For 12 weeks, all Gianluca Dalatri could do was watch.
Shut down after two starts because of a stress reaction in his right throwing elbow, Dalatri spent games and practices in the North Carolina dugout, unable to touch a baseball. It was often trying, he said. But at least he could still watch his teammates.
Predominantly from that vantage point, Dalatri saw UNC start the season 7-7. Yet he also noticed, perhaps before any of his teammates, how they never became discouraged, not then nor during any other adverse moments in the team's run to the College World Series.