Wake Forest had done everything it needed to manufacture a run and draw first blood in the third inning of Wednesday’s ACC tournament opener.
Demon Deacon shortstop Pat Blair drew a leadoff walk, then advanced to second on a bunt, then rounded third on a single to center.
It was small ball executed to perfection — or at least it would’ve been if not for Chaz Frank.
The North Carolina center fielder corralled the ball in shallow left center and rocketed it to catcher Jacob Stallings. Stallings blocked the plate, laid down the tag, and suddenly the momentum rushed to the other side.
“It was a huge play,” UNC coach Mike Fox said after the Tar Heels’ 6-0 win.
“You obviously don’t know how the game is going to play out after that, but the first team that scores, the momentum’s in their dugout … I do think that was a big part of the game even though it was early.”
It may not necessarily show up in the box score, but defense — both good and bad — played a pivotal role Wednesday night.
After Frank’s assist in the top half of the third, the Tar Heels scraped across four runs in the bottom half, but they didn’t do it all on their own.
Though the Demon Deacons weren’t charged with any errors in the third, a couple of mental miscues put starter Tim Cooney in a deeper hole than he had a right to be in.
With runners on the corners and no one out, Wake Forest catcher Brett Armour fielded a ball off the bat of Frank and threw to first. First baseman Carlos Lopez quickly fired back home to prevent the runner on third from scoring, which he accomplished — but he failed to step on first before he did so.
Ruled a fielder’s choice, that gaffe loaded the bases for the Tar Heels.
Then on the very next play, third baseman Mark Rhine fielded a ground ball, stepped on third for one out but couldn’t beat Michael Russell with his throw across the diamond.
In the process, the first of four third-inning runs came across for UNC.
“We extend the inning. We don’t step on first. We don’t make a clean throw across the diamond on a step on third,” Wake Forest coach Tom Walter said. “We had two chances to get out that inning.”
A day earlier, Fox spoke Tuesday about how important it was for his team to improve its glovework throughout the season.
“We had to start playing better defense,” Fox said. “Because it was going to kill us if we didn’t.”
Defense didn’t kill UNC on Wednesday, but it just might’ve killed Wake Forest.
Tournament update:
Georgia Tech beat Florida State, 5-4.
North Carolina State beat Miami, 3-2.
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