UNC baseball battles back for an emotional win

Mike Zolk paused at the doorway and unleashed a primal, exuberant, anxiety-releasing scream that said more than any word uttered at the press conference he was now leaving.

Zolk’s teammates quickly followed suit — and their screams coalesced into a loud, raucous display of excitement and relief before fading back into silence.

North Carolina baseball coach Mike Fox was now alone at the post-game dais, the only one left sitting in front of a microphone as his players celebrated their 12-11, NCAA regional-clinching win against Florida Atlantic in the underbelly of Boshamer Stadium.

Fox admittedly struggled to find the words to match the raw emotion that had just emanated from the locker-room hallway, to put into sentences all of the feelings that had weighed over him throughout Monday-night-into-Tuesday-morning’s 13-inning drama.

“I’m going to remember this game for the rest of my life,” said Fox, who fought back his own emotions as he discussed his players’ toughness and tenacity.

It was an elimination game, and the desperation to win was so great that it very nearly led to UNC’s downfall. Closer Trent Thornton, customarily placed into games in the seventh inning or later, entered in the fourth inning in place of starter Chris Munnelly. The entire weekend rotation — Benton Moss, Kent Emanuel and Hobbs Johnson — all took turns on the mound despite starting on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

Thornton was effective, as he has been throughout the postseason, in shutting down the Owls’ offense, throwing four scoreless innings with five strikeouts on 48 pitches as UNC built a 6-2 lead.

But pitching Moss and Emanuel, in particular, on short rest proved disastrous.

After throwing 124 pitches Saturday, Emanuel entered in the eighth to relieve Thornton and record the last three outs. Typically UNC’s Friday ace, a seemingly fatigued Emanuel crumbled when he went out for the ninth, giving up a leadoff home run to FAU right fielder Corey Keller, then walking in another run with the bases loaded.

Moss took the mound from there with two outs and, on just his fourth pitch out of the bullpen, gave up a grand slam to cleanup hitter Tyler Rocklein that gave the Owls an 8-6 lead and very easily could’ve spelled the end for the Tar Heels.

Why go with starters who had pitched just days before? For Fox, it came down to the magnitude of the moment.

“We feel like we owe it to our team to put the best guys out there to try and win the most important game of our season and try to advance,” Fox said. “They’re competitors. They want to go out there. I’ll stand by our reputation. I don’t think we put any of them at risk.”

But the moves certainly put the Tar Heels’ season at risk. They were one out away from clinching a Super Regional appearance, and then, suddenly, they entered the bottom of the ninth losing 8-6 and down to what could’ve been their final three outs of the year.

Zolk, who hit the game-tying two-run single in the ninth, said he never worried after the FAU game-tying grand slam. After all, this is a Tar Heel team that had just played through — and won — a 14-inning game against Clemson and an 18-inning game against N.C. State in the ACC tournament.

The Tar Heels have become well-acquainted with the grind that comes with that sort of extra-inning affair.

“I was actually thinking about that on first base when one of their kids got on and he seemed tired,” said Cody Stubbs, who knocked in the game-winning run in the 13th. “It’s incredible that those two extra-inning games we played helped us a lot. Keep persevering and keep pushing through because we win this game no matter what.”

But unlike those extra-inning matchups in the ACC tournament, this game controlled the fate of UNC’s season.

In a do-or-die game, the Tar Heels overcame two multiple-run deficits — offsetting the grand slam with Zolk’s two-run single and then rallying back for three runs in the 12th after reliever Chris McCue gave up a three-run homer in the top half of the inning.

Stubb’s 13th-inning single, as it landed just fair inside the left-field foul line, sent the Tar Heels into a nightlong frenzy. They rushed the field, mobbed him at first, screamed and yelled and cheered and shouted all the way back into their Boshamer Stadium locker room.

Fox couldn’t quite muster the words necessary to capture those emotions after the game, but it was certainly clear how much the game — which he touted as the greatest he’s ever been a part of — meant to him. And, more importantly, how much those players who won it meant to him.

“We talk about toughness all the time and trying to recruit tough kids,” Fox said. “You can’t coach tough kids, but we sure do have them on our team. I’m very proud of them.”

Fox continued, but his next three words were unnecessary:

“That’s an understatement.”