The North Carolina bullpen just failed its first test.
In Monday’s 5-4, extra-inning loss to Clemson, UNC starter Hobbs Johnson came out in the sixth inning. A revolving door of relievers came in, and the Tar Heels quickly surrendered a 3-1 lead.
Then the bullpen gave up the winning run in extra innings.
“The inning where we gave them three runs, in a close game like that against a good team, we call that the big inning,” coach Mike Fox said. “Most of the time, if you win the big inning war, you win the game.”
Since the preseason, Fox has wondered which pitcher he could go to in tight games, calling it his $64,000 question. But with North Carolina not playing many close games in its 25-1 start, the question never really came up.
On Monday it did — and the answer wasn’t good.
Fox used seven different relievers, and none pitched especially well. The bullpen turned a 3-1 UNC lead into a tied ball game before it recorded its first out and into a 4-3 deficit before it recorded its second.
And in the late innings, the relievers got themselves into jam after jam — Clemson finally pushed the winning run across on a groundout after loading the bases with no outs in the 11th.
Chris O’Brien, the reliever that loaded the bases, took the loss. He walked the leadoff hitter, then slipped and fell on two consecutive sacrifice bunts, allowing both batters to reach safely.
