In the ACC Baseball Tournament one week ago, North Carolina third baseman Colin Moran was not his usual outstanding self at the plate.
The Tar Heels played three games in Greensboro and in those contests Moran was 2-for-14 and struck out five times.
He’s already doubled that hit total in the Chapel Hill Regional in just the opening game, a 7-4 win against Cornell.
“He was four-for-five today,” UNC coach Mike Fox said. “He got a third of our hits, so he’s an important part.”
Moran also had an RBI in the middle of UNC’s biggest rally with a single in the fourth inning that scored Chaz Frank. But Moran had a hard time figuring out what he did differently against Cornell compared to last weekend.
“I don’t know just relax more,” Moran said about his time this week. “I can’t really put a finger on it but I wish I knew because then I would repeat that. It felt good getting the win.”
Fox had a more interesting explanation, saying that someone had asked him about playing without Moran during the stretch that he was injured and Fox told them they were winning without him.
“I don’t know, did you read what I said in the paper,” Fox said with a grin in the postgame press conference as he nudged Moran on the arm. “I think he read it.”
Either way, his impact was undeniable. And that wasn’t lost on the Cornell coaching staff either. In fact, it got to the point where Big Red coach Bill Walkenbach was considering pitching around him.
Luckily for Moran and for the Tar Heel offense, the right situation never arose.
Moran scored the final run of the game for the Tar Heels on an error by the Big Red third baseman after singling earlier in the inning.
“We left a couple pitches up that we didn’t want,” Walkenbach said about pitching to Moran. “One changeup, he golfed out to right, was just a great piece of hitting. He’s one of the top hitters maybe in the country. So you’re going to your lumps against a guy like that from time to time.”
Moran’s big game couldn’t come at a better time for the Tar Heels as they are looking to make the trip back to the College World Series in Omaha for the sixth time in seven years.
“I told them before the game that the cream rises to the top in these kinds of situations in the NCAA Tournament,” Fox said, “and he’s our best hitter.
“We need him to get to where we want to go – there’s no question about it.”
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