University of North Carolina Athletics
GoHeels Exclusive: All The Right Reasons
June 16, 2019 | Baseball, Featured Writers
By Pat James, GoHeels.com
Back in February, back before North Carolina's season began, Michael Busch sat in the third-base dugout at Boshamer Stadium answering questions about his expectations for his junior campaign.
He talked about the quality depth that he thought UNC possessed at every position. He talked about adjusting to playing left field. He talked about the team's trip to Omaha the year before and how that experience could benefit the Tar Heels in 2019.
But when asked about his various preseason accolades and the prospect of him being an early-round pick in the MLB Draft, Busch didn't dwell on either topic.
"I just focus on what I can do to help the team when on the field," he said. "I came here to help the team win, I came here to go to Omaha and win a national championship. Those secondary things, they're out there. But they're not the main goals I have for this season."
No one would've blamed Busch if those "secondary things" became more of a priority over the last four months, as he grew closer to realizing his dream of playing professionally. He could've just as easily started looking ahead to his post-Carolina life after the Los Angeles Dodgers took him 31st overall in the MLB Draft on June 3.Â
But he never did.
He continued leading the Tar Heels, bringing them within one win of returning to the College World Series, a feat that many fans deemed improbable after UNC dropped four of its last six ACC regular-season games. Even then, Busch never wavered in his determination to get Carolina back to Omaha. That made last Monday's 14-7 loss against Auburn that much more painful.
Surely, Busch could've started thinking about his future after that, after he walked off Bryson Field for likely the last time. But there he sat at a podium inside the player's lounge, searching for the right words to describe what the Tar Heels' postseason run meant to him.
"As much as it hurts right now," Busch said, fighting back tears, "20, 30 years down the road when we all get back together, that's going to be something we're going to talk about."
That and much more.
When Busch and his classmates, a group that composed the No. 1 recruiting class in the country according to Perfect Game, arrived at UNC before the 2017 season, Carolina had missed the last two NCAA Tournaments. Selfishness by some players influenced those results. So the upperclassmen on the 2017 team set about changing the culture of the program.
They laid the foundation for last season's trip to the College World Series. Just as importantly, though, Busch and his classmates bought in. They might not have been around in 2015 or 2016, but they were just as motivated as their veteran teammates to restore UNC's winning ways.
That, however, wasn't a simple task.
As freshmen, they helped the Tar Heels earn the No. 2 national seed in the NCAA Tournament, only to see the season end with a pair of losses against Davidson in the Chapel Hill Regional. Then came the disappointing 7-7 start to last season. But Carolina overcame that, as well as numerous other obstacles, to reach the College World Series for the first time in five years.
Again, UNC was tested to start this season, opening ACC play with a 2-5 record. But the Tar Heels didn't allow that nor their late-season stumbles to get the best of them, as they went on to capture the program's first ACC Tournament title since 2013 and to sweep their home regional.
Time and time again, Carolina displayed resiliency amid adversity, so much so that overcoming a 13-run, first-inning deficit against Auburn seemed possible, until the very end.
"It's hard to get to Omaha," Fox said. "I'm certainly disappointed for our players, just how valiantly they fought all season to put us in this game. It's hard to get this close and not be able to get there."
But it's even more difficult to say goodbye to a group of players that has meant so much.
"This team has been one of the joys of my career," Fox said. "I've been blessed to have some good ones here. The guys we ended up with out there dressed for this (super) regional, they're some of the best kids I'll be around. They're Tar Heels and wanted to win, wanted to win for each other, wanted to win for all the right reasons.Â
"Everything about college athletics that I think is good was exemplified in our team."
UNC will be without seniors Hansen Butler, Dylan Enwiller, Jackson Hesterlee and Brendan Illies next season. It also figures to lose a few key juniors who were selected in the MLB Draft. But Carolina will return veterans such as Dylan Harris and Dallas Tessar. And it'll be exciting to see how Aaron Sabato, Danny Serretti and Caleb Roberts improve in Year 2.
Should Gianluca Dalatri and Joey Lancellotti, both late-round draft picks, stay in school, they'll form the nucleus of a strong pitching staff. Joining them will be Austin Love, Caden O'Brien, Connor Ollio and Will Sandy, among others, all of whom now have experience pitching in high-pressure situations.
But none of that makes moving on from these Tar Heels any easier.
"They keep you young and really make you still believe in coaching and why you do it," Fox said. "This team is why I do it. I'll forever be thankful for that as I get toward the end of my career and look back on it. I want to keep being able to answer that question – why do I keep doing it?
"It has never been for the wins and losses. It's a big part of it, obviously, but ... They're like your family. You always hate to see your family broken up. That's kind of what happens at the end of the year."
