UNC's Mike Fox on injured pitcher: ' He didn't feel like he had anything on the ball'

North Carolina starting pitcher Luca Dalatri was pulled from the game in the bottom of the first inning of Saturday's College World Series baseball game for an apparent injury.

UNC coach Mike Fox said Dalatri told him that he just didn't feel right.

Dalatri, who was pitching in his fifth game since returning from elbow soreness that sidelined him for 12 weeks during the regular season, struggled with his command to start the game.

"He basically said he didn't feel like he had anything on the ball," Fox said. "So with his past history, we needed to make a change."

He had given up two hits, a walk and a run in the first inning.

After the second hit, sophomore catcher Brandon Martorano called time and motioned to his coaches in the dugout to come to the mound. Initially the coaches looked confused.

When Fox and pitching coach Robert Woodard got to the mound to talk to Dalatri, they had him throw a warm up pitch.

Dalatri threw one pitch pulled him from the game. He was escorted off the field by a UNC trainer.

Fox could not confirm that it was Dalatri's elbow that was bothering him. He said he had not talked to Dalatri immediately after the game, so he was unsure the extent of his injury.

"If anything is wrong with Luca Dalatri, we won't pitch him for the rest of the season," Fox said. "That's for sure."

On Sunday morning, he said he had no official update on Dalatri's injury, but would learn more later in the day.

Dalatri had first experienced elbow soreness early in the season in February after pitching in only two games. An MRI revealed a stress reaction and not a tear.

He returned in May and had done well in four starts since coming back. He picked up two wins, including one in the ACC tournament, and one in UNC's regional.

The most runs he had given up was three against Stetson in his latest start in the Super Regional last weekend. He pitched 3 1/3 innings. But Dalatri said as recently as Tuesday that he was feeling fine and had been hoping to give his team a better chance to win when he started in the College World Series.

"It's no excuse that I'm only three weeks in," Dalatri said on Tuesday. "I have to pitch like a pitcher who has pitched the whole year."

This story was originally published June 16, 2018 at 6:02 PM with the headline "UNC's Mike Fox on injured pitcher: ' He didn't feel like he had anything on the ball'."