Tar Heels to 'Pitch Off' in Regional Opener, Ryan Lynch to Start Against VCU

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — For the first time in three years, Scott Forbes is mixing it up. When the fifth-nationally-seeded Tar Heels open NCAA Tournament play Friday night against VCU, it will be sophomore right-hander Ryan Lynch toeing the rubber inside Boshamer Stadium — not North Carolina’s usual Friday starter, Jason DeCaro.

Friday night will mark the first time since 2023 that Forbes has saved his ace for game two, when the Tar Heels threw then-junior Jake Knapp as a No. 3 seed against second-seeded Iowa in the Terre Haute Regional — a game UNC lost 5-4.

It will be just the second time in North Carolina’s last 10 regional appearances, dating back to 2014, that the Tar Heels have “pitched off.”

“When it comes to deciding who’s going to start which game in a regional, we feel confident in both Jason (DeCaro) and (Ryan) Lynch in both scenarios,” Forbes said Thursday.

“Most of the time it becomes, ‘Okay, what do we feel like is the better matchup’ even though we feel like they match up well against anybody, and they ain’t gonna be scared of anybody. That’s why we decided to go Lynch game one against VCU, and DeCaro will go game two against East Carolina or Tennessee.”

After a freshman season that saw Lynch predominantly come out of the Tar Heel bullpen before making three of his final four appearances as a starter, the New Jersey native has settled into Carolina’s Saturday role, posting a 4.44 ERA and a 4-4 record while earning Third-Team All-ACC honors earlier this month.

“I feel like we have multiple aces,” Forbes said. “I feel like Jason DeCaro and Ryan Lynch are both Friday night guys.”

In his last outing against a hot Pittsburgh squad during Saturday’s ACC Tournament semifinals, however, Lynch surrendered a season-high nine hits and allowed three runs across 4.0 innings against the potent Panthers.

Across UNC’s last two NCAA Tournament appearances, Forbes has deployed his ace in Friday’s all-important opener, starting Jake Knapp against Holy Cross in last season’s regional opener en route to a 4-0 victory, and DeCaro against Long Island in 2024’s dramatic 11-8 win that no Carolina baseball fan will soon forget.

In UNC’s 13-3 win over VCU on Feb. 25 at Boshamer Stadium, Boston Flannery, Walker McDuffie and Jackson Rose combined to lift the Tar Heels over the Rams, meaning Friday’s regional opener will mark the first meeting between Lynch and VCU this season.

Win or lose Friday night, the decision to start Lynch means Saturday’s game against either Tennessee or East Carolina will belong to DeCaro.

Should the Tar Heels draw East Carolina, it would not be DeCaro’s first matchup with the Pirates this season. In UNC’s 10-0 win in Greenville on Feb. 20, DeCaro turned in his longest outing of the year, tossing eight shutout innings while allowing five hits and striking out seven.

Prior to last Friday’s ACC Tournament quarterfinal against Virginia Tech, DeCaro owned the ACC’s second-best ERA at 2.03, entering postseason play with a 10-2 record while earning First-Team All-ACC honors.

Last Friday in Charlotte, however, DeCaro lasted only 3.1 innings, surrendering three runs on six hits while striking out five and walking two batters.

Regardless of who gets the ball for the Tar Heels this weekend, Carolina’s starting pitching will need to deliver against a stiff regional field after UNC starters combined for just nine innings across three games in last weekend’s ACC Tournament. 

“This team’s mature, they know we’ve played good teams all year, good midweek teams, and I’ve told them it’s about how we play, it’s not about the opponent,” Forbes said. “All of our focus has been on us, number one. Us practicing hard, preparing — it’ll stay on us, and we’ll be prepared to play VCU tomorrow at 5:00.”