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"Just watching from the bench, knowing I couldn't help out, it was a lot of getting used to, and something I didn't want to get used to,'' Bates said. "That's what drove me so hard."

When he returned home in June, he started throwing again. Day by day, his speed came back. Then his control and confidence.

He put his rib in his pocket when he took the mound for the team's intrasquad fall world series game in October -- and pitched six shutout innings.

So he put it back in his pocket when he was called to the mound for his first regular-season relief effort at Florida Atlantic in February.

"We were down [8-5], they had just hit a home run ... and the umpire was squeezing the zone a little bit," Bates remembered. "And I was like, 'I come back to this environment?' "

But he touched his rib, pitched 3 2/3 innings, and earned the first win of his college career. He enters the FSU series 4-0 as a reliever, boasts a 1.29 ERA, and his pro prospects are back intact.

"What he's done really is incredible,'' Forbes said. "We didn't really know if he would ever pitch again. ... But his work ethic was so off the charts that if ever there was a kid who was going to come back, it was going to be him. He doesn't miss a sprint, a weight lift, he doesn't take anything off, and that's why he's so good."

Maybe better than ever.

His fastball is up to 93 mph, and his change-up -- the pitch Bates said has been hardest to get back because it requires so much touch -- is becoming more consistent. Despite the two scars on his shoulder, one on his thigh and one on his wrist, he said he feels no residual soreness from his operations. The chance of a clot re-forming in his shoulder is minute; Diane Bates said that Dr. Thompson has never seen a recurrence six weeks after the surgery.

Therefore, the only pain for Bates is trying to keep track of his lucky rib, which he had to save from the laundry once and has accidentally been left in his room on game days multiple times (leading roommate/teammate Kyle Seager to bring it to him).

As superstitions go, UNC head coach Mike Fox has never heard one quite as odd as pitching with your own rib in your back pocket. But he appreciates it.

"I think it's just a reminder for Colin of where he came from -- from the time he was told, 'This is very serious, you might not ever pitch again,' to where he is now, which is kind of 'I'll show you,' " Fox said. "... He's very driven, and we're very appreciative of that."

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