ dugout.

Facing his final batter of the evening, Lynch’s fifth and final strikeout served as the finishing touch on a seven-inning, two-hit, scoreless outing that couldn’t have come at a better time for the fifth-nationally-seeded Tar Heels.

“I saw that same look in his face as I did late in the season last year,” head coach Scott Forbes said. “I thought he was efficient, and the stuff was just the stuff. I mean, he was throwing cheese.”

Coming off what Lynch described as an “inefficient” outing against Pittsburgh in last week’s ACC Tournament semifinal, the Tar Heels’ right-hander wasted no time Friday night, attacking the Rams from the outset. Of the 17 pitches Lynch threw in the first inning, 16 were fastballs, with the heater touching 99 mph as he struck out two and set the tone for the evening.

It was no secret that length on the mound would be critical this weekend. Entering a regional featuring dangerous opponents in VCU, East Carolina and Tennessee, North Carolina desperately needed more from its starters after getting a combined nine innings from its starting rotation across three games in the Queen City.

“(Jason DeCaro)’s had a great year, but the last couple weeks we haven’t done our job,” Lynch said. “We haven’t gone really long enough, a lot of inefficient outings, not putting our team in the best spot to win.

“So I just tried to do whatever I could this week to make sure that wasn’t the case anymore — working on my delivery a little bit more, just seeing what I could do to feel better and give my team a better shot.”

In his previous two starts against Pitt and NC State, Lynch failed to reach the fifth inning, allowing nine runs on 17 hits across 7.1 combined innings while striking out four batters — one fewer than he punched out Friday night alone.

Friday night, as the sun set over Boshamer Stadium, the New Jersey native delivered exactly the response North Carolina needed. In his third career NCAA Tournament start, Lynch tossed a career-high 108 pitches and handed the Tar Heels seven scoreless innings in a game they could not afford to let slip away.

In starts against Oklahoma and Arizona during last year’s regional and super regional rounds, Lynch combined to throw 12 innings, allowing five runs on eight hits while striking out 11 — experience that helped settle his nerves after learning Tuesday he would get the ball Friday night.

“Pitching in a winner-take-all game for the first time last year was very (nerve-racking),” Lynch said. “But ever since that moment, I’ve been able to adjust a little bit, and I kind of understand what the feeling is like.

“There’s definitely a little more nerves before the game today versus maybe last week or the week before. But when you have such a good defense and you know the guys in the locker room support me all the time, it makes the job so much easier. I never feel like I have to take on anything myself.”

Thanks to Lynch’s seven scoreless innings, North Carolina enters Saturday’s winners’-bracket matchup against East Carolina with virtually its entire pitching staff intact.

Meanwhile, the Pirates needed six pitchers to outlast Tennessee in a 14-inning, 7-3 victory Friday afternoon, including ace Ethan Norby, who threw 65 pitches out of the bullpen. 

The Tar Heels needed half of that Friday night. Walker McDuffie threw 13 pitches to record three outs in the eighth, while Matthew Matthijs threw 12 pitches to strike out the side to close out the victory, and Caden Glauber never even threw a warm-up pitch. 

In other words, every arm not named Ryan Lynch will be available Saturday as North Carolina attempts to put itself in prime position heading into Sunday. 

“The more you can conserve, the better,” Forbes said. “We’re still going to have to do the little things tomorrow. I’m not upset that they played 13, 14 innings — of course not. But I know Cliff (Godwin), I know East Carolina. They’re going to show up, they’re going to play hard, and they’re going to be ready to go.”