There's no tying in baseball

As Sunday’s baseball game ended, UNC’s radio announcer summed it up perfectly.

“What a stupid ending.”

He couldn’t have been more right.

After giving up a combined 35 runs in the first two games of its series against Miami, UNC was in position to win the third and final game.

But due to a travel curfew, both teams were forced to end the game deadlocked at seven.

It was the first time a game has ended in a tie for Tar Heels since 1989.

Because Miami had to head back to Coral Gables on the last flight out at 6:45, it was decided before the game that no inning could be started after 4:15.

It was almost as if the game was being played according to schedule, as the 10th inning started at literally 4:14.

When the fans at Boshamer Stadium heard that the game would end in a draw if no outcome was decided, a chorus of boos rained down from the stands. Little kids even yelled at the Hurricanes to finish what they started.

While no team can be assigned the blame for Sunday’s bizarre finish, something should have been done to prevent such a moronic ending.

“I don’t know what to think, to be honest with you,” said Miami coach Jim Morris. “I can’t remember the last time we had a game stopped like that with a tie. You don’t want to walk out of here with a tie. You want your team to win.”

No baseball game, especially one between two top-10 teams, should end in a draw.

With the previous two games in the series each lasting well over 3 1/2 hours, Sunday’s start could have been pushed up an hour to accommodate for the possibility of this scenario.

Game times are changed all the time for possible inclement weather, so why not push up the start so the game actually has a final outcome?

This would have worked perfectly with the television coverage of the game, as the start on ESPNU was tape-delayed and not scheduled to begin until 4 p.m.

The tie also wasted a spectacular outing from UNC closer Matt Danford.

Danford pitched an unbelievable 6 1/3 innings out of the bullpen, but it was essentially all for naught.

“You obviously don’t want to leave with a tie, especially with two losses earlier in the series,” Danford said. “Coming out with a tie, it leaves a little bit of a bitter taste in your mouth. After all the hard work and great plays … you want to come through with a win.”

The game marked an ugly end to an ugly weekend for the Tar Heels, as they were basically swept at home.

UNC headed into the weekend with supposedly one of the best — if not the best — pitching staffs in the country, but their two aces were absolutely crushed in their starts. Neither Andrew Miller nor Daniel Bard could get out of the third inning.

While UNC came into the weekend ranked higher in the polls, Miami showed that it doesn’t just rely on two players, as the Hurricanes put forward a full team effort all weekend.

And Miami proved that it is a better team than North Carolina, even if the partisan crowd didn’t think so.

From the crowd’s reaction, it seemed that not many people even knew a tie was possible in baseball.

With the way their team was playing, the fans were lucky to get that much.

Contact David Moses at dmoses@email.unc.edu.