Seventh-Inning spark not enough for Tar Heels

The score was 2-1 . The North Carolina baseball team had finally put a run on the board in the bottom of the seventh and was looking to grab hold of momentum and turn it to some late-inning magic.

But the West Virginia Mountaineers did not let UNC pull the rabbit out of the hat.

The Mountaineers put up two more runs in the eighth inning and another insurance run in the ninth to seal its 5-1 victory against the Tar Heels Wednesday night.

The only true offensive inning for the Tar Heels came in the seventh inning. Junior Michael Russell singled to left and was able to reach second due to a wild pitch from the Mountaineers.

Freshman Adam Pate , already known for late-game heroics, came in to pinch hit and slammed the ball into the left-center gap . Russell scored and the rally was supposed to begin.

But it didn’t.

Pate, who said he can sometimes be overly-aggressive rounding the bases, tried to extend his double into a triple, only to be thrown out at third.

“I hit it, but I didn’t think it was going to go out because that’s not who I am,” Pate said. “So I was just running. I’m very aggressive. And it kind of bit me in the butt this time.”

The seventh inning has proven to be a key point in the game for the Tar Heels this season. Through 20 games, UNC is 13-0 when leading after the seventh. But when losing, the team is just 1-3 .

Despite Pate getting thrown out at third base , Russell said that the team was expecting a rally in the final two innings.

“I’m always expecting it,” Russell said. “I’ve gotten used to playing here, us being down often and we’ve come back a lot of times. We never feel like we are out of the game.”

Instead of giving the Tar Heels momentum, Pate’s out at third only added to UNC’s struggles. No other Tar Heel managed to reach base after the seventh inning .

Coach Mike Fox said that he didn’t consider Pate’s mistake a momentum killer, but added that it did not help the team’s cause.

“One play swings the momentum back and forth from one dugout to the next,” Fox said. “All of sudden we get a run and we have the tying run at second and we have  (Korey) Dunbar coming up who’s hit two balls on the nose, but he didn’t get a chance.”

Fox said the game being impromptu — Tuesday's game against Princeton was canceled due to weather — was not a reason for the sluggishness. He expected the team to rally after the offense in the seventh inning.

He added that momentum can turn quickly in baseball, and the team has to be always ready to strike.

“The game can turn on one swing of the bat,” Fox said. And if you don’t believe it or think it, it’s not going to happen. It can turn when it doesn’t look like it’s going to turn.”

“It’s about getting over the frustration.”

But for the Tar Heels, frustration proved to be too high a mountain to climb.