North Carolina AD Bubba Cunningham criticizes NCAA over Scott Forbes suspension

North Carolina baseball fans are up in arms over coach Scott Forbes’ suspension from the next two games of the NCAA Baseball Tournament. The head of the Tar Heels baseball club blew a gasket at the umpire crew in the third inning of Saturday’s loss to VCU when they allowed what Forbes though was a dropped infield fly to remain in play, which VCU then turned into a double play.

Forbes stormed out of the dugout following the play and let the officials have it. He was quickly thrown out and had to wait in the locker room for the rest of the night as his team eventually fell to the Rams by one run, 4-3.

Forbes has North Carolina Athletic Director Bubba Cunningham on his side, though. Cunningham tweeted his disappointment in the NCAA over Forbes’ suspension. “It is incredibly disappointing to have the NCAA confirm a two game suspension for our head baseball coach – yet have no explanation for the call that ultimately led to the suspension,” Cunningham wrote. Adding, “we must do better for our student athletes and teams.”

Perhaps a different call on that play could have led to another outcome for Forbes and the Heels. Alas, their run in the NCAA Tournament is far from over. UNC still controls its own destiny. They were slotted as the no. 10 overall seed in the tournament and are hosting a regional in Chapel Hill. (Not everyday you see the home team getting hosed on calls, huh?).

Chapel Hill Regional Update

So far this weekend, North Carolina has split their games. They handled the four-seed in their region, Hofstra, with ease in a 15-1 victory. But they fell to VCU on Saturday night obviously. The Rams are now in the driver’s seat to advance, having knocked off the top two seeds in the regional. They’ll await the winner of Sunday’s 1 p.m. matchup between North Carolina and Georgia. The Bulldogs also fell to VCU in their opening game, but rebounded to beat Hofstra even worse than Carolina did, eliminating the Pride in a 24-1 blowout.

The Dawgs and Heels get started at 1 p.m. on ESPNU, with the winner needing to beat VCU twice in a row to advance to the next round. Lot of baseball left in Chapel Hill. Even if Scott Forbes has to watch from his bedroom.