University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Land Nine Baseball Recruits
November 15, 2000 | Baseball
Nov. 15, 2000
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - University of North Carolina baseball coach Mike Fox has announced a nine-player recruiting class, including seven North Carolinians, for the 2002 season. The group includes four pitchers, three infielders, one catcher and one utility player.
"We are pleased with our recruiting class for 2001-02," Fox said. "As with any recruiting class, you have specific needs you hope to fill. We believe we addressed some of our needs for the future. We needed to sign several infielders, a catcher and more pitching and we were able to do that. We looked in state first and were able to sign seven from North Carolina.
"This is a solid group with a nucleus of players who could possibly help us right away. We also believe our nine signees are committed to college and we expect to see all of them enroll in the fall of 2001."
In two years in Chapel Hill, Fox has led Carolina to a 87-35 record and back-to-back berths in the NCAA Tournament. The Tar Heels opened the 2000 season with a school-record 21-game winning streak and were ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation by Baseball Weekly and Collegiate Baseball. Carolina lost 15 letterwinners from last year's team however, including standouts Derrick DePriest, Ryan Earey, Chris Elmore, Tyrell Godwin, Clay Hooper and Ryan Snare.
Among Carolina's nine signees are several highly-touted prospects, including Carter Harrell and Mickey Burgess, rated by Baseball America as the top two high school players in North Carolina who will graduate next June. Baseball America also rates pitcher Garry Bakker the No. 1 player in New York and catcher Chris Iannetta the top player in Rhode Island.
UNC opens the 2001 season in Chapel Hill on Feb. 10 when it hosts James Madison.
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA 2002 BASEBALL SIGNEES
| Name | Pos. | Ht. | Wt. | Hometown | (High School/Previous School) |
| Garry Bakker | RHP | 6-2 | 190 | Sloatsburg,N.Y. | (Suffern HS) |
| Mickey Burgess | SS/3B/2B | 5-10 | 175 | Liberty,N.C. | (Eastern Randolph HS) |
| Carter Harrell | RHP | 6-3 | 195 | Rocky Mount,N.C. | (Rocky Mount HS) |
| Sammy Hewitt | RHP/3B | 6-3 | 195 | Hubert,N.C. | (Lenoir Community College) |
| Chris Iannetta | C | 5-11 | 190 | Providence,R.I. | (St. Raphael Academy) |
| Paul Jenkins | RHP | 6-2 | 190 | Rocky Mount,N.C. | (Rocky Mount HS) |
| Greg Mangum | SS/2B | 5-8 | 160 | Charlotte,N.C. | (East Mecklenburg HS) |
| Bryan Phillips | 3B/1B/RHP | 6-2 | 180 | Sanford,N.C. | (Lee County HS) |
| Justin Webb | Utility | 6-0 | 160 | Macclesfield,N.C. | (SouthWest Edgecombe HS) |
