UNC wins longest 9-inning College World Series game in history
Baseball, on its best day, is a breezy couple of hours on a pleasant afternoon where the pitches come in a timely manner, there are a few hits to break up a well-contested defensive game, the weather is pleasant, and everybody goes home happy with the rest of their day in front of them.
Baseball, on its worst day, is something more akin to a military forced march, but slower. Games go on for what feels like an eternity, players and fans persevere only because they’re required, the sun beats down without mercy — and at the end, everybody is just relieved it’s over.
Saturday’s College World Series game between North Carolina and Oregon State was a forced march.
Indeed, second baseman for the Tar Heels Zack Gahagan said, “It felt like 10 hours, to be honest.”
The 8-6 Carolina win clocked in at 4 hours, 24 minutes in the opening game of the CWS in Omaha, Nebraska. It was the longest 9-inning game in CWS history.
For a sense of sporting perspective, two full matches of the FIFA World Cup tournament in Russia can be completed in that length of time (a soccer match with halftime and stoppage time runs just under two hours).
The Tar Heels and Beavers combined for 14 runs, 24 hits, eight walks, six hit batsmen and eight pitching changes. Including the starters, there were 10 pitchers used in the game.
There were only two easy, quick 1-2-3 innings between the two teams.
Throw in a brutal Nebraska June day, where the temperature was 93 degrees at the time of the first pitch and the mercury took off like a home run ball to nearly 100 degrees in the shade by the end, and what you’ve got is a game that is an endurance test for everyone involved.
Even Gahagan, who plays baseball in a place where the climate is great if you’re an alligator or a sheaf of rice but not so much if you’re a human being, remarked on the weather.
“Omaha is pretty hot. Down in North Carolina, we’re kinda used to it,” he said. “The humidity is a little bit higher down there, but yeah, it was a good win for us, and I’m kinda happy to get [it] over with.”
Oregon State coach Pat Casey lamented the length of the game but pointed out that in the literal heat of the moment, the focus is less on that and more on simply making plays.
“It’s certainly not something I’m thinking of during the game,” Casey said. “I just think it’s going to be a long game when you walk guys and make errors. Four and a half hours is too long to be on the field.”
Oregon State issued three walks and committed a season-worst three errors during the contest.
Beavers outfielder Trevor Larnach downplayed the effect of the weather on the loss. “The long innings, they kinda make things difficult, but we haven’t played in about a week,” he said. “So it is what it is. It doesn’t make any difference for us. We’re all playing in the heat. A long inning doesn’t matter. We’re trying to get a win.”
North Carolina coach Mike Fox touched on the difference in interest between playing baseball and watching it when he talked about the amount of time fans had to invest in the event.
“For me, the more you’re out there, the better,” Fox said. “I just love being out there and watching kids compete and playing the game. I get it — that was a long game. But they’re not long for me. They’re not long for coaches and players. I know sometimes it’s agonizing for the people who are watching.”
Which is easy for Fox to say considering his team won. He might not be singing the same tune if it was his bunch who came up two runs short.
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