UNC baseball takes game two from Hurricanes, loses series 2-1

The collegiate baseball season is a marathon and not a sprint.

And in the final three games of a 55-game regular season, the North Carolina baseball team was reminded of that fact Friday and Saturday against the No. 13 Miami Hurricanes.

With the regular-season finish line in sight, the two teams played 34 innings in a less than 24-hour span at Alex Rodriguez Park — resulting in the Hurricanes (40-15, 24-6 ACC) taking the series two games to one with a 2-0 win Saturday.

But it was an 11-2 trouncing of Miami in the second game of Friday’s day-night doubleheader that proved to be the most monumental for UNC (32-23, 15-15 ACC) as it sits on the postseason bubble.

After Thursday’s game was postponed due to severe weather, the Hurricanes slipped by the Tar Heels 6-5 with a walk-off single in the 16th inning of Friday’s first game. The marathon game lasted five hours and five minutes, and shortstop Michael Russell said gearing up for a second game was a challenge.

“They said after the first one that it tied the longest game ever played at Miami, and then to play another nine after that was insane — probably unheard of,” Russell said.

With the first pitch slated for 9 p.m., the team had nearly an hour to shake off the heartbreaking loss and prepare for game two.

Junior Benton Moss was set to toe the rubber for UNC. Coming off a disappointing start against Florida State in which he couldn’t escape the fifth inning, the right-hander said watching his team come up short in the first game motivated him.

“I just looked at the scoreboard for the last 15 minutes after the game, and it helped fuel me,” Moss said. “Just thinking about how we were on our heels and we really needed to battle and play like we were backed into a corner.”

Needing at least one win against the Hurricanes to polish their postseason resume, the Tar Heels bounced back from the loss immediately.

After Russell led off the game with a single, he advanced to third on a single by Landon Lassiter and a grounder off the bat of Skye Bolt. With runners on first and second and two down, UNC reeled off four consecutive hits, including a double by Wood Myers down the left field line, to give the team an early 4-0 advantage.

Moss said the four-run first backed the team out of the corner it was in and allowed him to settle in as he took the mound in the bottom of the inning.

“We came out swinging in the first inning, and that was a huge lift for our team,” Moss said. “It just told the other team and confirmed to ourselves that we can do this and we have the capabilities to do it.

“I was like, ‘To heck with it. We played 16 innings of baseball already. What’s nine more?’”

Moss permitted the Hurricanes leadoff man to get on base via a double and eventually score on a ground out to third base. But that would be the only offensive production the Hurricanes would have against Moss, as he only surrendered three more hits over his next six innings of work.

With Moss dominating on the mound, the Tar Heels continued to tack on runs — eliminating any chance of a Miami comeback with three runs in the second and third innings.

Having suffered 11 losses by one run entering Friday, coach Mike Fox said the team did a tremendous job of preventing the one-run loss in the first game from affecting its performance in game two.

“We’ve unfortunately felt the sting before of some close losses, not any 16 innings,” Fox said. “They’re going to start the second game at nine o’clock no matter what. If you’re not ready, we’re going to have a miserable day playing potentially 25 innings and getting two losses.

“You’ve just got to give our kids credit. They were ready for game two.”

Contact the desk editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.