Grace: DeCaro, Tar Heel Defense Guide UNC in Cal Opener

North Carolina traveled to Evans Diamond for the first time in history and took game one against the California Bears 8-1. Jason DeCaro turned in a strong start on the mound and the offense found life late to ensure an upper hand in the series.

Here is what you need to know from the Tar Heels’ first road ACC game of the season:

Setting the Tone

To head coach Scott Forbes, it all comes back to starting pitching. After a difficult outing against Virginia, where too many uncompetitive pitches and free passes marred DeCaro’s first ACC outing of the season, Road Jason showed up. 

Road Jason knows how to figure it out and fight, even if things are not rolling as smoothly as a fresh jar of Skippy. That is when DeCaro is at his best, fighting through the nitty-gritty deep in opposition territory. Take Tallahassee last year, for instance: seven hits, but he only let one run score in the sticky Florida night. When in Greenville this year, the Pirates put up five hits but were unable to show anything for it. 

In Cali, DeCaro had a chance to let his outing snowball into disaster after letting up back-to-back singles with one out in the first. But, with the help of the Tar Heel defense, Cal’s first and third turned into another outfield assisted double play as left fielder Tyler Howe gunned Jacob French at the play to end the first. From there, DeCaro was near dominant with with four stellar shutout innings. Cal’s Cade Campbell homered in the sixth and DeCaro was relieved by freshman Caden Glauber after walking the leadoff batter in the seventh. 

While DeCaro did not have the strikeout magic on Friday, that is not the biggest concern. To be nitpicky, in three consecutive innings, a DeCaro free pass put the Cal leadoff man on. There was also a ton of hard contact, which the defense was able to deal with, but soft contact is preferred. 

All in all, a very positive outing, only allowing one run to score on five hits while walking two and striking out two. 

Glauber took the torch from DeCaro to close out the game. Glauber’s first two innings were a thing of beauty, recording four outs in six pitches. He ran into a bit of trouble in the ninth inning when the Bears knocked a leadoff single, then Glauber walked Cal DH Carl Schmidt.  But in true fighting fashion, Glauber retired the rest of the Bears in order to end the game. 

Offensive Highs and Lows

Oh, the highs and the lows of baseball, ask anyone who is watching the World Baseball Classic, things can change with one pitch. 

The Tar Heels looked like the five-hour flight west may have left its mark the first time through the lineup. The entire nine of the lineup were retired in order.

Finally in the sixth inning the offense started to click; after plating one in the fifth, the Heels broke the game open with four runs. Through a combination of opportunistic hitting and free passes, UNC took a commanding lead. The Tar Heels scored one in the seventh and two in the ninth to secure the victory. 

Most of the offensive lifting, not taking into account RBIs due to drawing a walk, was done by three of the newest Tar Heels. Owen Hull went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and a double, Erik Paulsen snapped a 0-17 slump with two knocks and Jake Schaffner was a triple shy of the cycle. 

Keeping it Interesting

Well, no one can say that the Tar Heels are defensively boring. UNC and Cal executed five total double plays and none of them were via the classic 6-4-3 or 5-4-3 variety. Instead, the Tar Heel defense turned on the fireworks for all of those watching back on the East Coast just to keep everyone awake. There was a 3-6, a 7-2 and an unconventional 8U twin killing after a diving Owen Hull snag. 

It was pure Little League glory when the Carolina blue jerseys were on the dirt. After stumbling a bit defensively last weekend against Virginia, the ability for the team to get outs in even unconventional ways is reassuring moving forward… and it’s keeping the game fresh.

The Tar Heels will go for the series win behind Ryan Lynch’s start Saturday at 5 p.m. Eastern time.