The Tar Heels, now 34-25, rapped out 15 hits and matched a season high with 13 runs in making a good final appearance before the NCAA tournament committee decides who to invite to the playoffs.
“I have no idea what this means for Monday (NCAA selection day),” UNC coach Mike Fox said. “I’m not a politician. We’ve done what we’ve done and we’ll just wait and see what our fate is on Monday.”
North Carolina seemingly had opened up the close game once before, in the fifth, when the Tar Heels collected four runs to grab control of the game at 7-2.
But in the seventh, Maryland, against two of Carolina’s best pitchers in Zach Gallen and Tyler Thornton, used six hits to score five runs to tie it at 7-7.
Then the improbable happened. Carolina had an even bigger inning. Pinch hitter Joe Dudek led things off with a single. Playing for one run, Korey Dunbar advanced pinch runner Michael Massardo to second with a sacrifice bunt.
After a walk put men on first and second with one out, Wood Myers drilled a single to right center that scored Massardo with the go-ahead run. Massardo couldn’t tell if the defender had made a diving catch or not and he held up a second despite UNC coach Mike Fox, coaching third, waving him home. As a result there was a bang-bang play at the plate where it was ruled that Massardo’s hand got under the tag of Maryland catcher Kevin Martir, who argued to no avail.
Three straight RBI singles by Landon Lassiter, Skye Bolt and Tyler Ramirez made it 11-7 Carolina. But the Tar Heels weren’t through as Alex Raburn drove in a run with a deep sacrifice fly and Parks Jordan singled in another run to give Carolina a commanding 13-7 advantage.
The Terps managed to get one on in the ninth but had no such big inning left as Carolina celebrated the victory.
“It’s deflating to lose that kind of lead but I’m proud of our guys for coming back and winning,” Coach Fox said. “It was a big win for us.”
Fox said that coaches and players talk about being mentally tough, resilient and confident and not letting anything break their spirit. “It’s easy to say but it’s harder to do,” he said. “You just gotta keep playin.”
The Tar Heels, much younger and inexperienced than recent years, now just have to wait to see if they keep playin’ this season.
“We’re normally used to seeing whether or not we’re a national seed,” said Parks Jordan, “but it is what it is. We’re going to take what we get and hopefully we get placed somewhere and try and play the best ball we can and continue on.”
Maryland, 36-20, continues on to the championship game Sunday against Georgia Tech despite losing after going 2-1 in pool play.
The Tar Heels went 1-2 in pool play and 2-2 overall in the tournament.