Late-inning theatrics push Tar Heels ahead in game 1

Coach Mike Fox said his top-seeded North Carolina’s baseball team was clutch Saturday — something he said it needs to be to win its Super Regional series against South Carolina.

Skye Bolt sent a walk-off single to the right side to score Parks Jordan and secure the Tar Heels 6-5 win.

“It’s every guy’s dream as a hitter,” Bolt said. “You’ve got to want to be in that situation, and I love being in that situation.

“You’ve got to thrive off of it.”

The situation was one of finality — a bottom-of-the-ninth last chance at keeping the game from spilling into extra innings, like so many for the Tar Heels have recently. Bolt’s hit came on a 0-2 count with two outs, but the result was exactly what Fox wants.

“That was good to see,” Fox said. “We talked about (how) you have to be clutch to win Super Regionals. The teams that I’ve seen win it have been clutch, and that’s what (these guys) were (today).”

After the Gamecocks took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning, North Carolina’s Landon Lassiter singled in the bottom of the inning before Colin Moran knocked a ball deep to left field for an RBI double.

“Obviously, the big swing of the bat by Colin and great base running by Landon Lassiter to be able to score (were clutch),” Fox said.

Moran advanced on a wild pitch then scored after a Cody Stubbs double and a dropped fly ball by South Carolina to tie the game at the end of the first inning.

The Gamecocks tacked on a run in the second for the lead, then scored again in the top of the third as leadoff man, Joey Pankake, hit a solo home run to give his team a 4-2 lead.

UNC pulled ace starter Kent Emanuel from the mound in the third inning after the homer — earlier than usual for the future big leaguer.

The stint was the southpaw’s shortest starting appearance since 2011, but North Carolina’s ability to overcome the uncharacteristic start reflected the team’s mentality.

“It’s unbelievable how we pick up each other,” Jordan said. “If a pitcher goes out there and struggles a little bit, like Kent, it’s rare for him. But we just know, and he knows, that we’re going to have his back and pick him up.”

Chris Munnelly did just that, inheriting the two runners on base but ending the inning with no further damage.

Moran matched South Carolina’s offense in the third inning, reaching on a single, advancing on Stubbs’ double, then scoring on a Gamecock throwing error.

UNC held South Carolina to only one run in the six final innings of the game, bringing out lefty Tate Parrish to close the fourth inning against a left-handed cleanup batter, then starting the fifth inning with righty Chris McCue.

In the sixth inning, Bolt singled to reach, Stubbs doubled to move the freshman switch hitter to scoring position, and Brian Holberton singled to center field for a two-run RBI.

Holberton’s hit gave the Tar Heels their first lead of the game.

Closer Trent Thornton was called from the bullpen after Dantzler got a double off of McCue to start the seventh inning and threaten UNC’s 5-4 lead.

South Carolina got three hits and a run off Thornton in the eighth, which was enough to tie the game before the ninth inning.

“You want to be in the game in these types of situations,” Thornton said. “We’ve been preparing our whole bullpen to come in in late-game situations, and most of the time it’s in close games, so we’ve just had a lot of preparation. We’re just resilient.”

The first two Gamecocks grounded out and flied out, and Thornton struck out his third ninth-inning batter.

Fox joked that Bolt was back in the four spot, after swinging seventh on Monday, because he “was thinking (Bolt)’d be up in the bottom of the ninth, with the winning run at second.”

Although switching him back to cleanup hitter had to do with Bolt’s right-handed batting strengths against South Carolina’s staff of lefties, the hit that won the game reflected a mindset the Tar Heels have developed in response to postseason extra-inning games.

“It’s something that you could sense in the dugout, that we wanted to get it done,” Bolt said of his hit. “It could’ve been anybody in the lineup, and I feel like we would’ve gotten it done because of the urgency that we have built.”