Hunter Stokely said he "kind of blacked out" when he touched second base.
As he looked to the outfield, watching the ball drop outside the Boshamer Stadium fence, he said he felt emotions that he has never experienced in a baseball game. His home run in the 11th inning of UNC's second game against Miami allowed the Diamond Heels to walk off and tie up the series, and North Carolina looked ahead to game three.
Junior catcher Tomas Frick tried to manage the team's emotions after the home run, reminding the Tar Heels that they needed one more win to clinch the series victory.
"Let’s not get too high (and) let’s not get too low," Frick said. "Let’s just keep it going and stay focused.”
But in the end, the emotions proved to be a little too high, and the Tar Heels dropped the final game, 4-3, and ultimately lost a tightly contested series.
Frick hoped that the team would play within its ability and avoid “trying to do too much” despite the emotional swing the series took after Stokely’s walk-off home run. His concerns proved to be warranted in the final game against the Hurricanes.
In the third inning, a wild pitch allowed two Miami players to advance to second and third base, and both scored later in the inning to bury UNC into a two-run deficit.
With the Tar Heels now trailing by three runs with the bases loaded in the sixth inning, Frick singled to center field, and first-year outfielder Casey Cook and junior infielder Jackson Van De Brake both scored to trim the gap to one run. As sophomore outfielder Vance Honeycutt approached third base, he broke for the plate and blew through the stop sign given by head coach Scott Forbes.
As Honeycutt dashed home, he was tagged out before he could score the tying run, which sent the game into the seventh inning with the Tar Heels still trailing. These mistakes and other moments where players may have gotten too high or let their emotions get the best of them added up and played a role in costing UNC the third game of the series.
