University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heel Baseball Team Hits The Road For Virginia
April 20, 2000 | Baseball
April 20, 2000
No. 12/13/10 NORTH CAROLINA (35-9, 7-8 ACC) at VIRGINIA (17-23-1, 5-10 ACC)
April 21-23, 2000
UVa Baseball Field, Charlottesville, Va.
TAR HEELS RIDE SEVEN-GAME WINNING STREAK INTO CHARLOTTESVILLE
In search of its first Atlantic Coast Conference road win of the year, North Carolina travels to Charlottesville this weekend on a seven-game winning streak. After starting the 2000 season with a school-record 21 consecutive wins, Carolina went 7-9 over its next 16 games before winning the last seven. The Tar Heels swept Maryland last weekend in Chapel Hill to improve to 7-8 in the conference and non-conference wins over No. 21 East Carolina and UNC Charlotte this week have Carolina at 35-9 overall entering this weekend's three-game set with the Cavaliers. UNC holds a 152-82-4 all-time record against Virginia, though the Tar Heels have not won a series in Charlottesville since taking a three-game sweep in 1994. Carolina also swept three games from Virginia last season in Chapel Hill.
EAREY SPARKLES IN FIRST COLLEGIATE START
Junior right-hander Ryan Earey, usually used as a set-up man out of the bullpen, made his first-ever start Tuesday at East Carolina and he came away with one of Carolina's best pitching performances of the season for a win over the 21st-ranked Pirates. Earey, who had single-game career highs of 4.1 innings and four strikeouts entering the game, struck out 12 Pirate batters in eight complete innings for his fourth win of 2000. Tyrell Godwin's two homers, including a third-inning grand slam, sparked the offense as UNC won 8-2 in Greenville.
FOX GETS 75TH WIN AT EAST CAROLINA
Second-year head coach Mike Fox, a 1978 UNC graduate and former baseball letterwinner, has led the Tar Heels to a 76-27 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. In Carolina's 8-2 win at East Carolina on Tuesday, Fox also became the fastest UNC skipper to get to the 75-win mark. Mike Roberts, Walter Rabb and Bunn Hearn are the only other coaches in Carolina history to post at least 75 wins.
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 .332 team batting average through 44 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 56 home runs, compared to 31 by its opponents. Twelve different Tar Heels have hit homers this year, led by Ryan Earey with 10, Tyrell Godwin with nine and Sean Farrell with eight. Earey and Farrell both have a pair of two-home run games this year, while Godwin had two homers, including one grand slam, in Tuesday's victory at East Carolina.
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 seven to stand 35-9 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.
TAR HEELS DOWN TERPS WITH THREE-GAME SWEEP
Carolina used 44 runs and 47 hits over three days to sweep Maryland April 14-16 at Boshamer Stadium. Ryan Snare went the distance, striking out eight and giving up just one earned run, in picking up the win in Friday's 8-2 victory to open the series. The Terps led 2-1 through the top half of the seventh, but three runs in the bottom of the seventh and four more in the eighth propelled Carolina to the win. Carolina again got behind on Saturday, having to dig out of an 8-1 third-inning hole to post a 13-11 win. Matt McCay, who was 3-for-4 with a career-high six RBIs, put the Heels ahead for good with a grand slam in the fourth inning. Carolina's offense was running on all cylinders in Sunday's 23-8 win. Carolina got five runs in the first and led 9-0 through three, while Chris Elmore allowed just one run in seven innings for the win. Tyrell Godwin, Ryan Earey, Sean Farrell and Adam Shearin all homered for the Tar Heels.
GREENBERG STAYS ON FIRE
Freshman Adam Greenberg is off to a sensational start to his UNC career, leading the team in batting average (.406), hits (69), triples (6) and stolen bases (23). He has started 42 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 11of 12 games, including a stretch of seven straight multi-hit games. His 24 multi-hit games lead the team. Greenberg's six triples rank in a third-place tie for the most ever in a single season at Carolina behind Chad Holbrook's seven in 1993 and Rip Ryan's eight in 1949.
STREAKING HEELS
Current UNC hitting streaks (minimum four games):
Tyrell Godwin: 4 games (has raised batting average 35 points over past three games with 11-for-14 (.786) hitting ... has scored eight runs and knocked in 11 in past three games ... has four steals in last three games.)
Adam Greenberg: 4 games (has hit in four straight games and 11 of the past 12 ... was 3-for-4 and scored three runs Wednesday against UNC Charlotte.)
Dan Moylan: 7 games (12-for-25 (.480) over past seven games, with nine RBIs and 13 runs scored ... has also drawn nine walks in past seven games.)
Other hitting notables:
Ryan Earey has hit safely in three of of the past four games. He is 6-for-14 (.429) in that stretch with three RBIs and six runs scored.
Clay Hooper has hit in 10 of the past 11 games. He has six multi-hit games and three home runs in that stretch.
Matt McCay has hit safely in five of the past six games, including back-to-back three-hit games against Maryland on April 15 and 16.
Chad Prosser is 8-for-16 (.500) at the plate over the past five games while scoring seven runs.
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.
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 POLLS
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 27-3 at Boshamer Stadium in 2000 with five games remaining to be played at home.
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 35 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.
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 4.29 team ERA through 44 games and have posted seven shutout wins. Carolina has not had that many shutouts in an entire season since blanking seven opponents in 1978.
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.
FARRELL AND EAREY HONORED BY ACC
Sean Farrell earned his second ACC Player of the Week honors of the year on March 27 after a week that saw him bat 8-for-19 (.421) with 10 RBI and six runs scored. In three games against NC State, Farrell had three homers and knocked in six runs to help the Tar Heels to wins in two of three games. In the series opener on March 24, Farrell sparked a seven-run seventh inning with a three-run home run to left field, and in the 4-1 win on Sunday Farrell hit two homers to drive in three runs. He tied the game 1-1 in the fifth inning with a solo shot and then put Carolina ahead for good in the seventh with a two-run homer to right-center field. He was also named Player of the Week on Feb. 21 by the ACC after an outstanding three games at UCLA. Against the Bruins, he was 5-for-10 with nine RBI and he homered twice. Junior Ryan Earey was recognized as the ACC's Player of the Week on Feb. 28 for a stretch that included 7-for-14 hitting, 10 runs batted in and 2.1 innings of scoreless relief pitching. Earey led Carolina to wins over No. 19 East Carolina and a three-game sweep of Seton Hall. In UNC's 15-8 win over Seton Hall on Feb. 26, Earey was 3-for-3, including a three-run homer to deep center field, and he knocked in a career-high-tying seven runs.
DEPRIEST CLIMBS IN UNC RECORD BOOK
Derrick DePriest is currently in second place in the Carolina record book for all-time appearances with 111. The senior right-hander, who last year led the nation with a 1.71 ERA, has appeared in 22 games this year. He struggled in outings at Wake Forest on April 7 and 8 but still leads the team with a 1.70 ERA. He has 44 strikeouts compared to just 19 walks. After surrendering eight runs in two games versus the Demon Deacons, DePriest has not allowed a run in his last four outings. Over those 8.2 innings he has struck out seven batters, including Wednesday against UNC Charlotte when he struck out the side in the ninth to seal the Carolina victory.
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 April 16 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.
UNC PASSES 2,000-WIN PLATEAU AGAINST SETON HALL
Carolina celebrated its 2,000th all-time win early in the season by defeating Seton Hall 8-0 on Feb. 25. In 111 seasons, the Tar Heels have posted a 2,024-1,200-36 all-time record and are coming off their most productive decade in history. Carolina won 379 games in the 1990s and posted four seasons with more than 40 victories.
