UNC stars Colin Hynek and Caden Glauber react to big ECU win

The North Carolina Tar Heels are one game away from a regional championship and hosting another series next weekend.

UNC took a step forward in their path to Omaha by beating East Carolina on Saturday afternoon. Coming off a win over VCU on Friday, the Diamond Heels fell behind early to the Pirates. But clutch relief pitching and the bat of Colin Hynek got them on track.

UNC rallied and scored seven unanswered runs to get the 7-5 win over the Pirates. They now await the winner of East Carolina and VCU on Sunday with the chance to punch their ticket to the Super Regional round. But before that, let's read what Hynek and pitcher Caden Glauber had to say about the win.

“It was a lot of fun being able to bring the team back into that game. I haven’t played in the postseason, haven’t played past a conference tournament, so you know that’s part of why I came here, to be in moments like this. So to be able to come through, that was pretty special, and something I’ll remember forever.”

“He just told me to stay short, hit something in the gap, and that he believed in me, and that if he was betting, he was going to bet on me. So it’s a couple times now this year he’s stopped me to let me know that he believes in me, and that means a lot, coming especially from your head coach. So it’s kind of gives you an extra confidence boost in the box.”

“I think I’ve done a better job of getting good swings off. I’m not in between as much. When I’ve struggled this year, that’s been the case a lot. Swinging at bad pitches and taking good ones. So, when I’m getting good pitches, I’m getting swings off right now. That’s a credit to our coaching staff. We’ve worked a lot on that with Coach Jesse Wierzbicki, Coach Brandon Martorano, and Coach Scott Jackson.”

“Those situations (from earlier in season) definitely helped me out. Been in them before, and I think everyone on our team performs their best in high-leverage situations. So we had a great team win today, and with the heart rate, you have to stay the same throughout the whole time, can’t get too high, I can’t get too low.”

“Watching (Gavin Gallaher on TV the last two years), it’s incredible what he’s done in past regionals. He’s doing it right now in front of my eyes so it’s insane to see it in person rather than seeing it on TV.”