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A heart-wrenching evening turned into a beautiful night at the Bosh.
The Diamond Heels certainly proved to be a mentally tough team when their offensive execution wasn’t so great.
But that is why baseball is a game of resiliency since, for example, even the best hitters fail about 70 percent of the time.
And as Scott Forbes went deep into his bench, his kids kept trying and found a way to tie the game and win it in extras.
Boshamer Stadium looked to have more fans when the 4-3 win over LSU ended, as word may have spread around campus and town that something was going on that needed their help.
And while clutch defense and shutdown pitching were the keys to keeping the game close, offense had to come from somewhere. And in the nick of time, it did.
While freshman Gavin Gallaher and his fellow infielders made enough plays to shut out LSU for the last seven innings, someone had to step up at the plate.
Gallaher, who had gone 0 for 3, began UNC’s last chance in the ninth with a double down the left field line. After Alex Madera — who had played his first four seasons of college baseball at the Division III level — barely missed bunting Gallaher to third, ninth-batting shortstop Colby Wilkerson drove him home with a bloop single to left. The nail-biting Boshamer crowd suddenly went bonkers.
Closer Dalton Pence kept LSU from winning in the bottom of the ninth, and in the 10th the Heels got the break they needed.
Johnny Castagnozzi, who had come in as a pinch hitter in the eighth, laced a liner to deep right that the LSU outfielder misplayed into an error, allowing Castagnozzi to reach second. Forbes replaced him with the fleeter Jackson Van De Brake, a senior reserve.
Madera, who had seven assists at second base on the night, singled to right with Van De Brake scoring the go-ahead run.
The Heels had lost the coin toss before the game and were the visiting team on their home field, so they needed one more clean inning from Pence to complete the wondrous win and move on to the Super Regional this weekend against unseeded West Virginia back at The Bosh, where Carolina will be a strong favorite to win two out of three and return to the College World Series for the first time since 2018.
Pence delivered with three fly balls, two to right fielder Anthony Donofrio and the last to centerfielder Vance Honeycutt, the star of the team who thrust his arms in the air before joining his mates in the mosh pit on the mound.
It capped a maddening night when the bats weren’t always working, but faith was alive and well.
Featured image via Carolina Baseball on Twitter.
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.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 newsletter.
Glorious