Freshman pitcher McCullough shows grit in Tar Heel’s 7-6 win over Coastal Carolina

Freshman Mason McCullough throws it hard. Really hard.

In his brief stint on the mound in Wednesday night’s 7-6 win against No. 25 Coastal Carolina, his fastball hovered around 95 miles per hour. He topped out at 97.

The Chanticleers could barely catch up, but they didn’t need to.

When McCullough came into the game to replace Shane Taylor, the Tar Heels had a 4-3 lead but Coastal Carolina was threatening and already had two runners on. And despite two impressive strikeouts, by the time McCullough came off the mound, the Tar Heels didn’t have the lead anymore.

His first pitch came at the Chanticleer designated hitter Alex Buccilli at 94 miles per hour, and Buccilli layed down a bunt that came right back to McCullough. As he tried to field the ball he slipped and was charged with an error.

“I think the ground was pretty soft out there,” he said. “I wasn’t really ready for the bunt, and I had to rush it. With the soft ground my feet just slipped out from under me.”

With bases loaded and no outs in the inning, the right-handed flame-thrower seemed to regain his composure by getting Daniel Bowman to strike out swinging.

“You just have to stay aggressive,” McCullough said about facing a bases loaded situation, “and attack the strike zone.”

But Rich Witten, the next batter, got just enough of the first pitch he saw to squeak one by a diving Tommy Coyle. That single tied up the game.

Again, McCullough responded with poise getting a second strikeout, but his control started to fade on him. He walked Ted Blackman on four pitches to give the Chanticleers the lead. After working the count full in the next at bat, he walked Sloan Gilliam giving Coastal Carolina a 6-4 lead.

“Mason’s just a young pup, he just hasn’t been in that situation before,” coach Mike Fox said. “But the thing we liked about it was that he wasn’t letting off.

“We would have gone to get him if we look up there, and he’s throwing 88 … but we’ve got to live and die with that a little bit because the kid’s got an unbelievable future and we have to get him in situations like that.”

Despite costing the Tar Heels the biggest inning of the game, Fox liked the mentality that his freshman showed out there.

“We like the fact that he didn’t look scared, he didn’t look intimidated,” Fox said. “He was trying to keep his good rhythm … If he’s going to walk somebody he’s going to walk them throwing 94 and that’s what you want.”

After the second walk, pitching coach Scott Forbes had seen enough and replaced McCullough with Chris O’Brien, but the Chanticleers had already put up three runs and took a two-run lead. The Chanticleers would hold on to that lead until Cody Stubbs came up with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning.

And after Stubb’s game-tying blast, McCullough was very relieved.

“It’s the best,” McCullough said about Stubb’s clutch hit. “That’s all you can say. It’s just one of those moments.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.