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This is a tough one to write -- it may be my last, it may be the next piece in preview of next season, it may well be gone and forgotten in years to come.

What is fortunate is that I will never forget this team in all of my years. We lost, of course, and it was not exactly pretty. Again, the losing was the worst part. Coach Fox stood in the midst of us, silent except for some soft sobs (mostly by me, I have to admit), and it really hit us. That was it. There was no tomorrow, and that was going to be the last time for some of us to ever play together.

It was that thought that struck me the most -- for the seniors on our team it would be my last time with them. They have been there literally every day I have been in the locker room and a part of the UNC baseball program, for three years now. I cannot grasp coming back next year without their familiar faces, and when I tried to, I broke down pretty hard. Coach said it best: We have relationships that last for a lifetime, no matter what the outcome was.

My father often talked about his college experience and how he made the best friends of his life. I never truly understood him until last night. Not being around my best friends every day will be the real gut check as we all try to move forward in the next days, weeks and years.

On a good note, the bus ride home could not have been better. I know for me, personally, I was all teary-eyed out and anxious to get a better taste in my mouth. So, there was only one option left. Our last and final rendition of "Proud To Be An American" was screamed at the top of our lungs, every verse and chorus. It was so powerful, in fact, that Coach Fox made a trip to the back of the bus and joined in, hand-slapping and pounding the panels of the bus in time. It may not have been the ending we asked for, but it made me appreciate our guys and our time together.

Thus, I leave you, hopefully not for the last time. I can say, though, this is the last time I will be writing following what was most certainly the best year of my life, the best group of guys that I could ever have been blessed in just being around, the best family and the best experience a baseball fan could have ever asked for.