UNC's Mike Fox is not new to winning a College World Series. Here's the time he did it.

The victory celebration didn’t reach Washington Capitals beer-guzzling, pool-splashing levels, but it was a happy time and Mike Fox was a happy man.

North Carolina Wesleyan had won the 1989 Division III College World Series, and Fox, the Battling Bishops coach, wanted the good times to last a few days. But once back in Rocky Mount after the World Series …

“We had a lot of players from up North who wanted to go home,” said Eric Jarman, a Greenville native and junior centerfielder that season. “I was going to play summer collegiate ball up (in) New York. School was out. I had to go play ball.”

Not that there wasn’t a lot to celebrate. The Battling Bishops, picked in preseason to win the national title, had experienced a number of highs and lows in the season. A key pitcher was lost. There were injuries. The team couldn’t find a good groove for so long.

“We had some bumps along the way,” Jarman said.

In many ways, it was much like Fox’s North Carolina team this season, the one that will be competing in the College World Series, the one playing for an NCAA Division I championship.

UNC was 9-8 after its first 17 games, after a 1-0 loss to Gardner-Webb on March 14. The Tar Heels also hit a lull in early May and lost their first ACC tournament game — and a chance at an ACC title — after winning the Coastal Division with a 22-8 record and going in as the No. 1 seed.

“Coach kept preaching to us that all that failure was going to help us out in the long run,,” UNC pitcher Luca Dalatri said this week. “”We experienced a lot, learned a lot about our team.”

A sore elbow on his right, throwing arm sidelined Dalatri much of the season. But the 6-6 sophomore is back, throwing strikes.

Things were a little different for Fox and Wesleyan in 1989. The Bishops’ No. 2 pitcher, Jim Pittman, was diagnosed with Wegener’s Granulomatosis, a rare disease in which inflammation of the blood vessels can disrupt blood flow to organs. Pittman, who lost 80 pounds, later needed a kidney transplant.

“The guys kind of dedicated the season to him,” said Charles Flowers, a middle infielder who had played at Wesleyan from 1983-86 and assisted Fox as a volunteer coach in 1989. “It was a team that worked through adversity.”

Flowers, from Elm City, played on Fox’s first team, when the young coach replaced the successful Tony Guzzo, who had left for Virginia Commonwealth.

“Guys were loyal to coach Guzzo and it took time for them to see the light,” Flowers said. “It took time for coach Fox to win them over.”

The Battling Bishops had a number of players overlooked by Division I schools. As Flowers said, they played with a chip on their shoulders, especially when facing Division I schools.

“We beat Virginia so bad one time at our place that they never came back,” Flowers said.

Flowers’ younger brother, Doug, was an All-America catcher and first baseman at Wesleyan and one of the leaders of the ’89 champs.

“Coach Fox would play anybody, any time, any place,” Doug Flowers said.

What everyone wanted was an NCAA title. Everyone agrees that the ’89 team may not have been Wesleyan’s best but it found a good winning groove and everything fell into place.

“Coach Fox was the kind of coach who always pushed you but you always knew he had your best interest at heart,” Jarman said. “No matter who the player was he seemed to find a way to get the best out of them.”

At the College World Series in Bristol, Conn., the Battling Bishops edged Cal State Stanislaus 8-7 in the championship game. Jarman had two homers in the game, the second in the 13th inning to give Wesleyan the lead. Wesleyan also played and beat Stanislaus earlier in the day.

“We finally got back in the bus and we were dead tired,” Jarman said. “But coach wouldn’t let us sleep. He wanted to celebrate. He was like a little kid in a candy shop.”

Jarman said he recently spoke with Fox after the Tar Heels had finished off Houston 19-11 to win the Chapel Hill Regional, their first regional victory since 2013.

“He said he was so excited and the kids were happy but they didn’t dog pile,” Jarman said. “He said he told them, ‘We haven’t won one of these since ’13, you may never get this chance again, this is a special moment.’”

After UNC topped Stetson to win the Super Regional, Jarman sent a text asking about the postgame celebration.

“I didn’t get a response, just a picture of Carolina dog piling,” he said, laughing.

This story was originally published June 15, 2018 at 1:13 PM with the headline "UNC's Mike Fox is not new to winning a College World Series. Here's the time he did it.."