CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- When No. 1 overall seed North Carolina (53-8) went into the eighth inning with a 4-3 lead over No. 4 seed Canisius (42-16), it went to its closer, Trent Thornton. As freshmen tend to, he’s had his highs and lows this year, sometimes within a week or even days of each other. It sounds easy on paper. But nothing is ever that simple, and it wasn’t this time. After recording a quick out, Thornton loaded the bases. Still just one out. A one-run lead. There wasn’t any other choice. “I was kind of speeding the game up, and that’s not really what you want that late in the game,” Thornton said. And so he stepped off the mound to take a deep breath and collect himself. His mindset after that was simple. “Go after them,” he said. And he did. Thornton threw eight pitches to the next two batters he faced, and six of them were strikes. Two strikeouts to end a bases-loaded jam for a freshman, in an NCAA regional, no less. North Carolina head coach Mike Fox said that they used Thornton as a closer some as early as the preseason, even though he has started a few games this year for the Tar Heels. It’s always been in the back of the staff’s mind to use him in that role. And as the year has progressed, he’s shown he’s capable of it. While spectators might not have assumed Thornton would come through in such a tough situation, though, his head coach didn’t have any doubts. Neither did his teammates. “I’m not sure when the last time we had a freshman closer. I can’t remember back that far. I think our team trusts him now. I think his teammates trust him, which is important. “I’ve seen him do it before. That’s a special kid we have there,” Fox said. “He just made the Dean’s List. That’s a side note, if you want to throw that in, besides the fact that he’s closing games for us in the regionals as a freshman. He’s got that ‘it’ factor.” Canisius had left the bases loaded twice already prior to the eighth without getting a run, early in the second and third innings. But Canisius head coach Mike McRae felt those early innings gave his team confidence, even though they didn’t score. Missing that chance in the eighth was pretty much the difference in the game. “To me, the turning point was that eighth inning. You saw a huge momentum shift … when they got those two punch-outs on in our world, in our preparation, on strikeouts that shouldn’t happen in that situation,” McRae said. “That was a huge momentum shift in that ballgame right there.” North Carolina seemed to wake up its bats in the bottom of the eighth. UNC left fielder Brian Holberton didn’t just think that Thornton’s escape in the eighth changed that game alone. He thinks it might have just changed the course of the rest of the season, however it will end for the Tar Heels. “I think that was a turning point, probably hopefully from here on out. The whole game up to that point, everybody was -- not nervous, but had some nerves and as soon as Trent got that out, you could feel the dugout completely change,” Holberton said. “We came out and we had momentum. The whole game changed after that pitch.” The Tar Heels tacked on two more insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth after chasing Canisius starter Garrett Cortright, but by that time, a UNC win already felt inevitable. To have a 53-8 record in a sport like baseball, a team obviously has to be both lucky and good. Fox admitted as much after the game when his team survived Canisius leaving 14 men on base. “When the other team is leaving runners out there, you’re doing one of two things: you’re either making good pitches, you’re making good plays or you’re a little lucky,” Fox said, adding. “Well, I guess that’s three things.” Thornton, meanwhile, doesn’t seem to mind the increased pressure of the postseason. Pitchers have an extra gear, seemingly, when situations get tough. And Thornton certainly has that. “Yeah, there’s definitely some more pressure now that it’s in the regionals. You just kind of have to bear down and focus a little bit more,” Thornton said. He stopped, and grinned. “But it’s fun to have pressure.”
