University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Stay Loose
May 11, 2008 | Baseball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
May 11, 2008
By Adam Lucas
CHARLOTTESVILLE--Perhaps the best indicator of how far Carolina baseball has come is the impact of Sunday's rain-shortened 5-4 loss.
There have been years--not too far in the past--when a gut-wrenching loss like that one could have been a catastrophe. It could have torpedoed NCAA hosting hopes or made a critical difference in the ACC standings.
And yes, the defeat was frustrating. But in the grand scheme of the 2008 season, it quite honestly wasn't that important. And it might have been very educational, because coaches usually learn more about the makeup of their team in a loss than they do in a win. If you have to learn by losing, a loss like Sunday's--which probably provided more fuel than disappointment--can be beneficial.
The Tar Heels had already gotten what they needed out of their trip to Davenport Field. With a 9-3 victory on Friday night and a 5-2 win on Saturday evening, Carolina captured its first series win in Charlottesville since 2004, secured its place near the top of the RPI, and ensured that next weekend's series in Miami will still have meaning.
"We've got a bunch of veterans," Mike Fox said after Saturday's win. "You look out on the field and realize those guys have played for the national championship. You can't put a measure on that. These guys have been on the biggest stage in the most clutch situations. We tried to come up here loose."
It showed, even in the smallest parts of the game. During pregame infield all three days, the two teams were a study in contrasts. The Cavaliers were all business, with catcher Franco Valdes imploring his teammates to make better throws and cleaner plays.
The Tar Heels, however, while making all the plays, had a little bit of fun. Associate head coach Chad Holbrook took care of the hitting duties during infield, ripping grounders to every position.
It all went smoothly until he skipped first base during Saturday's rotation, earning wry comments from the field and from the UNC dugout. On Sunday, after Holbrook slapped a couple of grounders into foul territory at third, Fox yelled from the dugout, "I have been thinking they needed some practice on fielding foul balls."
"We don't have a lot of pressure on us now," Fox said. "We've got 20 conference wins. Of course we want to play well, but I've learned that the looser you are and the more you cut up in pregame, the better these kids play. It's just a game. If you get too serious, it's deadly."
That one paragraph perhaps sums up the change in Carolina baseball over the last three years. Head coaching is about teaching, of course, but it's also about learning. Fox's players have learned from him, and he's learned from his players. He still demands respect on and off the field--on Sunday morning at checkout, the front desk employee at Carolina's team hotel for the weekend said without prompting, "These guys have really been a blessing. I have never been around such well-mannered young men."--but he's also turned back the dial just slightly on his 24-hour intensity.
Of course, it's a lot easier to have fun when the roster is stocked with quality players coupled with quality coaching. The Tar Heels took control of the series early on Friday night, stealing two bases in the first inning on the way to a 2-0 lead. They maintained that edge most of the weekend on both offense and defense.
On offense, Carolina mixed straight steals with hit-and-runs and well-timed sacrifice bunts. That moved runners into scoring position and allowed Tar Heel hitters to pick up key hits.
"The coaches have been pounding the idea of being aggressive on the bases," said leadoff hitter Dustin Ackley. "They don't want us to worry about being picked off."
Ackley continued to be the embodiment of that philosophy, stealing a pair of bases and scoring four runs over the weekend.
Virginia, meanwhile, struggled to get timely hits until the very last inning of the series. The Cavaliers left 18 runners in scoring position over 24 innings.
Many of those hitting troubles can be attributed to Tar Heel pitching. Carolina hurlers struck out 32 Wahoo hitters in three games, including a career-high seven for Rob Wooten in an outstanding relief outing Saturday that helped save the series-deciding game.
"When you've got it in the back of your mind that you can always get that big strikeout it gives you confidence," Fox said. "You have to credit our pitchers. They have good stuff and make good pitches to get in the right counts."
"This is a great bunch of guys and the only thing we're trying to do is play as well as we can," Wooten said. "Right now, we're just having fun."
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly. He is also the author or co-author of four books on Carolina basketball.
