Scott Forbes has never been as nervous watching 18 innings of baseball as he was on Sunday.
The UNC baseball coach wasn’t in the dugout for the Tar Heels’ two wins on Sunday in a pair of elimination games. He was assessed a two-game suspension for extensively arguing a call on Saturday.
Forbes was back in the dugout on Monday as UNC knocked off VCU, 7-3, winning the Chapel Hill regional and advancing to the Super Regionals where the Heels will host Arkansas.
While watching the games on Sunday, Forbes was high-fiving those around him as the Tar Heels beat Georgia, and then the Rams.
When he wasn’t celebrating, he did allow his mind to wonder. What if his team didn’t come through the losers bracket? What if his last appearance at Boshamer Stadium this season was him being tossed? Those were some of the things that crossed his mind as he watched the games from an undisclosed location.
“It’s a lot harder to watch on TV than it is in the dugout,” Forbes said after the win on Monday. “I surrounded myself with a group of people, can’t tell you where I watched, that’s a secret, but we had a good time, we made the most of it.”
As glad as he was to be back in the dugout with his team on Monday, Forbes, whose jersey hung in the UNC dugout during the Heels’ pair of wins in Sunday’s elimination games, said he was disappointed he was in the spotlight as his team played.
“I was mad at myself,” Forbes said. “I could have prevented myself from being thrown out, even though I don’t think I should have been. But I did have to think, ‘OK, this is going to be a learning experience and I sure hope I don’t have to watch us lose at home.’”
After the Tar Heels defeated Georgia, 6-5, Forbes had a feeling his team would advance. Late in the 19-8 win over the Rams on Sunday night, fans at Boshamer started chanting “Scott Forbes” from the stands.
Mikey Madej, who was named MVP of the Chapel Hill regional, said he got goosebumps when the chants started and he started to pump up the crowd to do it even more. In Forbes’ absence, pitcher Nik Pry, who — according to his teammates — does a good Forbes impersonation, spoke to the team as if he was the second-year coach.
“Coach always says it’s our team,” junior pitcher Brandon Schaeffer said. “It’s really special to do it when he’s not here, to get some wins, get some big plays. It is a full team game and it takes every person in uniform. I think you saw everyone start pulling for each other.”
Gage Gillian said Forbes’ ejection on Saturday fired the team up. But Forbes immediately knew it would make him the center of attention, which he didn’t like. But he also knew he needed to move on. He said he still doesn’t agree with the ejection, but he “has to live with it.”
The umpire who ejected Forbes, Jeff Henrichs, was back at The Bosh on Monday. As Forbes came out to home plate to exchange lineup cards with VCU coach Shawn Stiffler, he shook hands with Henrichs, as well as John Brammer, who was also on the field Saturday.
Sometimes it can be hard to forgive,” Forbes said. “But if you’re going to do it you have to do it quickly because the same guys can be on the field and sure enough I walk up today and the same two are out there on the field. I sure didn’t want that to hurt our players.”
Forbes’ ejection and the buzz around it prompted Stiffler to joke on Sunday that Forbes was a “folk hero.”
When Forbes came out of the dugout for the first time Monday, he received a standing ovation while the umpires were greeted with a round of boos. Once the game started, the UNC fans had plenty to cheer about as the Tar Heels scored four runs in the first inning.
Forbes said not being able to be with his team Sunday was a “bad feeling,” but he trusted assistant head coach Bryant Gaines, who led the team in his absence, and is now looking forward to leading his team in a Super Regional matchup with Arkansas.
“They are my assistants for a reason,” Forbes said. “They do a phenomenal job, so I didn’t think that was going to affect us at all.”
