UNC baseball's Cody Stubbs merciless against Miami

Up 9-0 in the eighth inning against No. 8-ranked Miami, Cody Stubbs stepped into the batter’s box — three hits, four at-bats with two runs batted in already behind him.

With a 10-run mercy rule in effect, one more RBI by Stubbs would end the game and give top-seeded North Carolina a first-round ACC tournament win. Stubbs said he was well aware that he was in a walk-off situation, and without any pressure on the first baseman, Stubbs got his fourth hit and third RBI to end the game.

Despite ending the game with a walk-off hit, getting as many hits as the entire Hurricanes team, and outscoring them himself, it was the first baseman’s defense that made the biggest difference in the game for the Tar Heels.

“Our kids were ready,” coach Mike Fox said. “We had some guys have some individual spectacular games.”

Fox said Stubbs was one of the prime examples of that, and he cited a key point in the game as evidence.

With no outs and two on in the second inning, Miami’s Alex San Juan grounded directly to Stubbs’ territory. Having walked two straight batters to open the inning, UNC starter Kent Emanuel needed an out, or two, to keep the momentum in UNC’s favor early on in the contest.

Instead of simply picking up the ball and getting the easy out at first, Stubbs rifled the ball to second base to get the 3-6-1 double play and keep the Hurricanes hitless through two innings.

“The double play there, when Kent got himself into a little bit of trouble was huge,” Fox said. “The game could have really changed there.”

But it didn’t.

And it all started with Stubbs, who was on his game defensively for the entirety of the game that he ended himself.

Fox was quick to attribute practice for the team’s ability to pull out the double play and wasn’t afraid to tell his players that — even in the middle of a press conference.

“That’s probably the first (3-6-1 double play) we’ve gotten all year, but we probably practiced it 10 or 15 times the other day,” Fox said. “I made Cody make that throw a lot (in practice) and here we get it in a game.”

“Remember that,” Fox said to Stubbs and Emanuel in front of the media.

Based on his defensive performance in the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, Stubbs didn’t need the reminder.

On top of starting a double play for the Tar Heels, he executed the more conventional duties of a first baseman to perfection by catching everything that went his way.

Even with inaccurate throws coming his way, Stubbs refused to let a ball get by him — even if it meant catching a ball off the bounce or even almost doing a split to snag it out of the air.

Stubbs said he takes pride in how well he plays defensively but wasn’t afraid to attribute peer pressure as a reason for doing the

“If I don’t catch the ball, (shortstop Michael) Russell gets mad at me,” Stubbs said. “So you know the main thing is keeping Russell happy.”

Stubbs added that, even in a blow out, you don’t want to give the other team a chance to come back.

“Split or not, you just want to get the out,” Stubbs said. “Every out counts.You don’t want to let the opportunities pass by.”

With a split, a double play and walk-off hit, Stubbs didn’t let any get past him.