Opportunity reared its head in the bottom of the sixth inning for No. 4 North Carolina, a rarity on Wednesday behind Gardner-Webb’s stingy pitching.
Trailing 4-2 with the bases loaded, the Tar Heels had three outs to get any of their base-runners home.
The Tar Heels advanced one runner home, not nearly enough.
“You’re behind, and you get a chance,” coach Mike Fox said. “The doors open for you a little bit and you’ve got the bases loaded and no outs, you’ve got to do more than one run.”
Especially in a game like Wednesday’s. Sure the Tar Heels had three more innings to score runs, but baseball is never about the opportunities that could arise. It’s about connecting the ones that do.
The Tar Heels didn’t this time.
“I still thought we were going to win the game,” catcher Jacob Stallings said. “We were getting guys on. I still thought it was a matter of time before we get that big hit. It just never happened. Cody and I couldn’t come through in that situation.”
Stallings popped out to left field and junior Cody Stubbs struck out swinging once the bases were loaded. And after Brian Holberton drew a walk, second baseman Mike Zolk grounded out to end the inning.
“That was a huge missed opportunity,” Stubbs said. “Those are times where you have to capitalize on that, and that’s how you win ball games. That was a huge part of the game we missed out on.”