North Carolina center fielder Skye Bolt creeped down the third-base line, his eyes locked on Coastal Carolina pitcher Dalton Moats as he toed the rubber. The bases were loaded with two outs and a full count in Wednesday night’s game at Boshamer Stadium. As Moats began his delivery, Bolt took off for home, hoping to create a distraction and force a walk.
But Bolt left too early. Moats picked him off at third base, and the inning ended. Bolt’s base-running error was just one of many lapses in execution for the Tar Heels during their 11-inning, 3-2 loss to the Chanticleers.
“It comes down to executing the small-ball game,” Bolt said. “It starts with me, making a base-running mistake at third base, and that trickles down to the young guys. Missing a ground ball, not getting a bunt down, not moving a guy over, getting thrown out at third with no outs. I can go down the list. It’s killed us all year.”
Bolt made up for his blunder four innings later on defense. He picked up a line drive to centerfield and hurled a throw to home plate, just in time for catcher Korey Dunbar to tag out a diving runner. The throw ended the inning and kept the Tar Heels on top, 2-1.
Bolt’s play, though, was not enough to make up for the slew of mistakes made by the rest of the Tar Heels.
UNC wasn’t sloppy, necessarily, but it failed to do the small things that it usually takes to win a baseball game. Coach Mike Fox said that the Tar Heels have practiced such plays and even executed them earlier in the season.
“It’s one thing to practice them repeatedly, and it’s another thing to do it in the game,” Fox said. “So, the bottom line is when it’s called for during the game we have to be able to make plays like that.”
After Dunbar blasted a two-run home run in the first inning, the Tar Heels made mistakes that allowed Coastal Carolina to keep the game close.
With the leadoff batter on first in the bottom of the ninth inning, Fox gave Tyler Ramirez the signal to bunt. Ramirez popped the ensuing pitch straight up, giving the catcher an easy out and quashing UNC’s chances to win the game in the last inning.
