The North Carolina baseball team’s last regular season series had a different feel than most of the weekends in the season.
It was the first weekend the Tar Heels entered off of a series loss and followed a loss-win-loss pattern that mimicked last week’s fall to Georgia Tech.
But the oddity of the Virginia series did not end with the fact the it was a loss.
The way the 11-inning series finale ended was a finish coach Mike Fox said he’d never seen the likes of.
A to-the-wall centerfield hit from Skye Bolt stayed in the park, then Virginia converted to tag out pinch runner Michael Massardo by doubling up on defense at first base.
But the unusual Saturday loss and the Thursday loss sandwiched a 8-5 win that gave UNC its first ACC regular season title in 23 years, and Fox said he would sleep easy Saturday night.
Saturday’s extra-inning 8-7 loss to the Cavaliers was a game that Fox, in fact, said he wouldn’t mind seeing repeated on Monday when the Tar Heels take on Atlantic Division leader Florida State, and the forward-looking mindset is one that the players on his team shared despite having recorded two consecutive series losses.
“Having two losses this weekend — it’s heartbreaking, but it doesn’t really change how we’re approaching anything,” Saturday starter Hobbs Johnson said. “For us, it’s just (to) keep doing what we’re doing.”
Having just one game left before the conference tournament and the No. 1 seed and ability to pick their off day next week, the Tar Heels are in strong standing despite the loss.
But Johnson and his teammates prepare the same regardless of circumstance, he said, even in a critical point in the season like this one.
“Everybody comes in and works the same whether we win or lose, so you’ve got to look at it like, ‘This is what we did this week and what (Virginia) did this week,’ and they just hit some balls and screws in holes,” he said. “It’s baseball.”
Junior Colin Moran, who tied the UNC single-season record for RBI Saturday, left the weekend looking ahead similarly.
“I think we’ll approach (Monday) like any other game,” Moran said. “(Florida State’s) a really good team and so are we, so it’s going to be a fun game. We’re always looking to play as many games as possible, so anytime you get a rain out, it’s fun to be able to make it up and get more games in.”
For North Carolina losing a second series did not leave any lasting effect, other than the resonance and recognition of a well-played contest against a high-ranked opponent.
“I’d like to play a game just like that Monday night, except just make a couple more plays, and it’ll be a great game and be competitive,” Fox said. “That was a championship-caliber game tonight. Maybe the next one we’ll win.
“It’s just the nature of baseball, and we’re going to start over here May 31 anyway, so the next four or five games should be fun.”
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