Scott Forbes reveals UNC’s initial plan for starting rotation in Chapel Hill Regional

The North Carolina Tar Heels know there are high expectations for them in the Chapel Hill Regional. There, head coach Scott Forbes is going to lean on one of the best rotations in all of college baseball to get UNC to the Super Regional round of the NCAA Tournament.

Shortly following the Field of 64 being set, Forbes shared that he plans on turning the ball over to Jake Knapp on Friday. At the same time, he emphasized that he has faith in all of his weekend starters to get the job done when given the ball.

“Yeah, that’s my initial gut,” Scott Forbes said. “I feel like we have three Friday night guys. We want the option now.”

In the final weekend series this year, Forbes handed the ball to Jake Knapp, Jason DeCaro, and Aidan Haugh. Later, in the ACC Tournament, Ryan Lynch would get a start as Forbes looked to get his rotation work ahead of the NCAA Tournament.

“I thought the [ACC] tournament really helped us. We wanted to win the tournament, but what we wanted to do was get Aiden some experience out of the bullpen in case we face somebody that’s got a lot of lefties because he’s got that good changeup,” Forbes said. “And we wanted to get Lynch a potential start in case he has to make a start because he would be that guy.”

Haugh, who is now a senior, has pitched in 36 games this season. That includes 21 starts. In that time, he pitched 67.1 innings and has an ERA of 3.74 with 73 strikeouts. Lynch, meanwhile, is a freshman who appeared in 24 games while making one start. That start came in the ACC Tournament Championship Game, and he pitched four innings in it. For the season as a whole, he’s thrown 48.1 innings and has an ERA of 2.98 with 60 strikeouts.

Scott Forbes has plenty of faith in both Haugh and Lynch. However, his top two pitchers Knapp and DeCaro are ones who he’s expected to lean on for the entirety of UNC’s postseason run.

“But right now, the way Knapp and DeCaro — they’re both two of the best pitchers in the country,” Forbes said. “I’m confident with them pitching against anybody. So, we will probably keep them on that rest that they just had.”

Knapp has appeared in 14 games, making 13 starts this season after missing 2024 with an injury. In 87 innings pitched he has an ERA of 2.17 with 78 strikeouts. DeCaro, for his part, has appeared in 14 games, all of which were starts. In 73.2 innings pitched, he has an ERA of 3.42 with 62 strikeouts.

North Carolina opens the NCAA Tournament with Holy Cross on Friday. Depending on the results, they’ll then play either Nebraska or Oklahoma. After that, it’s on to the Super Regional.