Fox: you can't know players until they are tested

The crowd had already begun to thin when Mike Zolk stepped into the batter’s box Friday night.

There was just one out left in the second game of a seven-hour twin bill, and with North Carolina down 10-4 to Xavier, few in Boshamer Stadium had any reason to pay much attention.

But Mike Fox did.

With the season just starting, the coach finally had the chance to learn a bit about his freshman players.

And in a moment when his team had little chance to win, Fox learned a lot about his new second baseman.

“You know, Mike Zolk’s last at-bat to me was probably the most impressive thing of the whole day,” Fox said. “He’s at the plate with two outs, game’s pretty much over, and he battles and battles and fouls off a couple of pitches and draws a walk.”

The base on balls didn’t make much of a dent in the box score — the Tar Heels still lost 10-4. But it did represent the type of never-say-die attitude that Fox likes to see in his players.

“I don’t know these guys until I see them in situations just like that,” Fox said. “They’re either going to show me they’re intimidated or they’re not intimidated, they’re scared or they’re not scared, and if they got some toughness to them.”

And for the most part, Fox said he liked what he saw from his freshmen hitters this weekend.

Zolk started two of the three games, driving in five runs on two doubles while playing a solid second base — a position he’ll likely share with fellow freshman and roommate Shell McCain.

A transplanted infielder himself, rightfielder Michael Russell had perhaps an even better weekend at the plate. He smacked three doubles, drove in four runs and reached base seven times, adding some punch to the bottom third of a deep lineup.

“The top five of our order is just ridiculous,” Russell said. “All those guys can just smash the ball. And the bottom — I mean, everyone on this team can hit. We can really swing.”

But in a series in which the Tar Heels scored 30 runs on 33 hits, it was restraint on the part of Zolk that stood out to coach Fox.

Matched up against Xavier closer Seth Willoughby, the team’s top arm out of the bullpen, Zolk didn’t give away his final Friday at bat.

It’s the sort of mindset Fox likes to see and one that comes naturally to the second baseman.

“I think it’s just my competitiveness,” Zolk said. “I mean, being down six runs in the bottom of the ninth inning, I figure if I get myself on base, it can start us a little bit of a rally.

“But that’s just the way I am. I don’t like losing. I don’t like making outs. It’s not my thing.”

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