University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Travel To Greenville To Face ECU
April 18, 2000 | Baseball
April 18, 2000
No. 24/21/21 EAST CAROLINA (32-10, 9-3 CAA)
April 18, 2000
Harrington Field, Greenville, N.C.
TAR HEELS AND PIRATES MEET FOR SECOND TIME IN 2000
North Carolina travels to Greeneville to face East Carolina for the second time this season. Carolina faced the Pirates in its 10th game of the season and won the game 6-4 in Chapel Hill behind a solid outing by Ryan Snare and a balanced offensive attack that saw all but one starter notch at least one hit. The Tar Heels trailed 3-0 entering the bottom of the fourth inning, but two runs in the fourth and four more in the fifth were enough to propel UNC to the win.
Carolina and ECU have met 56 times since 1958, with Carolina holding a 33-23 edge in the series.
FOX IN SEARCH OF 75TH WIN AT CAROLINA
Second-year head coach Mike Fox, a 1978 UNC graduate and former baseball letterwinner, has led the Tar Heels to a 74-27 record, including a school-best 21-0 start this year and a 16-0 start to the 1999 campaign, since returning to his alma mater in May of 1998. With Carolina's three-game sweep of UCLA Feb. 18-20, 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. Now, he's in line to become the fourth skipper in Carolina history to post 75 wins, and the fastest ever to do so.
Fastest UNC Coaches to 75 Wins
Mike Fox 74-27 (101 games)
Walter Rabb 75-48-4 (127 games)
Mike Roberts 75-33-1 (109 games)
unn Hearn 75-47 (122 games)
HEELS ARE HITTING AT RECORD PACE
One reason for Carolina's success this year has been a balanced and consistent offensive attack. In fact, Carolina's .333 team batting average through 42 games is on pace to be the best in school history. Carolina posted an all-time best .322 team average in 1984. In addition, UNC has hit 52 home runs, compared to 30 by its opponents. Twelve different Tar Heels have hit homers this year, led by Ryan Earey with 10, Sean Farrell with eight and Tyrell Godwin with seven. Earey and Farrell both already have two two-home run games this year, including a multiple homer game by Farrell in the 4-1 win over NC State on March 26.
ROAD WOES CONTINUE AT WAKE FOREST
Carolina's struggles in ACC road games continued April 7-9 in Winston-Salem. After starting the ACC season by dropping three straight games at Georgia Tech, Wake Forest swept the Tar Heels to drop Carolina to 4-8 in league play. The Tar Heels returned home last weekend and swept Maryland to improve to 7-8 in the league. Carolina has won two of three from both NC State and then-No. 1 Clemson at Boshamer Stadium this year.
CLOSE LOSSES FRUSTRATE HEELS
After starting the season with a record 21-game winning streak, Carolina went 7-9 over its next 16 games before winning its last five to stand 33-9 overall. Seven of Carolina's nine losses have been by three runs or less, including five by just one run, and only two losses have been by more than five runs.
In Winston-Salem April 7-9, Carolina dropped a 9-7 decision to Wake Forest in the series opener and lost the next two games 9-8 and 4-3 respectively. The Tar Heels had the tying run at third base in the 9-8 loss on April 8 and UNC again had a runner on base in the ninth inning before surrendering a 4-3 game to the Demon Deacons on April 9.
In mid March, Carolina dropped three one-run games in five days. Georgia Tech ended Carolina's 21-game winning streak on March 17 with a 5-4 victory in Atlanta. Two days later, the Yellow Jackets completed a series sweep with an 8-7 win and Towson handed UNC its fourth consecutive loss with a 9-8 win on March 21.
CAROLINA TAKES FIRST SERIES FROM CLEMSON SINCE 1990
Carolina took two of three games from Clemson, ranked No. 1 in the nation at the time by Collegiate Baseball, March 31-April 2 in Chapel Hill. After dropping three straight games to Georgia Tech (March 17-19) to open league play, Carolina took two of three from NC State in Chapel Hill (March 24-26) and won the series with the Tigers to move to 4-5 in the conference.
Carolina had not won a series with Clemson since the 1990 season. Ryan Snare had a stellar outing in the series opener to propel Carolina to a 6-0 win. Snare allowed just two hits while striking out seven and walking four over 6.2 scoreless innings for the victory. Ryan Earey and Derrick Depriest combined for 2.1 hitless innings to seal the win and send Clemson to its first ACC loss of the season. After being held hitless into the fifth inning by Clemson ace Scott Berney, Carolina got runs in the fifth and sixth innings and broke open the game with a four-run eighth. On Saturday, Carolina committed a season-high six errors and fell 10-2, but UNC responded with a 5-2 win on Sunday to clinch the series. Chris Elmore, Earey and DePriest combined to give up just five Clemson hits and two unearned runs in the victory.
GREENBERG STAYS ON FIRE
Freshman Adam Greenberg is off to a sensational start to his UNC career, leading the team in batting average (.398), hits (64), triples (5) and stolen bases (22). He has started 40 games, missing only the Penn State doubleheader with a sore hamstring. He carried a team-high 21-game hitting streak into the Clemson series (April 7-9), before going 0-for-2 in Friday's opener and 0-for-5 the next day against the Tigers. But Greenberg was back at it in Sunday's game against Clemson and he's now hit in nine of 10 games, including a stretch of seven straight multi-hit games. His 22 multi-hit games leads the team.
STREAKING HEELS
Current UNC hitting streaks (minimum four games):
Clay Hooper: 9 games (6-for-13 (.462) with five RBIs and five runs scored against Maryland ... two-run homer in series opener with the Terps)
Matt McCay: 4 games (8-for-16 (.500) during four-game stretch ... 3-for-4 with a career-high six RBIs, including a fourth-inning grand slam, on Saturday against Maryland)
Dan Moylan: 5 games (10-for-19 (.526) with seven RBIs and 11 runs scored over past five games ... has raised batting average from .289 to .320 in one week)
ANOTHER RECORD START IN 2000
For the second year in a row under head coach Mike Fox, Carolina opened the season with a record start. A year after posting its best start in school history as well as the all-time best UNC winning streak with a 16-0 start in 1999, Carolina broke those records with a 21-0 start in 2000.
The 21-game UNC winning streak ranks as the second best of all-time in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Clemson's 26-0 start in 1977 is the both the best start to a season and the longest winning streak in league history. Of Carolina's 21 wins to open the 2000 campaign, seven came against ranked opponents, including a three-game sweep of then-No. 2 UCLA in Westwood, a sweep of Central Florida, Rice and defending national champion Miami at the season-opening ACC/Disney Blast, and a win over in-state rival East Carolina.
TAR HEELS PEAK AT NO. 2 IN NATIONAL RANKINGS
Carolina, ranked No. 10 this week by Baseball Weekly, spent back-to-back weeks (March 6 and 13) ranked No. 2 in the nation by both Collegiate Baseball and Baseball Weekly, which was Carolina's all-time highest national ranking. Carolina spent two weeks ranked No. 3 last year by Baseball America (March 15 and 22).
TOWSON ENDS HOME WINNING STREAK
When Towson held off a late UNC rally to take a 9-8 win over the Tar Heels on March 21, the Tigers became the first non-ACC team to win at Boshamer Stadium since Feb. 21, 1998, ending a streak of 52 straight home wins for Carolina over non-conference foes. Seton Hall won that 1998 game 6-3 over the Tar Heels. Last year, Carolina posted one of its most successful seasons ever at home, winning 27 of 30 games for a .900 winning percentage. Carolina is 26-3 at Boshamer Stadium in 2000.
COMEBACKS KEY SUCCESS IN 2000
Carolina's ability to bounce back from big deficits has played a key role in its success this season. Sixteen of Carolina's 33 wins this season have come after the Tar Heels have trailed at one point in the game.
Most notably, Carolina went into the ninth inning of the Feb. 18 game at UCLA trailing 13-4 before scoring 13 runs in the top half of that inning to prevail 17-13 at Jackie Robinson Stadium. Two days later, Carolina trailed 6-0 after two innings to the Bruins, but an 11-run fourth inning put the Tar Heels ahead for good as they prevailed in that rain-shortened game 12-11.
Carolina also faced a 2-0 deficit heading into the bottom of the 10th inning in the second game of the Penn State doubleheader (Feb. 13), but three runs in the bottom half of that inning was the difference in a 3-2 UNC victory. Last weekend, Maryland held a 2-1 lead through the top half of the seventh before eventually falling 8-2 to Carolina, while the Terps got ahead 8-1 in the third inning of Saturday's contest before Carolina rallied for a 13-11 victory.
SNARE CONTINUES STELLAR SEASON WITH WIN AGAINST TERPS
Junior left-hander Ryan Snare has been outstanding on the mound in 2000, especially since suffering his first defeat of the year, a 5-4 loss at Georgia Tech. In notching back-to-back wins against NC State (March 25) and Clemson (March 31), Snare posted 13 strikeouts and allowed just one unearned run.
Against the Wolfpack, Snare allowed one unearned run on six hits - all singles - over 7.0 innings while striking out six batters for the victory. On March 31, Snare sent the top-ranked Tigers to their first ACC loss, giving up just two hits while striking out seven over 6.2 innings for the win. Last weekend, Snare pitched just Carolina's second complete game of the year in handing Maryland an 8-2 loss. Snare allowed just one earned run over nine innings while striking out eight to improve to 7-1 on the season.
TAR HEEL PITCHERS HAVE SEVEN SHUTOUTS IN 2000
After finishing eighth in the nation in 1999 with a 3.73 team ERA, Carolina's pitching staff has been solid in 2000, especially considering the loss of first-round draft picks Kyle Snyder and Mike Bynum from last year's rotation. The Tar Heels have a 4.35 team ERA through 42 games and have already posted seven shutout wins. Carolina has not had that many shutouts in an entire season since blanking seven opponents in 1978.
DEPRIEST CLIMBS IN UNC RECORD BOOK
Derrick DePriest is currently in second place in the Carolina record book for all-time appearances with 109. The senior right-hander, who last year led the nation with a 1.71 ERA, has appeared in 20 games this year. He struggled in outings at Wake Forest on April 7 and 8, but he still leads the team with a 1.79 ERA and he has 41 strikeouts compared to just 19 walks. After surrendering eight runs in two games versus the Demon Deacons, DePriest settled down last Tuesday against UNC Wilmington, pitching three scoreless innings for his team-high seventh save. He got his eighth save with 3.2 scoreless innings against Maryland on April 15.
ELMORE BOUNCES BACK FROM FIRST LOSS IN THREE YEARS
Senior lefty Chris Elmore, who had not lost a decision since April 19, 1997, took the loss in a 9-8 defeat at Wake Forest on April 8. He was a hard-luck loser in a game that began on Saturday but was suspended for a day because of rain. The Tar Heels trailed 3-0 with Elmore on the mound in the bottom of the second inning when rain forced the suspension of the game. The two teams resumed play on Sunday with new pitchers, but when Carolina's rally fell short, Elmore was credited with the loss. He bounced back with wins over UNC Wilmington on April 11 and Maryland on Sunday to move to 5-1 on the season and 15-3 in his career. His .833 career winning percentage ranks in a second-place tie all-time at UNC.
BLAKE OUT FOR SEASON
Sophomore DH/1B/C Ryan Blake will miss the remainder of the 2000 season due to a partial tear of his right rotator cuff. He underwent surgery in early March and will undergo several weeks of rehabilitation. Blake had played in nine games this year for the Tar Heels. He was hitting .323 with 13 RBI. At the season-opening ACC/Disney Blast, Blake was named to the all-tournament team after going 5-for-10 at the plate with four runs scored. He propelled the Tar Heels to an 8-2 win over Rice with a two-out, two-run triple in the ninth inning of that game and added a two-run home run in a 9-0 victory over the defending national champion Miami Hurricanes. Blake will apply for a medical red-shirt season and should be ready to rejoin the Tar Heels next fall.
