Photo by: Nate Olsen
GoHeels Exclusive: Eyes Forward
June 17, 2018 | Baseball, Featured Writers
By Pat James, GoHeels.com
OMAHA, Neb. — Around 10:30 a.m. Saturday, an hour before the North Carolina baseball team departed its hotel for TD Ameritrade Park, players, coaches and staff gathered inside the second-floor conference center.
The itinerary handed out upon arriving in Omaha listed the event as a pregame meal. For a group of players who had never participated in a College World Series, it was supposed to be a time for relaxation, maybe even the purging of some jitters, before the Tar Heels faced Oregon State.
But it became much more.
A few hours before then, Mike Fox learned Zach Attianese, who pitched in nine games as a UNC freshman last season before transferring to the State College of Florida, passed away late Friday evening. Attianese and his father, Jude, were tragically killed in a car accident in Michigan. They were driving to a relative's funeral.
Attianese was just 20 years old. Named the Suncast Conference Pitcher of the Year in May, he'd signed to play next season at Florida State.
Everyone was heartbroken upon hearing the news. But it crushed Gianluca Dalatri and Brandon Martorano, who along with Attianese came to Chapel Hill from New Jersey in 2016. Martorano and Attianese had been best friends since childhood. They roomed together as freshmen.
Still, Dalatri and Martorano played Saturday, starting on the mound and behind the plate, respectively. And on a day when the Tar Heels could've been overcome by emotions, the sort of grief that no young person should have to experience, they battled through those and beat Oregon State, 8-6.
"My team played with a pretty heavy heart today," said Fox after his postgame press conference had already concluded. "Zach was a great kid, left-handed pitcher for us from Old Bridge, New Jersey and Brandon Martorano's best friend. That was kind of our pregame meal this morning, me having to tell our team. … I just felt like I needed to say that because it just shows you how tough my team is but also how caring my team is."
That toughness was tested in more ways than one Saturday.
Playing in 100-degree temperatures, UNC and Oregon State battled for four hours and 24 minutes. That marked the longest nine-inning game in College World Series history. The 13-inning contest between Carolina and Cal State Fullerton in 2006, the third-longest game in the event's history, lasted just 29 minutes longer.
In addition to all that, Dalatri, who missed 12 weeks of the regular season because of an arm injury, only faced five batters and allowed one run before leaving the game. He told Fox the ball wasn't coming out of his hand like it normally does. That's all Fox needed to hear.
So Fox turned to his bullpen. And as they've done all season, the Tar Heel relievers, all five who pitched Saturday, provided stability.
"The characteristic of this team I like the most is that we flush things pretty quickly," Fox said. "And eyes forward, eyes forward, we've said that a lot. Once he's out of the game we gotta – it's the next pitchers, the next pitch. And our guys didn't really panic or flinch. We knew we have to keep playing."
With a 1-0 lead, Dalatri out of the game and ace Luke Heimlich on the mound, Oregon State appeared to have momentum entering the second inning. But Heimlich struggled with his command. UNC stayed disciplined at the plate. And after just 2 1/3 innings, Heimlich exited, having surrendered six earned runs.
Michael Busch and Kyle Datres went a combined 1-for-9. But Carolina continued receiving contributions from its entire lineup, the trademark of this team offensively, and capitalized on three Oregon State errors.
Ashton McGee and Ben Casparius, who batted eighth and ninth, emerged as Saturday's stars. They combined for five RBIs and three hits. Casparius' three RBIs matched a career high.
"Countless hours go into the preparation," said Casparius, who played in his first game since suffering a foot injury against Duke on May 11. "And obviously, with a good pitcher like (Heimlich), we had to really control the zone, which we did. We didn't really swing out of the zone at many pitches, which is what gave us the upper hand."
The Tar Heels' superior defensive play also aided them. And in the eighth inning, Martorano made perhaps the most important play of the game, picking off Oregon State's Cadyn Grenier at first base after Grenier drew a leadoff walk.
"I just want to give a shoutout to Brandon Martorano," Fox said, "because it was mighty hard for him to do, to go out there, because (Martorano and Attianese) have been friends ever since they were kids...And I thought Brandon Martorano made the biggest play there picking that guy off. Quite honestly, I wasn't sure he was going to play today."
Martorano scored two runs Saturday. In addition to his pickoff, he also threw out a would-be base stealer to end the second inning and framed a changeup from Cooper Criswell for a called third strike on Oregon State's Steven Kwan to escape a bases-loaded jam in the seventh.
When the game ended, Criswell immediately hugged Martorano, who received another tight embrace from Fox after walking through the high-five line.
"Words cannot even begin to describe the sadness I feel at the loss of one of my best friends," said Martorano in an Instagram post after the game. "I'm beyond lucky to have spent the 11 years we did together growing up and playing baseball. We shared a 9x11 dorm room for an entire year and there is nobody else I would've rather done it with.Â
"There was never a day you didn't have a smile on your face or wasn't putting one on mine. I will miss you and Jude endlessly. Today was for you. Rest easy my brother."
Â
OMAHA, Neb. — Around 10:30 a.m. Saturday, an hour before the North Carolina baseball team departed its hotel for TD Ameritrade Park, players, coaches and staff gathered inside the second-floor conference center.
The itinerary handed out upon arriving in Omaha listed the event as a pregame meal. For a group of players who had never participated in a College World Series, it was supposed to be a time for relaxation, maybe even the purging of some jitters, before the Tar Heels faced Oregon State.
But it became much more.
A few hours before then, Mike Fox learned Zach Attianese, who pitched in nine games as a UNC freshman last season before transferring to the State College of Florida, passed away late Friday evening. Attianese and his father, Jude, were tragically killed in a car accident in Michigan. They were driving to a relative's funeral.
Attianese was just 20 years old. Named the Suncast Conference Pitcher of the Year in May, he'd signed to play next season at Florida State.
Everyone was heartbroken upon hearing the news. But it crushed Gianluca Dalatri and Brandon Martorano, who along with Attianese came to Chapel Hill from New Jersey in 2016. Martorano and Attianese had been best friends since childhood. They roomed together as freshmen.
Still, Dalatri and Martorano played Saturday, starting on the mound and behind the plate, respectively. And on a day when the Tar Heels could've been overcome by emotions, the sort of grief that no young person should have to experience, they battled through those and beat Oregon State, 8-6.
"My team played with a pretty heavy heart today," said Fox after his postgame press conference had already concluded. "Zach was a great kid, left-handed pitcher for us from Old Bridge, New Jersey and Brandon Martorano's best friend. That was kind of our pregame meal this morning, me having to tell our team. … I just felt like I needed to say that because it just shows you how tough my team is but also how caring my team is."
That toughness was tested in more ways than one Saturday.
Playing in 100-degree temperatures, UNC and Oregon State battled for four hours and 24 minutes. That marked the longest nine-inning game in College World Series history. The 13-inning contest between Carolina and Cal State Fullerton in 2006, the third-longest game in the event's history, lasted just 29 minutes longer.
In addition to all that, Dalatri, who missed 12 weeks of the regular season because of an arm injury, only faced five batters and allowed one run before leaving the game. He told Fox the ball wasn't coming out of his hand like it normally does. That's all Fox needed to hear.
So Fox turned to his bullpen. And as they've done all season, the Tar Heel relievers, all five who pitched Saturday, provided stability.
"The characteristic of this team I like the most is that we flush things pretty quickly," Fox said. "And eyes forward, eyes forward, we've said that a lot. Once he's out of the game we gotta – it's the next pitchers, the next pitch. And our guys didn't really panic or flinch. We knew we have to keep playing."
With a 1-0 lead, Dalatri out of the game and ace Luke Heimlich on the mound, Oregon State appeared to have momentum entering the second inning. But Heimlich struggled with his command. UNC stayed disciplined at the plate. And after just 2 1/3 innings, Heimlich exited, having surrendered six earned runs.
Michael Busch and Kyle Datres went a combined 1-for-9. But Carolina continued receiving contributions from its entire lineup, the trademark of this team offensively, and capitalized on three Oregon State errors.
Ashton McGee and Ben Casparius, who batted eighth and ninth, emerged as Saturday's stars. They combined for five RBIs and three hits. Casparius' three RBIs matched a career high.
"Countless hours go into the preparation," said Casparius, who played in his first game since suffering a foot injury against Duke on May 11. "And obviously, with a good pitcher like (Heimlich), we had to really control the zone, which we did. We didn't really swing out of the zone at many pitches, which is what gave us the upper hand."
The Tar Heels' superior defensive play also aided them. And in the eighth inning, Martorano made perhaps the most important play of the game, picking off Oregon State's Cadyn Grenier at first base after Grenier drew a leadoff walk.
"I just want to give a shoutout to Brandon Martorano," Fox said, "because it was mighty hard for him to do, to go out there, because (Martorano and Attianese) have been friends ever since they were kids...And I thought Brandon Martorano made the biggest play there picking that guy off. Quite honestly, I wasn't sure he was going to play today."
Martorano scored two runs Saturday. In addition to his pickoff, he also threw out a would-be base stealer to end the second inning and framed a changeup from Cooper Criswell for a called third strike on Oregon State's Steven Kwan to escape a bases-loaded jam in the seventh.
When the game ended, Criswell immediately hugged Martorano, who received another tight embrace from Fox after walking through the high-five line.
"Words cannot even begin to describe the sadness I feel at the loss of one of my best friends," said Martorano in an Instagram post after the game. "I'm beyond lucky to have spent the 11 years we did together growing up and playing baseball. We shared a 9x11 dorm room for an entire year and there is nobody else I would've rather done it with.Â
"There was never a day you didn't have a smile on your face or wasn't putting one on mine. I will miss you and Jude endlessly. Today was for you. Rest easy my brother."
Â
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