University of North Carolina Athletics
Baseball Plays Host To East Carolina Today At 3:00 P.M.
February 23, 2000 | Baseball
Feb. 23, 2000
Feb. 23, 2000, 3 p.m.
oshamer Stadium, Chapel Hill, N.C.
CAROLINA QUICK FACTS
Probable Starter: Ryan Snare, LHP (1-0, 6.75 ERA, 19 K)
Head Coach: Mike Fox (UNC 78)
Foxs Record at UNC: 50-18 (second year)
Foxs Overall Record: 590-159-4 (16th year)
Assistant Coaches: Chad Holbrook
Roger Williams
Scott Forbes
ECU QUICK FACTS
Probable Starter: Foye Minton, LHP (1-1, 5.06 ERA, 9 K)
Head Coach: Keith LeClair (Western Carolina 88)
LeClairs Record at ECU: 82-46 (third year)
LeClairs Overall Record: 311-181-2 (ninth year)
Assistant Coaches:Tommy Eason
Kevin McMullan
George Whitfield
TAR HEELS HOST EAST CAROLINA
No. 13 North Carolina returns home from a three-game West Coast swing at UCLA to face the 24th ranked East Carolina Pirates at Boshamer Stadium. The Pirates are the fifth different ranked opponent the Tar Heels have faced thus far in 2000. Carolina has posted wins over Central Florida, Rice, Miami and UCLA, all of whom have been nationally ranked at the time of their meeting with UNC. The Tar Heels and Pirates have met 55 times since 1958, with UNC holding a 32-23 edge in the series. Last year, Carolina split two games with ECU. Carolina posted an 8-3 season-opening win over ECU at the Winn-Dixie Shootout in a game that marked the beginning of the Mike Fox era in Chapel Hill. The Pirates took an 8-6 contest later in the year in Greenville.
CAROLINA OFF TO ANOTHER HOT START
After sweeping the season-opening ACC/Disney Blast in Orlando, a three-game series at then-No. 2 UCLA and picking up home wins over Elon and Penn State, the Tar Heels are off to another fast start in 2000 at 9-0. Six of those nine wins were against nationally ranked teams. Last year, Carolina started the season 16-0, setting the school record for longest winning streak.
HEELS ENJOY CONTINUED SUCCESS AT HOME IN 2000
Carolina has won 40 consecutive non-conference home games, including three thus far in 2000. The last time the Tar Heels lost to a non-ACC opponent at Boshamer Stadium was Feb. 21, 1998, versus Seton Hall. Carolina posted one of its most productive seasons ever at home in 1999, winning 27 of 30 games for a .900 winning percentage.
HEELS SWEEP BRUINS, JUMP IN POLLS
After sweeping three games from then-No.2 UCLA in Westwood last weekend to move to 9-0 on the season, Carolina jumped to No. 4 in two national polls. Both Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and Baseball Weekly rated the undefeated Tar Heels fourth in their latest polls, while Baseball America has Carolina ranked No. 13.
BIG INNINGS PROPEL CAROLINA PAST UCLA
Carolina notched a 13-run ninth inning on Friday and an 11-run fourth on Sunday in taking three straight games from UCLA last weekend in Westwood. The second-ranked Bruins held a 13-4 advantage heading into the ninth inning of the Feb. 18 contest before the Tar Heels exploded for 13 runs in the top of the ninth to score a dramatic 17-13 come-from-behind victory. Two days later, Carolina trailed 6-0 early, but responded with an 11-run fourth inning to pull ahead of UCLA 11-6. Carolina eventually won the six-inning (rain) game 12-11 to complete a three-game sweep of the Bruins. On Saturday, Eric Henderson had his third consecutive solid outing for the Tar Heels, as he scattered three runs on four hits over 6.0 innings while striking out nine to earn his second win of the season. The junior lefty is now 2-0 on the season with a 3.63 ERA.
FOX GETS 50TH CAROLINA WIN IN UCLA SWEEP
Second-year head coach Mike Fox, a 1978 UNC graduate and former baseball letterwinner, has led the Tar Heels to a 50-18 record, including a school-best 22-2 start in 1999, since returning to his alma mater in May of 1998. With Carolina's three-game sweep of UCLA in Los Angeles, Fox became the quickest Tar Heel skipper to reach the 50-win mark in history. Bill Fetzer, Carolina's head coach from 1921-25, previously held that distinction, leading UNC to a 50-16-4 mark in his first 70 games at the helm.
Fastest UNC Coaches to 50 wins
Mike Fox 50-18 (68 games) ill Fetzer 50-16-4 (70 games) Walter Rabb 50-21-4 (75 games) Mike Roberts 50-25 (75 games) unn Hearn 50-27 (77 games) Jim Ashmore 50-31-1 (82 games)
FARRELL NAMED ACC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
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CAROLINA CLOSES IN ON 2,000 WINS
The Carolina baseball program needs just two more victories to reach the 2,000-win plateau. Carolina, now in its 111th season, has posted a 1,998-1,191-36 all-time record and is coming off its most productive decade in history. The Heels won 379 games in the 1990s and posted four seasons with more than 40 victories.
HOME RUN BARRAGE
While Carolina was held without a home run in its first two games of the season, the Tar Heels have responded with 13 home runs in their last seven outings. In the 17-13 win over UCLA on Feb. 18, Carolina actually surrendered a UCLA-record seven homers to the Bruins but responded with three of their own to prevail 17-13. Ryan Earey hit a three-run homer and Sean Farrell added a two-run blast two batters later to spark a wild 13-run ninth inning in the dramatic come-from-behind victory. In the 14-0 win over Elon on Feb. 9, Carolina had its first two-home-run inning of the season, when Clay Hooper and Tyrell Godwin had back-to-back long balls. In the first game against Penn State on Feb. 13, Earey had two homers in the game and Jay Madeira had his first home run of the season in leading UNC to the 21-10 win.
Home Run Leaders
Ryan Earey 3 Ryan Blake 2 Sean Farrell 2 Tyrell Godwin 2 Clay Hooper 1 Jay Madeira 1 Matt McCay 1 Dan Moylan 1
DEPRIEST CLIMBS IN UNC RECORD BOOK
Derrick DePriest is currently in third place in the Carolina record book for all-time appearances with 95. The senior right-hander, who last year led the nation with a 1.71 ERA, has appeared in six of Carolina's nine games this year. He has allowed just three hits and one earned run and has struck out 10 batters in11.0 innings. DePriest needs just two more appearances to tie Brad Woodall for second place all-time at UNC with 97.
TAR HEELS START SEASON WITH A BLAST
Carolina got off to a tremendous start to the 2000 season when it traveled to the ACC/Disney Baseball Blast in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., and came away with three straight wins over a strong field of non-conference opponents. The Tar Heels opened the three-day, season-opening tournament at Disney's Wide World of Sports complex with a come-from-behind 9-6 win over No. 23 Central Florida. On Saturday, UNC scored eight runs in the final two innings to erase a 2-0 deficit and defeat No. 14 Rice 8-2. Carolina capped the weekend with a 9-0 win over defending national champion Miami. The 9-0 shutout of the fifth-ranked Hurricanes was just the second time Miami had been held scoreless since 1975. Ryan Blake, Chris Elmore, Adam Greenberg and Dan Moylan were each named to the All-Tournament team.
2000 PRESEASON ACCOLADES
The following Tar Heels were honored as preseason All-Americas:
BASEBALL AMERICA PRESEASON ACC ACCOLADES
The following Tar Heels were recognized by Baseball America in its College Preview issue:
