Depressed (and tired) Sunday morning

I am so bummed that I don’t know what to do?

I genuinely can’t believe that a group of real men could lose to a team comprised of a Parks, Skye, Grayson, Taylore (that is the correct spelling), Hobbs, Landon, Mason, Colin, Benton, Cody, Tate, Korey (yep, spelled that way), Zach, Chaz, Trevor & Reilly. Good God, man!! What type of creature does it take to have a boy pop out of a perfectly good vagina and the parents decide to name him Skye?!?!

Is this just God’s way of adding to the anticipation when the Wolfpack and Tar heels meet in the College World Series next month?

Link to N&O’s story – A night to remember.

It was in the late, long hours of Saturday night, after it’d turned into Sunday morning, when for the first time Mike Fox attempted to describe what he’d just watched and been a part of. What Fox wanted to say, maybe he couldn’t. Perhaps it was a sense of deliriousness or exhaustion. Or both.

After 18 innings and more than six hours, it was over. North Carolina’s 2-1 victory against N.C. State on Saturday night came in the longest game in the history of the ACC baseball tournament, and in front of the largest crowd — or at least what was left of it at Durham Bulls Athletic Park — to watch a college baseball game in North Carolina.

The game began at 7:41 on Saturday night. It ended at 1:51 on Sunday morning. It was past 2 a.m. by the time Fox, in his 15th season as UNC’s coach, walked into an interview room and faced the cameras. He looked tired and happy. He sat down behind a microphone, glanced at a box score and began his opening comments with this:

“I don’t have the words to describe what I just saw.”

Who could have? Before Saturday, N.C. State and UNC had played 283 times. The 284th might have been the greatest of them all – the kind that will live on when players tell their children about it one day and when spectators, especially those who remained until the end, thumb through a scrapbook and travel back at the sight of a ticket stub.

Even then, where will those stories and those memories begin? With the performance of Carlos Rodon, the N.C. State sophomore left-hander who pitched the first 10 innings, allowed one hit and struck out 14? With UNC’s bullpen, which allowed four hits and no runs in 12 and two-thirds innings?

Will the stories begin with the close calls, and the what-ifs? With how Colin Moran, the UNC junior third baseman who’s one of the best hitters in the country, stranded five runners – four of them in extra innings? With how N.C. State had the tying run on third base with nobody out in the 18th, and left him there? With how two other times in extra innings, the Wolfpack needed just one hit to drive in the winning run from third? With how UNC, one of the best hitting teams in the country, had just six hits in 61 at-bats?

With all of the talk of historically great pitching and under performing hitting you can’t underestimate the impact of a GINORMOUS and inconsistently applied strike zone by the home plate umpire. When hitters don’t know what pitches will be called balls and strikes they have a tendency to have to swing at a lot of bad pitches.

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43 Responses to Depressed (and tired) Sunday morning

  1. BJD95 05/26/2013 at 10:41 AM #

    You know the NC State shite is coming. You watch and wonder how it could possibly be even worse this time. God, in His or Her infinite wisdom…apparently never runs out of creative ideas.

    I fell asleep on my couch in the bottom of the 18th, with the tying run on 3rd and nobody out. When I came to around 2:30, I hit rewind until I saw the predictable end result.

  2. TheCOWDOG 05/26/2013 at 10:58 AM #

    Come on, boys. Don’t change the tone of last night / this morning’s game. It was epic.

    Never have I witnessed 18 innings of sheer pitching brilliance…not at ANY level. Strike zones had nothing to do with it. I hate the outcome, but stand with a sweeping bow, and tip o’ the cap to each and every hurler…baby blue and red.

    Regionals first, then we’ll see what happens. How ’bout a little positive for a classic? Can’t let ya piss n moan about this one…no matter how much I luv ya.

  3. mak4dpak 05/26/2013 at 11:30 AM #

    Too many blown opportunities. Tooooooo many! Hope they live and learn from this. We should be playing for the championship. And no matter how great the game was, it was the dreaded holes we lost to. Anybody but them. No cap tips for them! Ever! I totally despise them. And dread hearing their mouths over this one.

  4. packalum44 05/26/2013 at 11:33 AM #

    It was epic all right. Epic choke job. Having a historically good team at State only means they’ll just find a historic way to choke against UNC.

    But lets face it. They would choke against Tech today. History says so.

    UNC fans look down on State fans because they can. We are ECU to them. Rightfully so.

  5. packpowerfan 05/26/2013 at 11:40 AM #

    Good Lord folks. I hate the loss, but last night was mesmerizing. If anything, it lights a fire heading into regionals…and after FSU’s collapse in the tournament, a legendary game like that could put us in as a national seed.

    I’m proud to hell and back of our pitching staff last night. A freshman with only 5 2/3 innings ALL SEASON gave up the single earned run. Just masterful to watch our boys pitch.

  6. choppack1 05/26/2013 at 11:42 AM #

    Room will go down in the books as one of the all time greats. Hopefully team can recover from loss. If pitching continues like this we should be able to advance far in ncaa.

  7. Wufpacker 05/26/2013 at 11:53 AM #

    Guys, try to keep the disappointment of the loss, and hate of Carolina (I feel ’em too trust me) separate from the belief that this team has underperformed, either in general or last night specifically.

    If anything, this team has thus far exceeded expectations. No shit.

  8. lawful 05/26/2013 at 12:16 PM #

    Amongst all the coulda shoulda woulda, Brett Williams swung at the game winning walk in the …….13th? With all the missed opportunities, we probably deserved that.

  9. wolfbuff 05/26/2013 at 12:29 PM #

    Lots of woulda/coulda/shouldsas in that game. Brett swinging at the 4th ball with the bases loaded was one. I recall someone else did that earlier. 4 errors (I don’t care that play at 2nd was later ruled a difficult play; it was error) and the lack of clutch hitting eventually did us in. Hopefully, we did enough to earn the national seed

  10. Wufpacker 05/26/2013 at 12:35 PM #

    RPIs remained the same FWIW. We’re still #8, FSU still #9.

    We are now separated from Oregon (at #7) by FIVE 10,000ths of a point however (that was supposed to be funny, btw)

  11. Wufpacker 05/26/2013 at 12:37 PM #

    Carolina, Vandy and UVa are 1-2-3 in RPI incidentally.

    Just as it should be.

    And a national seed keeps us from having to travel to Nashville for supers. That won’t be fun for whoever gets that draw.

  12. BJD95 05/26/2013 at 12:37 PM #

    In no way am I criticizing the team or Coach Avent. But if was like something supernatural keeping us from crossing the threshhold.

    Wacky combined error (Senay and Rodon each goofed up), after an error by our stready 3B earlier in the 8th, gets the Holes the tying run. State gets a man to third with less than 2 outs at least 6 or 7 times. Never scores. Our best player commits two huge errors (though neither was scored as such), dropping the ball on a rundown, then allowing the winning run to score on a pop up that he misjudges by about 10 feet.

    How can anyone NOT call that NC State Shite?? Even allowing for baseball being a weird sport…that’s just freaking nuts.

  13. Wufpacker 05/26/2013 at 12:42 PM #

    Agree with you BJD on the shite factor.

    FWIW, the play that allowed them to tie it was all on Senay though. He should have gone straight to first for the sure out and trusted Rodon to take out the next batter for the third to get out of it.

    Rodon’s timing going to the bag was based on that. When Senay hesitated from considering trying to turn two, Rodon’s momentum thru the bag caused the rest.

  14. bill.onthebeach 05/26/2013 at 12:52 PM #

    by all accounts…. this game was an instant classic…

    …. and FWIW… there are THIRTEEN ways to score a run from third base with nobody out….

    oh well….

  15. mak4dpak 05/26/2013 at 1:03 PM #

    Okay game over , go hokies! Now time to move on, but if and when we lose in the NCAA tourney, for Christ’s sake guys, don’t beat yourself. I still can’t swallow this one. We can write a book on the one that got away. or how to lose a game. Oh the agony of defeat!

  16. Wufpacker 05/26/2013 at 1:07 PM #

    Taylore and his cherries get the start for the Heels.

    This could be fun.

  17. Packster 05/26/2013 at 1:26 PM #

    Why did I watch this game? What a waste of time. I get so sick of the shite.

  18. Wufpacker 05/26/2013 at 1:41 PM #

    I like Jeremy Mills. 😀

    (That will make no sense to anyone not watching Carolina/VT right now)

  19. BJD95 05/26/2013 at 1:43 PM #

    To reprise last night’s joke, we will see if Taylore can rise to the occasion once again. Hee hee.

    I agree that it’s more on Senay (poor situational awareness), but poor Rodon got the error.

    Of course, we could have saved a LOT of grief if SOMEONE didn’t say “no hitter” out loud last night.

    I am sold on Avent now. He’s grown by leaps and bounds. He can stay until he dies.

  20. Whiteshoes67 05/26/2013 at 1:46 PM #

    It’s a hard game. Excellent pitching last night. Walks and errors kill you. Add to that very poor situational hitting, something I think really plagues this Pack team, and you get an L. Too many greased bb’s last night. No excuse for not getting a run across in the bottom of the 18th. Harder said then done, but down one, you have to either hit the long fly or beat the ball into the ground. I do blame Avent for not getting a safety squeeze down in that situation. Bottom of the lineup, decent speed on 3rd, middle infielders back, corners even with the bag, all you have to do is put the ball on the ground anywhere but back at the pitcher.

  21. BJD95 05/26/2013 at 1:47 PM #

    I took a kid and her friend to the beach today. Silver lining of the loss, didn’t have to dvr and bite my nails trying to avoid hearing results.

    Congratulations also to Vampire Weekend for making one hell of a new CD (yes, I’m so old that I buy CDs) and to the American public for making it #1.

  22. Wufpacker 05/26/2013 at 1:54 PM #

    “Of course, we could have saved a LOT of grief if SOMEONE didn’t say “no hitter” out loud last night.”

    Yeah, I used the not-on-the-field excuse for that one, but I’ll take my lumps for that faux pas nonetheless.

  23. Wufpacker 05/26/2013 at 2:10 PM #

    Carolina up 2-0 thru 4 btw, if anyone cares.

  24. coach13 05/26/2013 at 2:25 PM #

    I don’t comprehend how so many guys on both teams can’t bunt worth a sh1t. It is as fundamental a thing to do. I sure as hell would have loved to have seen one in the 18th with a man on third. I tell the boys and girls I coach if you can’t bunt you can’t hit. I know it is more difficult with good pitching but some of the attempts I saw were pitiful. I guess some coaches don’t care/prepare for small ball.

  25. blpack 05/26/2013 at 2:39 PM #

    That was an incredible game. I hate that we lost, but we lost. Our fault. Because of that, we aren’t singing Our State today. Maybe next year for the ACCT. The big thing for the team is focus on the coming week ahead. We are just getting started.

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