Countdown to First Pitch: Mike Fox

With Friday’s UNC baseball season opener against Seton Hall just days away, head coach Mike Fox closes out our Countdown to First Pitch preview series with his thoughts on the young, but talented Tar Heel team that will take the field this year.

For a man that has made six trips to the College World Series since 2006, watching at home last season was definitely out of the ordinary for Coach Fox. After making a run to Omaha and winning 59 games during a 2013 season that was the most successful in the program’s history, the Tar Heels struggled to a 35-27 record in 2014 and fell to Long Beach State in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

However, Coach says that experience can only help the team moving forward.

“You gotta take the good with the bad, the wins with the losses, and vice-versa,” Coach Fox says, “You hope what we went through last year, the stretches that we didn’t play as well, you hope you learn from it. Experience is your best teacher.”

Much has been made in the pre-season about the talented freshman class on the team, which originally included eight players ranked among the nation’s top 200 high school prospects a year ago (before some were drafted into the pros), but Coach Fox is not sure what kind of contributions to expect from them yet.

“Until another team is over there with a different jersey, and the scoreboard’s on, and the fans are in here, you really, truly don’t know (what to expect). Especially with your freshman. They can show you some good things out here (in practice), not just how they perform, but how they handle failure and that sort of thing. Some of it is honestly just trial by fire,” Coach Fox says.

Returning weekend starters Trent Thornton, Benton Moss, and Zac Gallen certainly give the Tar Heels a loaded pitching staff this season.

Some feel the burden in 2015 should be placed on the big bats in the lineup to give their pitchers a little more run support after struggling to produce much offense last season.

Coach Fox sees it a bit differently, saying that “if you go back and look at last year, we did not pitch well in the league. People on the outside said ‘you didn’t score enough runs’, but if you look at the ACC stats in those 30 games that count the most, we were right up there at the top of the league.”

The biggest worry for his team is the possibility that the infield may be comprised of four fresh faces after losing players to graduation and junior Landon Lassiter’s transition from third base to the outfield in the offseason.

“I think that is the biggest question mark of our team is our infield defense because we probably are gonna have four different guys out there at third, short, second, and first. Or at least three,” Coach Fox says. “And we have to pick the ball up in the infield and make plays.”

If the infielders do end up making some mistakes that put the Heels into high pressure situations, the bullpen will be called on to save the day.  Junior Reilly Hovis is back after earning a spot on the preseason third team All-American roster, along with the triumphant return of Chris McCue, who missed most of last year with a blood clot in his shoulder. These veterans will team up with freshman flame-throwers Hunter Williams, Hansen Butler, and J.B. Bukauskas to help get UNC out of those aforementioned tough scenarios.

“There is one critical time where you better not let the other team open the door. It’s kind of like runs in basketball, you better calm down, and you better stop it,” Coach Fox says. “That could be the fourth inning with the bases loaded and we need a strike out, we may go to Reilly Hovis or Chris McCue right then. The good news is, we have those guys, and the better news is if we don’t use one of them, we’ve got another one.”

Now that the offseason has come to a close, the Tar Heels are eager to take the field and get this year underway. Coach Fox can feel the anticipation growing.

“You see the excitement build from the fall, winter, and the preseason. We’re one of those sports that practices such a long time before opening day, so as we get closer the excitement builds. The kids are excited,” Coach Fox says.

The countdown is finally over.  First pitch is here, and for the next three months this group will be looking to revert back to tradition and give Mike Fox a seventh trip to Omaha in his quest for a coveted national title that has so far, remained elusive.

It all starts this Friday at 2 p.m. as UNC takes on the Seton Hall Pirates within the friendly confines of Boshamer Stadium.