Carolina Baseball Media Day Quotables

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — North Carolina opens the 2026 baseball season on Feb. 13 as the Diamond Heels host Indiana in a three-game series in Boshamer Stadium. On Tuesday, UNC held its annual media day, with head coach Scott Forbes, pitchers Matthew Matthijs and Jason DeCaro, and second baseman Gavin Gallaher speaking from the podium. Folger Boaz, Ryan Lynch, and transfers Jake Schaffner and Macon Winslow also spoke later.

Here are noteworthy quotes and the full video interviews …

Scott Forbes

“I can’t speak enough of the team that we have from the standpoint it’s a well led team, Gavin Gallagher and Matthew Matthijs are our two captains this year. We’re excited about that. They aren’t our only leaders, but they are our captains. So I’m excited for them in that role, two young men that, when they got here really didn’t say much, that have learned how to lead. I’m excited for them about leading our team.”

“I think we’re pretty close on settling in on (the starting rotation) and making that decision, but the more competition you have, the harder those decisions can be. So I’m hoping to have to make a lot of really tough decisions, and some of those really talented pitchers are going to have to pitch for us out of the bullpen.

“But Jason has been a horse for us. It’s hard to believe he’s already a junior. He’s still one of the youngest players on our team. I want us to scrimmage Friday, Saturday, Sunday this weekend and then sometime Monday I’ll sit down with our coaching staff and we’ll make a decision on what our rotation will be against Indiana.”

“It’s hard to say necessarily, early in the season, with pitch counts being a little bit lower that you’re going to have a ‘closer’. I’m just so thankful Matthijs is back. He was that security blanket that we had until we lost him last year, and that was a credit to some of our other guys stepping up and giving us a chance still to potentially go to Omaha. But having him back gives us even more flexibility in the bullpen. He’s feeling really good, he’s going to want to pitch every single day – we’re not going to let him pitch every day – but he’s going to be ready to pitch.”

Ryan Lynch

“(As a starter instead of coming out of the bullpen) I just try to think never coast, never cruise, and just try to attack every guy as if I was coming out of the bullpen. And that was the mindset that the coaches taught me to have even if I’m coming out of the pen, I was expected to go five-plus innings, just act like I’m coming out of the pen and just try to attack right away…

“I work on my delivery a ton. That’s always trying to get better, trying to be repeatable, consistent, working on change up, trying to get my slider better, more consistent, and being able to go to both sides of the plate and just hitting more spots. I think last year I got away with a lot of misses. So I want to make sure that if I’m trying to go to one spot, I’m aiming for that spot, I’m executing that spot and not leaving room for error like that.”

Jake Schaffner

“North Dakota State was great, but I think this year, I think that there’s a lot more focus on little details. The coaches do such a great job at really pushing myself to be so much better every day as a man and a person. So just great being able to work with them. We have team meetings every day, talking, going over different videos, talking about how to make yourself a better man, have more discipline. All of that. So just really learning about that and flying into my life every single day.”

Folger Boaz

“I think pitching is a lot of confidence, if not the most, one of the most important things. Physically, I’m in a better spot, and I think again, just knowing what I needed to do to be good. So that’s kind of the biggest thing, just the confidence behind it, and then rolling out there, knowing that you put in the work and you’re ready for what’s in front of you.”

Jason DeCaro

“I think the biggest thing for me would be being better in two strike counts. I feel like that’s been a big area where I can improve for me, just being able to execute those pitches instead of overthrowing them.  And more technical, being able to throw the slider and the curve ball for a strike instead of just having one on a given day. So we’ve been working a lot on that in the fall, in the preseason, and think I’m in a really good spot.”

Gavin Gallaher

“There is some stuff I still need to work on  and just continuing to get better every day at second base, making that transition back to the middle. I definitely feel more comfortable there. That’s where I’ve always loved to play, up the middle. So just getting back to there, getting more comfortable every single day, especially double plays, important things whether that’s tandems, cuts offs in the outfield knowing where to be on the field at the right time and continue to improve on those things.”

Matthew Matthijs

“Whenever I wasn’t throwing, I was doing chart every single game. And what some guys don’t realize is just going into pitch calling is if you do the chart every day, you kind of understand what (Gaines) is going to call. So being on the mound and predicting what I’m going to throw has helped me this fall and this preseason so as soon as I get on the rubber and I get that pitch call, I’m like, yeah, that’s what I want to throw. So you can think along with them, and it makes it go a lot smoother.”