Scary moment: UNC's Michael Russell hit in the head with a fastball

Ryan Fagan

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Scary moment: UNC's Michael Russell hit in the head with a fastball image

Michael Russell, a shortstop for North Carolina, was hit in the head with a pitch from Florida's Bobby Poyner in the second inning of an elimination game of the NCAA Tournament's Gainesville Regional on Saturday afternoon.

It was not a pretty sight.

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Though Russell walked off under his own power, it was a scary scene. He went down immediately, and blood started pouring from his head. The game was delayed while athletic trainers attended to Russell. 

Russell was taken to the clubhouse to get stitches and undergo a concussion test. But instead of removing him from the game, the two teams decided to delay the game in order to see if the sophomore would be able to eventually return.

After the brief delay, it was determined that Russell would not return to the game, and the delay was lifted. 

Florida, the top-ranked team in the Gainesville pod, lost to No. 4-seed College of Charleston 3-2 on Friday, sending them into Saturday's elimination game against North Carolina, who lost to No. 2-seed Long Beach State 6-1 a day before. 

UPDATE: Russell shared the aftermath of his injury with a tweet making reference to Harry Potter.

 

Ryan Fagan

Ryan Fagan Photo

Ryan Fagan, the national MLB writer for The Sporting News, has been a Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2016. He also dabbles in college hoops and other sports. And, yeah, he has way too many junk wax baseball cards.