CHARLOTTE, N.C. — No. 1-seeded Virginia Tech won the regular season Coastal division title for the first time in program history this season. It entered its ACC Tournament game with No. 8-seeded North Carolina ranked No. 2 in the country by Baseball America, D1 Baseball and the USA Today Coaches Poll.
The Hokies entered Friday’s matchup ranked in the top 25 nationally in slugging percentage (.569, third), home runs (104, 10th), batting average (.309, 14th), scoring (8.4 runs per game, 19th) and on-base percentage (.406, 25th).
UNC starter Brandon Schaeffer toed the rubber and delivered one of the greatest postseason pitching performances by a Tar Heel in program history.
“I should let this guy sitting two seats down make the opening statement,” head coach Scott Forbes said after Friday’s 10-0 win over the Hokies. “That’s about as impressive of a pitching performance, and I’ve seen a lot of impressive ones at UNC. I was just joking with them (Schaeffer and Vance Honeycutt) on the way up on the elevator, that’s what he did to us the whole preseason and he just did that to one of the better teams in the country. Story of the game is Brandon Schaeffer.
When the dust settled from the near three-hour game, with fireworks erupting over Truist Field, Schaeffer had thrown a complete game shutout on 102 pitches. He became the first UNC pitcher to throw a nine-inning shutout since Kent Emmanuel shutout the Texas Longhorns during the College World Series in 2011.
The Southpaw’s final line: 9.0 IP, 6 H, 6 K, 0 BB, 102 pitches, 73 strikes.
Schaeffer threw mainly his fastball, something he can manipulate and make appear as different pitches. His velocity was averaging between 90 and 91 mph; nothing otherworldly, but the deception certainly gave the Hokies’ hitters fits.
It was the first time the extremely potent offense has been shutout all season.
Schaeffer came to UNC by way of transferring in from WVU Potomac State College. When the Tar Heels’ ace, Austin Love, departed after last season, there was an obvious need for pitching so Forbes and his staff went out and grabbed Schaeffer.
He was lights out in the preseason, demonstrating perfectly how lethal his approach to each at-bat can be. He even made guys like Vance Honeycutt, who just broke Aaron Sabato’s single-season UNC freshman home run record and is one home run away from being the first-ever freshman to record 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases in the BBCOR era, look silly.
“He did it to us all preseason, especially me,” Honeycutt said, echoing his coach’s sentiments. “I don’t think I touched a pitch from him all preseason. It says a whole lot about what he was able to do tonight. I thought he was very effective and it was fun watching.”
But Schaeffer went through a rough patch this season, as does everyone who plays the game of baseball. Slumps occur, and the junior college transfer quickly discovered the rigors of playing in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
He was removed from the starting rotation after three consecutive starts that failed to surpass three innings on the mound. And then Virginia Tech came to Chapel Hill in early April and UNC needed an arm to secure the series finale win and avoid the sweep. That arm ended up being Schaeffer, who shut down the two batters he faced in the ninth to secure the win.
Fast-forward to the final two weeks of the season and the first week of the postseason and Schaeffer has delivered starts of 7.1 innings, 6.2 innings and now a complete game shutout.
“At the ACC Tournament, we’ve had some really good ones, but against that type of offense, to throw a complete game shutout, it definitely ranks at the top,” Forbes said. “The Alex Whites, the Matt Harveys, those guys have thrown some big complete games for us, the Zac Gallens, a number of guys, Robert Woodard at Clemson in the World Series. But, man, that’s a tough lineup, one of the best in baseball, and so it’s going to rank up there pretty high for me.”
Forbes, UNC’s pitching coach under Mike Fox for 11 seasons, has seen his share of outstanding performances on the mound by players donning argyle and Carolina blue. But the performance from Schaeffer on Friday night, under the lights, with the option to either win or go home against the No. 2 team in the country, is one of the best he’s ever seen.
It was just that good.
