RALEIGH — It was a comedy of errors for the North Carolina baseball team Saturday night at N.C. State’s Doak Field, but UNC coach Mike Fox wasn’t even remotely amused by the proceedings.
Two batters after his team committed the third of its three errors in the seventh inning of what would be a stomach-churning 8-7 loss, Fox sauntered onto the field toward home plate umpire A.J. Lostaglio.
He did so in part to protest Lostaglio’s decision to eject him moments earlier for arguing that a 1-2 pitch to N.C. State’s Pratt Maynard ought to have been called a strike, but more to let the lid off what had become a boiling cauldron of frustration.
Head bobbling and arms waving frantically, Fox argued and eventually walked off the field, but UNC’s nightmare seventh frame was not yet complete.
In a cruel twist, pitcher R.C. Orlan threw a wild pitch later in the at-bat to allow Brett Williams to score from third, the fourth of a season-high five unearned runs the Tar Heels allowed on the evening.
“I was voicing my displeasure with my players, I just take it out on the umpire,” Fox said. “I can’t yell at my players because that’s not good coaching, so I yell at the one person on the field I can yell at and it’s halfway decent protocol.”
UNC’s unpleasant evening began in earnest three innings earlier, when Chris Diaz’s two-out grounder was fielded cleanly by UNC second baseman Tommy Coyle along the edge of the outfield grass not far from first base. But instead of ending the inning, Coyle’s throw sailed wide, allowing Cameron Conner to score what was at the time the tying run.
“I just threw it away,” Coyle said. “I just need to keep taking ground balls. It’s that easy, I guess.”
Usually sure-handed shortstop Levi Michael allowed a grounder to sneak under his backhand stab one batter later, and the Wolfpack ended the inning with a 5-3 lead.
