Coach Mike Fox had to shake ice cubes from his pants in the postgame interview.

That’s what happens when your team wins the ACC Championship and your players pour a cooler full of gatorade on your head.

The Tar Heels ended an 18-year drought and claimed the title in a 3-2 contest against Wake Forest.

“I’m overjoyed on behalf of all of our players to win the ACC Championship,” Fox said. “They get to take something special away from this.”

UNC relied on its pitching for the second game in a row. Luke Putkonen, Matt Danford and Andrew Carignan combined to allow five huts and a single earned run. Danford got the win, improving to 5-0.

The Demon Deacons went ahead early, scoring in the first inning off a wild pitch. UNC answered in the fourth when third baseman Chad Flack singled home Garrett Gore. After the teams traded another run each, the Tar Heels came up with their biggest play of the game.

With one out and first baseman Dustin Ackley on second base, Josh Horton tripled and brought in Ackley — whose run put UNC ahead for good.

Horton was named MVP of the tournament.

“I’m tickled to death for the team,” Horton said. “All the individual stuff kind of gets pushed to the side.”

The Deacons’ shortstop, Dustin Hood, drove in one of the team’s runs — the other coming off a pass ball.

He said WFU came together during the tournament and that they knew they had to win two games to have a chance to play in the NCAA tournament.

“We really pull for each other,” Hood said. “I think we might have come together a little more in this tournament.”

Coach Fox praised his relief pitcher, Andrew Carignan, who shut out the Deacons in the final two innings.

“A.C. is just that steady rock for us. You know he’s going to give us a chance to win,” Fox said.

UNC had lost five consecutive games coming into this year’s tournament and had not competed in a title game since 1990. After losing to Georgia Tech in the first game of this year’s tournament, the Tar Heels rebounded and won three in a row.

The seeding for the NCAA Tournament will be announced Monday. UNC is expected to have a national seed and will be one of a few teams favored to win the world series.

The difference between North Carolina’s victory on Thursday and their victory on Saturday was the difference between night and day.

Instead of riding the strength of their potent offense, the Tar Heels pitched their way into the ACC championship game. UNC’s pitchers combined for a four-hit shutout and defeated Virginia 5-0.

In the winning effort, Alex White pitched seven innings and struck out five hitters. At one point, he retired eight straight batters. Andrew Carignan added two scoreless innings in relief. 

The crowd had thinned. The field was soaked. The temperature had fallen.

But none of that mattered to the Tar Heels.

UNC crushed No. 25 N.C. State 14-5 Thursday, earning their first win in the ACC Tournament in seven tries.
It was no short affair.

Intermittent rain in Jacksonville, Fla. postponed the game until 10:00 p.m. — a full three hours after the planned starting time. And it wasn’t finished until after 1:00 a.m.

On a night like that, staying patient is key.

The Tar Heel batters waited on pitches, frequently going deep in counts. As a team, UNC had 19 hits, and three players drove in three runs. Right fielder Tim Fedroff connected for four hits in five at-bats.

The Wolfpack came up with plenty of hits — 10 — but hurt themselves defensively. In the 5th inning, N.C. State committed three errors. UNC took advantage, breaking the back-and-forth pattern of the game and opening up a 7-2 lead on four runs.

Robert Woodard, who broke UNC’s career wins record in his last start, had another successful outing. He threw seven and two-thirds innings, allowing five runs while striking out six batters on his way to a playoff win.

Ramon Corona and Marcus Jones led N.C. State’s offense. They combined for four hits and three RBIs.

UNC eliminated the Wolfpack’s last glimmer of hope when they added four runs in the top of the ninth and increasing their lead to nine runs.

The Tar Heels will face Virginia on Saturday at 1 p.m. The winner of that game will play for the championship on Sunday against the winner of the second bracket.

The UNC men’s baseball team continued added to a streak of bad play in the ACC Tournament.

They lost 8-4 to Georgia Tech on their first day of action. Since 2004, the Tar Heels have dropped six consecutive games in the tournament.
UNC’s offense — normally a force to be reckoned with — was contained by David Duncan. Duncan pitched eight innings, allowing only two runs on three hits. Patrick Long reached base four times in the game, posting three hits and one RBI.

Chad Flack and Tim Fedroff each drove in two runs.