From almost every direction, they came charging, some with water bottles in hand, ready to celebrate just as Mike Fox encouraged them to.
Just six days earlier, after North Carolina clinched the Chapel Hill Regional with its second win over Houston in as many days, the Tar Heels chose not to commemorate the victory with a dogpile. And Fox was OK with that. But in the locker room, he ensured his players celebrated. Such moments, he told them, can be fleeting.
So on Saturday, when Brooks Wilson's towering fly ball somehow fell harmlessly into Brandon Riley's glove on the center-field warning track, Fox's players heeded his words.