Tar Heels to 'Pitch Off' in Regional Opener, Ryan Lynch to Start Against VCU
Sophomore right-hander Ryan Lynch will get the ball Friday night to open NCAA Tournament play against VCU in Chapel Hill.
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Tar Heels to 'Pitch Off' in Regional Opener, Ryan Lynch to Start Against VCU
- Thread starter TommyAshley
- Start date
Please please please please be the right decision
Have to trust Forbes, but this makes me nervous.
Why not go with Boaz game one? If vcu wasn't the best 4 seed, I'd seriously consider it
I like the decision. Last year when we threw Knapp game 1, we could guarantee that he would go deep and it would save our pen. Throwing DeCaro game 1 wouldn't do that.
Lynch's stuff is good enough that if he's in the zone, he should go deep in this game. Maybe facing a lesser lineup than the one he'd see Saturday frees him up to attack.
Lynch's stuff is good enough that if he's in the zone, he should go deep in this game. Maybe facing a lesser lineup than the one he'd see Saturday frees him up to attack.
Here's my post from Tuesday on the "Starting Pitching?" thread:
"If the decision was mine, I think I'd throw Lynch on Friday and DeCaro on Saturday this weekend. But the decision is not mine! I have no issues at all if DeCaro pitches the first game, and I expect that's what we'll do..."
So I'm fully on board with this decision! Very tough call to make and it's very nuanced, but I think this gives us the best opportunity to win the regional. It's not like we are disrespecting VCU by throwing Ryan Lynch against them. But it gives us our best on the mound on Saturday against ECU's best (Norby) or Tennessee's best (Kuhns).
Throwing Boaz on Friday would've been a little too much of a gamble for me. But I fully trust Lynch. I think throwing our #2 in this first game makes a ton of sense.
"If the decision was mine, I think I'd throw Lynch on Friday and DeCaro on Saturday this weekend. But the decision is not mine! I have no issues at all if DeCaro pitches the first game, and I expect that's what we'll do..."
So I'm fully on board with this decision! Very tough call to make and it's very nuanced, but I think this gives us the best opportunity to win the regional. It's not like we are disrespecting VCU by throwing Ryan Lynch against them. But it gives us our best on the mound on Saturday against ECU's best (Norby) or Tennessee's best (Kuhns).
Throwing Boaz on Friday would've been a little too much of a gamble for me. But I fully trust Lynch. I think throwing our #2 in this first game makes a ton of sense.
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DeCaro started Friday against Long Island in 2024 and then came back Monday and started against LSU in the winner-take-all game. But he didn't have a long outing on the Friday.
With Lynch, I think the goal is for him to eat innings and give us 7+ innings and a win against VCU.
But if Lynch happens to only go 3 innings or something on Friday, as our starters have had a tendency to do recently, I think Lynch's experience in the bullpen last year makes him a good option to give us another appearance later in the weekend, likely as a bullpen guy. At that point you just start piecing it together. But I trust Lynch in a "you're in the bullpen now for the rest of the weekend" role than I do DeCaro, just because he's done it at this level before out of the bullpen.
But obviously first and foremost I like this move because it allows DeCaro to pitch the single most important game of the regional on Saturday.
Lynch probably recovers quicker than Jason with his experience throwing multiple times a weekend last year.
I wonder if Tenn and ECU pitching off forces Forbes hand here
That would have been my decision as well. Win the first two and then someone has to beat us twice.
Clearly going for what Forbes views as putting us in best position to get to 2-0 which is overall goal. Sure tough call but I like it.
Let’s go Ryan tomorrow!
Let’s go Ryan tomorrow!
To my knowledge Jason has never pitched in relief in his career.
DeCaro didn't pitch in relief last weekend
Dang, I thought he came in for a few wild pitches, but I was away from the tv at the end. Not sure where I got that, but very glad I was wrong!
I guess Lynch’s velo plays better against VCU and if his offspeed stuff isn’t totally on you still have that power. Jason much more likely to have Tenn batters off balance and we know how his start at ECU went. I’m talking myself into it.
Yup. I also posted this was my preference of the rotation this weekend after the regional came out. Just shocked Forbes went away from the norm. Impressed with how much he’s able to change and do what’s best for the team this far into his career… It may not work out perfectly, but with the available info… I’m not sure how you could argue it’s not the best option.
This is where Forbes (and the staff) make their money. I think I like the decision, but I’m a bit surprised they did it. I’m assuming there was a ton of discussion behind the scenes - and agree with the post above that the ECU-Tenn pitching decision may have influenced this.
He did open on 2 days rest as a freshman against LSU though
Not crazy about this decision. DeCaro has the ability to pitch 7+ innings which would put us in good position with the pen. Lynch just does not appear to have a lot of confidence in his game. His body language in Charlotte wasn’t good and he totally lost control of his changeup And his fastball was riding too high. OTH, he may have a better chance against VCU. Guess we will see.
I like the decision...
The postseason requires extraordinary moves, that take guts, and confidence, and Forbes has both.
the flip side, is VCU is going to take it as an insult, and their crowd is gonna be chirping like crazy.
Lynch needs his best stuff, and our bats need to back him up from the very start.
The postseason requires extraordinary moves, that take guts, and confidence, and Forbes has both.
the flip side, is VCU is going to take it as an insult, and their crowd is gonna be chirping like crazy.
Lynch needs his best stuff, and our bats need to back him up from the very start.
If we’re scared of the VCU crowd we’ve got big issues
Bottom line is we need to score early and often tomorrow, so the bullpen can be weeknight guys.
"Why not pitch Boaz?"
7 out of VCU's 9 hitters are right handed.
7 out of VCU's 9 hitters are right handed.
The guy starting Friday for ECU has been their game 1 pitcher for the last 5 weeks. Coach Godwin may just be going with who he feels is better right now.
interesting context for the starting pitching discussion
Cliff is going to use Norby like Forbes uses Glauber. Expect him to pitch in multiple games this weekend.