For Louisburg’s Cale Bolton, baseball has always been a part of his life. Bolton’s been playing since the age of three, and last Sunday, he and his UNC teammates won the ACC Tournament with a 14-4 thumping of the Clemson Tigers.

“It was an awesome moment,” Bolton told WIZS’s Scout Hughes and George Hoyle on SportsTalk.

The Tar Heels face Holy Cross Friday at 12 noon in the first game of the NCAA tournament. If they win, they’ll host the Super Regional.

The right-handed pitcher arrived at UNC after playing on teams at Brunswick Community College and then Liberty University – both experiences that have helped shape him as he continues to develop as a Division 1 athlete.

With a grandfather, father and brother all big baseball fans and players, it was a foregone conclusion that Bolton also would fall in line.

His brother pitched for three seasons at East Carolina, and Bolton said he gave him sound advice: “Stay in the weight room, keep getting stronger, and have a short memory on the mound.”

Over the years, Bolton said, he’s leaned in to that advice and is happy to share it with others. “Don’t take a day off, always be doing something,” even on off-days. Hit the weight room, go for a run, he added. “Keep your body in shape and stay ahead of everybody else.”

Of course, his dream is to play professional baseball, and since this is his final year at the college level, Bolton just may get his chance.

But first, there’s the NCAA tournament.

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