In all the games as UNC’s head baseball coach, Scott Forbes led arguably his team’s greatest postseason comeback on Sunday afternoon, in Game 3 of the Chapel Hill Super Regional against USC.
After trailing by two runs in the eighth inning, then later facing an 0-2 count with 1 out in the ninth, North Carolina stormed back for a 4-3, walk-off win against the Trojans to advance to Omaha.
With their heart-stopping victory, the Diamond Heels make their second College World Series trip in three seasons. UNC swept West Virginia, a fellow 2026 CWS participant, in two 2024 Super Regional games for its last trip to Omaha.
Owen Hull completed the North Carolina comeback, mashing his fourth double of the day on a 2-out, 2-1 pitch to left-center field, this time past the outstretched glove of Kevin Takeuchi. Carter French crossed home plate and the Boshamer Stadium crowd erupted in complete pandemonium.
Diamond Heels left fielder Tyler Howe, who led off the ninth inning, grounded his first pitch to second base for the first out. Cooper Nicholson faced an 0-2 hole, then worked a walk onto first base. French grounded a hard ball through the infield, Jake Schaffner lofted a sacrifice fly to deep right and scored Nicholson, then Hull delivered the grand finale.
UNC faced early trouble against the Trojans, with freshman star Caden Glauber balking and allowing a pair of solo shots. Nearly eight innings later, Glauber left the game with just those three runs and 11 strikeouts. Jackson Rose pitched a perfect inning, while Walker McDuffie allowed no hits in two-thirds of an inning to secure the win.
Now, Forbes leads North Carolina to its second CWS trip in three seasons. Check out what the Diamond Heels’ boss said postgame, courtesy of TarHeel247:
“I’ve been part of a lot of great games, that’s one of the most special games I’ve been a part of at Boshamer Stadium. First of all, I want to congratulate Southern Cal, very well-coached, heck of a team. One of the better teams we played all year, really good on the mound, good all around. Great kids, play the right way which is not surprising. Their head coach is an awesome human being, not just an awesome coach. I have a lot of respect for him and his staff. I know what it feels like to be in their shoes and that’s tough. They’re gonna keep going, they have a great program, so congratulations to a heck of a season to them. Most importantly, congrats to our players. The players make the program, the players are why we win all those games. They put in the work. I’ve been a player and I always tell these guys, you want to be able to look yourself in the mirror and say you’re the reason that you’re great. And this group can look themselves in the mirror and say, we are the reason we’re going to Omaha. And I couldn’t be more proud of a group, selfishly, I’m most excited just because I get to be around them more. That would’ve been the thing that I was most upset about, we talk about it all the time, winning will take care of itself if you do the things the right way. Culture, standards and these guys have done it the entire season, they’re well-led, they make me laugh, they work. And also real quick, a lot goes into getting to Omaha. You have to have a ton of support, things that people we say a lot of things don’t show up in a box score, a lot of things don’t show up, people don’t get the credit they deserve. So the support staff, administration, obviously the fans showed up big time. But the people that are here every single day, baseball’s a long season. We started August 17th, my coaching staff they’re phenomenal men. They make me better. Everybody, our support staff as well, we’re really close and I’m happy for them because they get to go. I’ve been to Omaha before and I get to see the joy on these guys’ faces, of coming back in here tomorrow and preparing, try to win UNC baseball’s first National Championship. Great win, we’re excited and on to Omaha.”
“I’ve been part of a lot of great games, that’s one of the most special games I’ve been a part of at Boshamer Stadium. First of all, I want to congratulate Southern Cal, very well-coached, heck of a team. One of the better teams we played all year, really good on the mound, good all around. Great kids, play the right way which is not surprising. Their head coach is an awesome human being, not just an awesome coach. I have a lot of respect for him and his staff. I know what it feels like to be in their shoes and that’s tough. They’re gonna keep going, they have a great program, so congratulations to a heck of a season to them. Most importantly, congrats to our players. The players make the program, the players are why we win all those games. They put in the work. I’ve been a player and I always tell these guys, you want to be able to look yourself in the mirror and say you’re the reason that you’re great. And this group can look themselves in the mirror and say, we are the reason we’re going to Omaha. And I couldn’t be more proud of a group, selfishly, I’m most excited just because I get to be around them more. That would’ve been the thing that I was most upset about, we talk about it all the time, winning will take care of itself if you do the things the right way. Culture, standards and these guys have done it the entire season, they’re well-led, they make me laugh, they work. And also real quick, a lot goes into getting to Omaha. You have to have a ton of support, things that people we say a lot of things don’t show up in a box score, a lot of things don’t show up, people don’t get the credit they deserve. So the support staff, administration, obviously the fans showed up big time. But the people that are here every single day, baseball’s a long season. We started August 17th, my coaching staff they’re phenomenal men. They make me better. Everybody, our support staff as well, we’re really close and I’m happy for them because they get to go. I’ve been to Omaha before and I get to see the joy on these guys’ faces, of coming back in here tomorrow and preparing, try to win UNC baseball’s first National Championship. Great win, we’re excited and on to Omaha.”
“I told y’all earlier, we just wanted to make more money today. As hot as it was, I bet we made a lot. Yeah, but they’ve been like that all year. Showed it earlier when we lost to Virginia, we talked, it’s a weekend series. After we lost that first game, we had to move on quick and I just said hey guys, besides the first series we played, we had a tie there with East Carolina. But Virginia kicked us in the teeth pretty good. We found a way and we won every series the rest of the way. It wasn’t always pretty, but these guys, I told them like hey, it’s just how it’s sete up. We have a lot of guys in that room that knew what it felt like to be on the opposite end. That set you up. It helps you learn from those things and we had that Bosh Magic with us. That helps as well. But these guys, they’re a tough group, resilient group. They play 27 outs, they’ve bought in completely to the next play mentality and being process-oriented that we talk about every day.”
“I told y’all earlier, we just wanted to make more money today. As hot as it was, I bet we made a lot. Yeah, but they’ve been like that all year. Showed it earlier when we lost to Virginia, we talked, it’s a weekend series. After we lost that first game, we had to move on quick and I just said hey guys, besides the first series we played, we had a tie there with East Carolina. But Virginia kicked us in the teeth pretty good. We found a way and we won every series the rest of the way. It wasn’t always pretty, but these guys, I told them like hey, it’s just how it’s sete up. We have a lot of guys in that room that knew what it felt like to be on the opposite end. That set you up. It helps you learn from those things and we had that Bosh Magic with us. That helps as well. But these guys, they’re a tough group, resilient group. They play 27 outs, they’ve bought in completely to the next play mentality and being process-oriented that we talk about every day.”
“Yeah, failure is the best teacher. I’ve learned as a coach to not let it take a loss to be focused on what I need to be focused on. But, you know, it can set you up for greater things. I remember Tony Bennett talking about it with Virginia. I’m a big fan of Tony Bennett. I have his pillars up in here, stole them straight from him. But he said that was a first-round loss, they won the National Championship the next year and it just set you up for that because you can handle in-game adversity, you can handle punches, you can handle a first loss like that. You figure if you get there enough toom you can knock that door down. And that’s what these guys did.”
“Yeah, failure is the best teacher. I’ve learned as a coach to not let it take a loss to be focused on what I need to be focused on. But, you know, it can set you up for greater things. I remember Tony Bennett talking about it with Virginia. I’m a big fan of Tony Bennett. I have his pillars up in here, stole them straight from him. But he said that was a first-round loss, they won the National Championship the next year and it just set you up for that because you can handle in-game adversity, you can handle punches, you can handle a first loss like that. You figure if you get there enough toom you can knock that door down. And that’s what these guys did.”
“Just slowing the game down a little bit. Basically, I was surprised. I wasn’t sure if they werre going to pitch to him. Just hey, if you get something close, just put a good swing on it, slow the game down. Obviously, he did that and he got the barrel to it. I think they were trying to just throw an extra fastball away and slow the game down. Obviously, he did that and he got the barrel to it. I think they were just trying to throw an extra fastball away and he was aggressive. Reminded me of the same type of swing Michael Busch started to take as he progressed in his career. But man, that was an unbelievable moment for me to watch that ball fall and watch this guy, Dr. French, cross that plate. So that was awesome.”
“Just slowing the game down a little bit. Basically, I was surprised. I wasn’t sure if they werre going to pitch to him. Just hey, if you get something close, just put a good swing on it, slow the game down. Obviously, he did that and he got the barrel to it. I think they were trying to just throw an extra fastball away and slow the game down. Obviously, he did that and he got the barrel to it. I think they were just trying to throw an extra fastball away and he was aggressive. Reminded me of the same type of swing Michael Busch started to take as he progressed in his career. But man, that was an unbelievable moment for me to watch that ball fall and watch this guy, Dr. French, cross that plate. So that was awesome.”
“He gets hit by a ton of pitches and he walks. He was scuffling a little bit. Yesterday, I think he got hit by a pitch, so we were all talking about as a staff, okay Cooper’s getting ready to get going. And we actually discussed before if Howe got on, do we bunt, do we not, so I had that going through my head because it was a good matchup for Cooper. I felt like he could hit a bomb off that guy, the way the ball tailed into his swing. He’s got some unbelievable bat speed. But man, what an at-bat, to win that and get a baserunner up there. Only fitting that we get to that 3-2 count. I didn’t send Coop, but he’s worked really hard. He wasn’t a great baserunner in the fall, but he’s gotten faster, he’s gotten stronger and he didn’t hesitate. He picked me up right away and thankfully, I made that decision and thankfully, he got there. That was the at-bat of the game, towards the end for sure, besides every one Hull had today.”
“He gets hit by a ton of pitches and he walks. He was scuffling a little bit. Yesterday, I think he got hit by a pitch, so we were all talking about as a staff, okay Cooper’s getting ready to get going. And we actually discussed before if Howe got on, do we bunt, do we not, so I had that going through my head because it was a good matchup for Cooper. I felt like he could hit a bomb off that guy, the way the ball tailed into his swing. He’s got some unbelievable bat speed. But man, what an at-bat, to win that and get a baserunner up there. Only fitting that we get to that 3-2 count. I didn’t send Coop, but he’s worked really hard. He wasn’t a great baserunner in the fall, but he’s gotten faster, he’s gotten stronger and he didn’t hesitate. He picked me up right away and thankfully, I made that decision and thankfully, he got there. That was the at-bat of the game, towards the end for sure, besides every one Hull had today.”
“Kid’s a stud. I saw his mom and dad coming off the elevator after Friday, they looked pretty dejected and I said hey, he’ll be out there in a big moment. You probably don’t want to hear that because your heart rate’s going to go up even more. That happens. I tell our guys all the time, you can’t be a late-inning reliever without a really short memory. Mariano Rivera has blow saves. You gotta have a short memory, you gotta be able to bounce back. We had a great feeling and we talked about, we kind of scripted out honestly, we thought maybe Matty (Matthijs) would get in there, maybe (Folger) Boaz would get in there, but Globe stepped up and threw so well. And Rose had been so hot and been so good for us. That’s hard to do. Two freshman, back-to-back like that. And then Duff coming in there and getting us out with a big out. Just had to make some tough decisions on intentionally walking some guys. But they make you look good as a coach when they make the pitches.”
“Kid’s a stud. I saw his mom and dad coming off the elevator after Friday, they looked pretty dejected and I said hey, he’ll be out there in a big moment. You probably don’t want to hear that because your heart rate’s going to go up even more. That happens. I tell our guys all the time, you can’t be a late-inning reliever without a really short memory. Mariano Rivera has blow saves. You gotta have a short memory, you gotta be able to bounce back. We had a great feeling and we talked about, we kind of scripted out honestly, we thought maybe Matty (Matthijs) would get in there, maybe (Folger) Boaz would get in there, but Globe stepped up and threw so well. And Rose had been so hot and been so good for us. That’s hard to do. Two freshman, back-to-back like that. And then Duff coming in there and getting us out with a big out. Just had to make some tough decisions on intentionally walking some guys. But they make you look good as a coach when they make the pitches.”
“Just an absolute stud. Solo home runs, we talk about, don’t beat you. He gave up those home runs because he was going after them, every single pitch. That’s what makes him so good. I’m just thankful that he, again, is not graduating high school today and he’s here, wearing our uniform.”
“Just an absolute stud. Solo home runs, we talk about, don’t beat you. He gave up those home runs because he was going after them, every single pitch. That’s what makes him so good. I’m just thankful that he, again, is not graduating high school today and he’s here, wearing our uniform.”
“I don’t want to make it about me. It’s about our team. But my dad, he’s the reason I’m here. He believed in me. A lot of people didn’t. He encouraged me to come here when I graduated from college. At home, I was literally mowing grass on the old Forrest Gump snapper. We had one of those. Coach (Mike) Fox called me and said do you want to come to North Carolina and be the volunteer assistant? I didn’t think anything of it. I coached with Coach, I went home and asked dad “It sounds like it’s literally a volunteer assistant. I don’t know where I’m gonna live, or have any money.” He said hey, you don’t know if you want to coach, so you had a blast last year. Go give it a shot. My dad owned his own business and I feel like I needed to potentially be the next person that ran that business, but he gave me his blessing, hey I didn’t start this business for you to run it. If he hadn’t have told me that, I wouldn’t be coaching today. But he also is at the games, he loves the games. He’s competitive and I’m just thankful. He has some health issues, but he still gets out after it and still living every day. He’s a positive guy. I’m thankful I was raised the way I was and I’m just thankful too, been to Omaha eight times. And I’m just thankful because life’s short. You don’t know what’s coming your way. I’m gonna be able to spend time with him in Omaha, which is awesome. Memories that you just can’t get back. I was just taking the moment in for a second.”
“I don’t want to make it about me. It’s about our team. But my dad, he’s the reason I’m here. He believed in me. A lot of people didn’t. He encouraged me to come here when I graduated from college. At home, I was literally mowing grass on the old Forrest Gump snapper. We had one of those. Coach (Mike) Fox called me and said do you want to come to North Carolina and be the volunteer assistant? I didn’t think anything of it. I coached with Coach, I went home and asked dad “It sounds like it’s literally a volunteer assistant. I don’t know where I’m gonna live, or have any money.” He said hey, you don’t know if you want to coach, so you had a blast last year. Go give it a shot. My dad owned his own business and I feel like I needed to potentially be the next person that ran that business, but he gave me his blessing, hey I didn’t start this business for you to run it. If he hadn’t have told me that, I wouldn’t be coaching today. But he also is at the games, he loves the games. He’s competitive and I’m just thankful. He has some health issues, but he still gets out after it and still living every day. He’s a positive guy. I’m thankful I was raised the way I was and I’m just thankful too, been to Omaha eight times. And I’m just thankful because life’s short. You don’t know what’s coming your way. I’m gonna be able to spend time with him in Omaha, which is awesome. Memories that you just can’t get back. I was just taking the moment in for a second.”
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