We get yet another home weekend of Carolina Baseball.
Boshamer Stadium has been a wonderful venue for 50 years, nestled into the UNC sports complex between the football practice fields and the newer Karen Shelton Stadium for her field hockey perennials.
Sure, it’s a hard place to reach by car, try Ridge Road from the bypass and Manning Drive, or cut through the center of campus past the Bell Tower and Kenan Stadium or join the conga line down Ridge from Raleigh Road past the law school. It only heightens the anticipation.
But it’s part of the game, especially with a capacity crowd of 4,000 including standing room, hoping to get there before the first pitch, when the rhythmic clapping starts and continues periodically throughout.
The pristine playing field has to be among the best in the country, between Alexander Julian argyle outside of the first and third baselines and more than 50 interlocking NC logos from behind home plate to along the outfield fence to the facia between the upper boxes and stands.
Is there any wonder Scott Forbes’ Diamond Heels are almost unbeatable at The Bosh, sporting a 33-7 record at home compared to 5-12 on the road? That’s why Arkansas’ win at Oklahoma State was so important, allowing the Heels to stay and play the Super Regional instead of traveling to Stillwater.
The fans, from a base of every-game loyalists to those who come when the stakes are highest, are so engaged. As Carolina’s 7-3 clincher over VCU entered the ninth, the pulse quickened, and the clapping grew louder in a game where a run hadn’t been scored since the fourth inning and ended with Davis Palermo mowing down three more batters. Palermo was the third pitcher used by Forbes’ rested and ready staff.
Here’s why college baseball is so much fun. Most pitchers don’t hit 90 mph on the gun (those who do already turned pro) and aluminum bats give hitters an advantage that make small, medium and loud pings.
Everyone is dangerous with those potential meatballs finding too much of the plate. Mikey Madej hit one of them majestically into the still Carolina blue sky and Danny Serretti lined a bullet off the brick wall of the field hockey stadium, where spectators looked on from the top row, sort of like the old Wrigley watchers across the street.
Now comes a best-of-three against Arkansas, which survived the road to get to Chapel Hill. Omaha awaits the winner. So does The Bosh.
Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications/Jeffrey A. Camarati
Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our biweekly newsletter.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
