For the second consecutive year, North Carolina had to watch a dog-pile of Beavers celebrate the national baseball championship.
Oregon State ended their regular season going 4-8, hardly the kind of dance card the selection committee wants to see, but the committee gave Oregon State the benefit of the doubt as defending champions and let them in.
Once they got to the postseason, OSU entered the phone booth, exited donning a cape and only lost 1 game the entire post season.
North Carolina just couldn't put together the big inning against the defending champs. In the first inning of the loss on Sunday, the Heels had first and third with no outs and only scored a run. They had bases loaded in the 3rd with no outs and only scratched out a run.
An hour after the 9-3 loss to Oregon State, Tar Heel freshman Dustin Ackley was outside the gates of Rosenblatt stadium posing for a picture with his family at the famous celebration statue. Ackley smiled as much as the disappointment would allow. He has a chance to get back to Omaha. Several Tar Heels will not.
The school's all-time leading winner on the mound, Robert Woodard, finished his career in relief -- a classy move by Coach Mike Fox to let the senior pitch one more time in a Carolina uniform. Several underclassmen face the decision of pro ball or return to Carolina. I doubt that Josh Horton or Andrew Carignan will be back. Their next step may be in Vancouver as teammates in the Oakland A's minor league system.
This has been a record-setting season for North Carolina with 57 wins and they celebrated the school's first ACC tournament title since 1990. It's not the ultimate prize, but it's a championship ring that one day these guys will look back on and see the gleam of one of the greatest seasons in Carolina baseball history.
Copyright 2024 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
