OMAHA, Neb. — Whether a hunch or a hint, North Carolina made a small change that made a big difference on Wednesday.
At the urging of an assistant coach, Tar Heels manager Scott Forbes decided to flip the No. 2 and 3 batters from Sunday’s game against West Virginia for the rematch and did so to put some stress on starting pitcher Chansen Cole. After alternating left-handed and right-handed hitters in the first win, they started with two lefties in the second win.
“He said, ‘I really think we might want to consider this because of how good the starter and Korn’ — who we thought we would see (first and second) — ‘have been against right-handed hitters,” Forbes said. “They thought it was a really tough at-bat, so we wanted to try to pressure them more.”…