GoHeels Exclusive: June 9
June 10, 2019 | Baseball, Featured Writers
By Pat James, GoHeels.com
On June 9, 2018, exactly a year ago Sunday, a towering fly ball somehow fell harmlessly into the glove of Brandon Riley, sending all of Boshamer Stadium into a frenzy.
To Riley's right, the scoreboard read: Carolina 7, Stetson 5. The out he recorded marked the last the Tar Heels needed to return to Omaha. And considering no player on the roster had ever been there before, they celebrated with the sort of unbridled enthusiasm that one might expect.
They came from the dugout. They came from the 'pen. From almost every direction they came charging before collapsing into a Carolina Blue pile near the pitcher's mound, the lasting image from a postseason run that none of them will ever forget.
Austin Love certainly won't.
Then in his first year in Chapel Hill, Love didn't play a single game for UNC last season as he redshirted. He watched most of them from the dugout. But when postseason play arrived and Carolina's roster needed to be trimmed, Love left for Baltimore, where he spent the summer playing for the Baltimore Redbirds of the Cal Ripken League.Â
The day of his first game with the Redbirds, the Tar Heels advanced to the College World Series. Love watched his teammates celebrate from afar.
"Obviously, I was extremely happy our guys made it because I'd become best friends with all of them," said Love after UNC's 2-0 win over Auburn on Sunday. "But I'd already gone up to Baltimore for my summer ball season, so I was kind of upset that I didn't make the trip out (to Omaha). But I'm hoping this year will be the year I can make it out there."
Thanks to Sunday's victory, Carolina needs only one more win to make that happen. And that's due in large part to Love.
With the Tar Heels facing elimination in the NCAA Tournament, Love and Austin Bergner combined for a six-hit shutout against Auburn, forcing a deciding Game 3 in the Chapel Hill Super Regional. That game will be played at 1 p.m. Monday. The winner will advance to the College World Series.
The clutch pitching performance by Love and Bergner came a day after UNC's bullpen allowed nine earned runs in an 11-7 loss against the Tigers. Love gave up two of those runs. But Sunday, he bounced back, tallying a career-high-tying six strikeouts over 4 2/3 brilliant innings of relief.
"Definitely knowing our season is on the line, I think it gives you a lot of extra motivation knowing it's either win or go home," Love said. "So I think that really helped our team."
It also benefitted from a hot start.
Michael Busch opened the game with a single, then Aaron Sabato drew a walk. Two batters later, Ike Freeman singled to left field, driving both runners in and giving Carolina a 2-0 lead. The Tar Heels went on to load the bases in the top of the first inning. But they left all three runners stranded, which proved to be a theme throughout the day.
UNC left at least one runner on base in every inning except the ninth. Overall, it stranded 14, matching a season high. Carolina hit .150 (3-for-20) with runners on base and .100 (1-for-10) with runners in scoring position.Â
"We put pressure on them, but we also left a lot of guys on base," Freeman said. "Our pitchers picked us up."
Coming off a stellar start against Tennessee last Sunday, when he allowed two earned runs and struck out eight, Bergner didn't surrender a run over 4 1/3 innings against Auburn. But the Tigers had their chances to score against the right-hander.
With two outs in the bottom of the first inning, Auburn loaded the bases. Bergner shut the door, though, striking out Rankin Woley. Bergner found himself in trouble again in the fourth after allowing two runners to reach base with two outs. But he got Auburn's Kason Howell to line out to shortstop Danny Serretti.
Bergner ultimately threw 55 of his 96 pitches for strikes and issued four walks. The junior never gave in, though.
"He's a competitor and he loves to win," Fox said. "He kind of always pitches right on that line, but he was able to make some pitches when he needed to. We played good defense behind him. You've just got to give him a lot of credit. He probably wasn't quite as sharp as he was last outing, but he did enough."
When Bergner left the game with one out in the top of the fifth, Auburn had runners on first and second with the heart of its order coming to the plate. That, however, didn't deter Love.Â
The redshirt freshman got Will Holland, a preseason All-American and a fifth-round pick by the Minnesota Twins in last week's MLB draft, to fly out to left. He then got Edouard Julien to hit a fly ball to deep center field. That ball appeared as if it might leave the ballpark, but Dylan Harris hauled it in up against the wall, ending the inning.Â
As Love walked off the field and neared the dugout, Bergner embraced him.
"I don't think Edouard Julien could have hit the ball any harder, to the deepest part of the ballpark," Auburn coach Butch Thompson said. "I thought both teams competed like crazy today. I thought it was an unbelievable game. … Love was exceptional, how he was attacking and locating, putting pitches where he wanted to today."
On Saturday, Love said he fell behind in the count too much. That, however, was far from the case Sunday, when he threw first-pitch strikes to 12 of the 15 batters he faced. In fact, all but nine of the 50 pitches he threw were for strikes as he surrendered just two hits, both singles.
The second of those came with one out in the ninth inning. But with a strikeout and a groundout, Love picked up his team-best eighth win and, most importantly, kept the Tar Heels' season alive.
"I just felt like Austin was going to be good today," Fox said. "I didn't know he was going to be that good. … He throws three above-average pitches for strikes, and he was in rhythm today. We needed every pitch he made."
