UNC baseball staves off elimination with 5-2 win over Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The North Carolina baseball team’s entire season has been chronicled as a tale of must-win games under pressing circumstances.

And in Saturday’s 5-2 win in an elimination game against the Florida Gators, the No. 2 national seed, at McKethan Stadium, the Tar Heels added another chapter to that tale, extending their season for at least one more day by surmounting daunting obstacles.

The first of those hindrances came in the second inning after freshman Adam Pate and catcher Korey Dunbar reached base on back-to-back two-out singles to bring junior Michael Russell to the dish.

Ahead 3-0 against Florida starter Bobby Poyner, Russell watched as the ball left Poyner’s hand. The ensuing sound was an echoing clunk heard throughout the ballpark as the ball drilled Russell in the head, knocking him to the ground.

Trainers and coaches ran to Russell’s aid, as he began bleeding from his forehead. He got up under his own power and proceeded to the locker room to receive stitches and hopefully return to the game.

All players were removed from the field for the regulated 10-minute delay to replace an injured player, and coaches and umpires gathered and waited to see if Russell would emerge onto the field before the time was up. 

He didn’t.

“He wanted to continue to play,” said coach Mike Fox. “Under the circumstances, everybody was just trying to do the right thing, give as much time as possible to maybe get him back in the game. It just didn't work out."

With Zach Daly running for the All-America shortstop, Parks Jordan popped up to left field with the bases loaded to end the scoring threat.

The Gators then looked to seize the momentum. UNC starter Benton Moss loaded the bases in the third inning with two outs. But the righty would attain an inning-ending strikeout on a bending breaking ball to escape the jam.

The Tar Heels led off the bottom of the third with back-to-back singles to bring freshman Wood Myers to the plate. But that was when the team was dealt another impediment.

The skies above Perry Field opened and rain began to pour. The game went into a weather delay that lasted three hours and 19 minutes.

But when the tarp was removed, the Tar Heels picked up where they left off.

Florida reliever Kirby Snead took to the mound after the delay and retired Myers on a fly out, but the Tar Heels would proceed to reel off four consecutive RBI hits to grab hold of a 5-0 lead.

The offensive outburst came from the bottom of the Tar Heel order, and Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said he and his team were caught off-guard coming out of the delay.

“We had a 1-2 count to Myers, they were getting toward the bottom half of the order — we felt good about where we were at,” O’Sullivan said. “We talked about if we gave up a run or two that we were still going to have to score if we want to win. I felt good about it. He had thrown 10 or 11 pitches and the damage was done already.”

When the Gators came to bat in the top of the fourth, UNC closer Reilly Hovis replaced Moss after the lengthy delay.

The righty would breeze through the Florida lineup over the next three innings, allowing only three base runners and attacking the strike zone. Hovis said the run support he received after the delay pushed him to do his best.

“In a big game like that, a five spot, you just want to go in there and throw strikes,” Hovis said. “You can’t do much more. If the offense already gave you a lead, all you want to do in that situation is not walk people and go right at them.”

Hovis ran into trouble in the seventh inning — loading the bases with one out. But he managed to surrender only one run after striking out cleanup hitter Taylor Gushue and Dunbar tagged Richie Martin on a bang-bang play at the plate to end the inning.

Freshman Spencer Trayner relieved Hovis in the eighth inning after a leadoff walk, and the righty permitted only one run to cross the plate as he sealed the victory for the Tar Heels.

Freshman Tyler Ramirez, who drove in two runs on a double in the third, said the team’s experience in must-win games gave it the edge it needed.

“I guess all year when we’ve had our backs against the wall, we always came out and played pretty well,” Ramirez said. “I think that’s what happened today. Everybody was really locked in from the get-go, even after the rain delay. I just think it was one if those things — we were backed against the wall and either you produce or go home.”

Contact the desk editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.