North Carolina's Erik Paulsen Jr.'s unbreakable bond with his father - ESPN

Editor's note: This story was originally published on May 29. It has been updated with game information ahead of the Chapel Hill Super Regional.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Erik Paulsen Jr. wants us to know about his dad.

The UNC Tar Heels first baseman's father died less than 11 months ago. Anyone who has ever lost a loved one knows that during every single day of that first trip through the calendar without them — the first round of missed milestones, birthdays, holidays — the grief of it is raw. Talking about them, using past tense about the person who was there for every step of life, can feel like gasping for air.

But here the 21-year-old sits, dressed in Carolina blue, not sobbing, rather telling stories with a smile on his face. The way he carries on, you'd think Erik Sr. was still here. Heck, you'd think he was sitting outside, in the grandstand of Boshamer Stadium, waiting to watch his son play ball.

Because Erik Jr. wants us to know about his dad.

«You would have loved him. Everyone did,» Paulsen says excitedly, sitting in the home dugout of the ballpark that will host a super regional against USC (3 p.m. ET on ESPN2). «He loved baseball more than anyone I've known, or you've ever known, trust me. He was my hero. And he was an American hero.»

Erik Paulsen Sr. was a Long Islander and an NYPD detective, living in Massapequa and working in Brooklyn, New York. Everything he did away from the beat revolved around baseball. He played college ball at Misericordia University and Farmingdale State and was a staple of Long Island adult baseball leagues and a proud owner of two season tickets at Yankee Stadium.

Paulsen was a veteran of the force when, on a day off, a Tuesday morning in September 2001, he received a call from