The fireworks in Boshamer Stadium on Friday night weren’t for the No. 5 North Carolina baseball team. But if they were, nobody would’ve batted an eye.
The Tar Heels deserved them.
In the first game of a series sweep of No. 4 Clemson, UNC delivered a 5-1 win in epic fashion. After six scoreless innings, North Carolina’s outburst in the bottom of the seventh had a 3,720-person crowd rocking.
With the bases loaded and two outs, head coach Mike Fox called on first-year Michael Busch. Clemson had just made a change, too. After 6.2 innings of great pitching, Charlie Barnes had been replaced by Patrick Andrews.
“They can say he was nervous,” Busch said. “But I was also a little nervous.”
The crowd buzzed more and more with each pitch. Andrews was dealing fastballs, but Busch — a man who was at bat for the very first time tonight with all the pressure on him — was ready.
On the sixth pitch of the count, which was another fastball, Busch made contact. The clink of the ball hitting aluminum resounded throughout a tense, quiet stadium.
That silence didn’t last for long. As the ball skipped through right center field and the runners on base took off, a growing roar began. This game, tied at 1-1 thanks to a wild pitch earlier in the inning that brought Brandon Riley home, wasn’t going to be tied for much longer.
Zack Gahagan was the first to score. He clapped his hands in enthusiasm as he jogged in. 3-1.
