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The Daily Tar Heel

Big inning haunts UNC as Tar Heels fall to UCLA 12-4

Under warmer conditions and pressure from a red-hot Bruin (6-1) side, the Tar Heels (4-2) fell victim to something Coach Mike Fox had been stressing the importance of since the fall — the big inning.

The phenomenon, which in Fox’s dictionary refers to an inning where one team scores three or more runs, occurred numerous times during the weekend and caused UNC to drop two of the series’ three games (5-8, 9-6 and 4-12).

“That’s the way it is in baseball,” Fox said. “If you prevent the big inning, you stay in the game and if you have one, you have a good chance to win. We gave up a few this weekend and that cost us.”

Friday’s action began with promise for UNC, as sophomore Tyler Ramirez and junior Skye Bolt both went deep in consecutive innings, the latter shot by Bolt tying the score 2-2 in the bottom of the third.

But as the game wore on, the Bruins began to work through the North Carolina pitching staff and in the sixth inning the wheels fell off. After a walk and two singles loaded the bases, a wild pitch from sophomore Spencer Trayner, a passed ball and an error allowed the Bruins to plate three runs.

“It definitely was frustrating, but we were playing on an entirely new field,” said sophomore Wood Myers about the defensive miscues.

The big inning struck, and it propelled UCLA to a three-run lead and an eventual 8-5 win.

“It takes any momentum you have and just flips it,” Myers said.

The beginning of Saturday’s game started much differently for the Tar Heels, who rode the powerful pitching of righty Trent Thornton to a 3-0 lead.

But in the top of the sixth, the Bruins tallied four runs, and it looked like once again UCLA would pull away. Brian Miller and Landon Lassiter had other ideas, however, as an RBI double and a sacrifice fly, respectively, gave UNC a lead it wouldn’t relinquish, evening the series with a 9-6 win.

Coming off Saturday’s win, the Tar Heels looked poised to capture the rubber-match of the series on Sunday, but after a trio of big innings from the Bruins, all UNC could do was lick its wounds, falling 12-4.

The big inning might have haunted the Tar Heels this weekend, but they did gain a valuable bit of experience: Sometimes you need to face the big inning in order to learn how to prevent it.

“It’s the only way to get experience,” Fox said. “You learn through playing and you learn through failure, and we have a lot to take away from this weekend.”

sports@dailytarheel.com

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