University of North Carolina Athletics
Baseball Hosts Duke This Weekend
April 19, 2001 | Baseball
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North Carolina Tar Heels (24-18, 5-10 ACC)
Carolina, winners of four of its last five games, continues a 10-game homestand Friday-Sunday by hosting Duke (18-24, 5-9 ACC) at Boshamer Stadium. The Blue Devils enter the series in sixth place in the ACC, while UNC is in seventh place and just percentage points behind Duke at 5-10. The Tar Heels have won five of their last eight league games after an 0-7 start in the league, and look to continue an 11-game winning streak over Duke this weekend in Chapel Hill. Carolina holds a 149-87-2 lead in the all-time series, which dates back to 1891, and has not lost a three-game series to Duke at Boshamer Stadium since 1997.
WEEKEND PITCHING ROTATION:
Fri. - Dennis Robinson (3-3, 5.26 ERA)
Sat. - Ralph Roberts (2-0, 2.40 ERA)
Sun. - Daniel Moore (4-3, 5.25 ERA)
CARLYLE CUP RACE COMING DOWN TO WIRE
The first annual Carlyle Cup race (all-sports competition between UNC and Duke), neck-and-neck down the home stretch, could hinge in large part on the UNC-Duke baseball series. Duke currently leads UNC in the overall Carlyle Cup competition, 20-17, after trailing last fall by 16-1 in the standings. Forty-eight total points are at stake, with 24.5 needed to retire the Cup, a sterling silver and enamel urn provided by sponsor Carlyle & Co. jewelers, for one year. The school which takes the best-of-three series this weekend will earn three points in the standings.
TAR HEELS GET BIG MID-WEEK WIN OVER NO. 19 ECU
Playing against a ranked team for the 10th time this season, the Tar Heels stopped No. 19 East Carolina, 6-3, Tuesday evening at Boshamer Stadium. Carolina has now won eight of its last nine meetings with the Pirates. Carolina used a strong pitching performances by starter Daniel Moore (6.2 IP, 3 R, 3H) and closer Jason Howell (2.1 IP, 0 R, 2 H) to get the win. Leading 3-1, Sean Farrell's solo homer in the fifth proved to be the game-winner as ECU rallied for two runs in the seventh before eventually falling by the three-run margin.
PROSSER VAULTS TO TEAM LEAD IN BATTING
Chad Prosser is in the midst of an outstanding stretch at the plate. Since the start of the NC State series, Prosser has hit in 12 of 13 games and is batting .528 (28-for-53) with 12 RBIs and 16 runs. He leads the team with a .383 average for the season. Prosser, who led the Tar Heels last year as a freshman with a .377 average in ACC games, also leads the conference in 2001 with a .525 batting average in 15 league games. That includes two 5-for-5 games in one week (at NC State on April 2 and at Maryland on April 8). Prosser's five-hit game in Raleigh marked the first time a Tar Heel had tallied five hits in one game since Feb. 7, 1998. In the 16-9 win at Maryland on April 8, Prosser's five hits included three doubles, one triple and a single.
UNC IS 10-3 IN ONE-RUN GAMES
Carolina is 10-3 in one-run games in 2001, compared to 8-8 in games decided by a single run last year. Of Carolina's 10 one-run wins, four have been won in the bottom of the ninth with game-ending hits, one was won on a game-ending sacrifice fly, and one was a game-winning homer in the bottom of the 11th inning.
CAROLINA REBOUNDS FROM SLOW ACC START
Carolina got off to an 0-7 start in ACC play for the first time in school history prior to getting two league wins at NC State on April 2. The Tar Heels were swept by Wake Forest (March 16-18), at Florida State (March 23-25) and dropped the series opener at NC State on March 30. UNC has rebounded to win five of its last eight ACC games, but at 5-10 the Tar Heels are in seventh place in the league. UNC started 0-4 in ACC play in both 1996 and 2000, but the Tar Heels had never dropped their first seven ACC contests prior to this season.
IMPROVED PITCHING HELPS HEELS TO WINS IN FOUR OF FIVE
Carolina has allowed double-digit runs in 13 games this season -- all losses. UNC's opponents have averaged 10.1 runs in Carolina's 18 losses in 2001, but only 5.3 in Carolina's 24 wins. But after allowing double-digit hits in nine of the previous 10 games and at least 10 runs in five of those contests, the UNC pitching staff has made gains over the past nine days. In their past five outings, the Tar Heels have allowed an average of 7.4 hits and 4.2 runs in winning four of five. In the April 11 win over Charlotte, Daniel Moore and Kevin Brower combined to allow just three hits and one run against the 49ers, marking the lowest hit total of the year by an opponent and the fewest runs since a 3-0 win over Seton Hall on Feb. 24. Against Virginia two days later, Dennis Robinson set UNC season highs with 8.0 innings and 13 strikeouts.
PLENTY OF PITCHERS SEEING TIME FOR UNC
After losing nearly its entire pitching staff to the MLB Draft and graduation the past two years -- gone are 38 of 46 wins, 14 of 15 saves and 82.4 percent of UNC's total innings pitched from last year -- Carolina has nine true freshmen pitchers on its roster. Throw in senior transer Jason Howell and junior transfer Ralph Roberts and the Tar Heels have plenty of new faces on the mound in 2001. As a result, 14 different pitchers have seen action through 42 games. In fact, UNC has used an average of 3.9 different pitchers per game, while last year the Tar Heels averaged 3.0 pitchers per game over its 63-game schedule. Those numbers have decreased dramatically over the past five games however, with Carolina needing just a pair of pitchers in each of its past four wins.
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Among the major holes that needed to be filled with the departure of last year's senior class was that of the closer. Afterall, All-America closer Derrick DePriest, whose 124 career appearances and 26 saves rank second all-time at UNC, had been UNC's ace out of the bullpen since 1998. Jason Howell and Whitley Benson have filled in admirably thus far in 2001, combining for an 8-3 record and six saves in 66.2 innings. Howell picked up his fourth save in Wednesday's win over East Carolina, pitching 2.1 scoreless innings in the 6-3 victory.
TAR HEELS HELD SCORELESS IN BACK-TO-BACK GAMES
When Towson won the seven-inning second game of the March 21 doubleheader 4-0, it marked the first time the Tar Heels have been held scoreless by an opponent since a 1998 ACC Tournament loss to Wake Forest. Florida State then defeated UNC 3-0 in Carolina's next outing (March 23), marking the first time the Tar Heels had been shut out in back-to-back games since May 5 and 6, 1992, when Princeton dropped Carolina 9-0 and 2-0 in consecutive games. The Towson loss marked the first time UNC had been held with out a run at home since a 9-0 loss to NC State on May 11, 1996.
ROBERTS SHINES IN STARTING ROLE
Ralph Roberts, who transferred to Carolina from Lenoir Community College, was expected to make an immediate contribution when he arrived at UNC in the fall. Roberts, who has already been drafted three times but instead opted to attend UNC, ranks fifth on the team with a .304 batting average and has hit safely in seven of eight games (including four straight two-hit games from April 7-11). But his biggest impact is being felt on the mound. After three solid relief outings, Roberts moved into the starting rotation on March 29 and has been outstanding. Roberts, 2-0 with a team-best 2.40 ERA, was named the ACC Pitcher of the Week on April 9 after notching conference wins over NC State and Maryland in the week. The junior righty struck out five in 6.2 innings against the Wolfpack in the second game of a April 2 doubleheader, as the Tar Heels won their first series at NCSU since 1993. On April 8 against Maryland, Roberts gave up three runs on just four hits over 7.0 innings for his second win of the year. He also was 2-for-4 (including a three-run homer) and drove in four runs in the series-ending game against the Terps.
RUSS ADAMS COMES UP BIG IN THE CLUTCH
Russ Adams has become one of Carolina's biggest threats at the plate as a sophomore. Adams, who ranks second on the team with a .345 batting average, leads the Tar Heels with 61 hits, 44 runs scored and 15 extra-base hits. Adams also has 18 steals, 30 RBIs and he's ended three games with game-winning hits -- JMU, Minnesota and UCLA.
LONE SENIOR MAKING BIG IMPACT ON THE MOUND AND AT THE PLATE
Stocked with 15 freshmen, Carolina has just one senior on its 2001 roster, transfer Jason Howell. A three-year letterwinner at Appalachian State University, Howell enrolled at UNC in the fall and made an immediate impact for the Tar Heels. Howell has seen time as the DH, at first base and on the mound. Howell's among the ACC's best with five wins (5-2 overall) in 36.2 innings, striking out 23 batters in posting a 3.44 ERA. He also leads UNC with four saves and ranks third on the team with a .339 batting average.
ROBINSON SETS SEASON HIGHS FOR TAR HEELS WITH STELLAR OUTING VS. UVa.
Freshman right-hander Dennis Robinson has solidified a slot in Carolina's weekend pitching rotation with a number of solid outings over the past month, including last Friday's gem in which he struck out a career-high 13 batters in eight complete innings. Eight innings is the longest outing by a Tar Heel this year, and his 13 K's are also a team-high for the 2001 season. In fact, his 13 strikeouts were the most by a freshman pitcher since Mike Bynum fanned 14 batters in seven innings at Maryland on March 16, 1997. In the second longest appearance by a UNC pitcher this season, Robinson struck out seven in 7.2 innings out out of the bullpen for the win at NC State on April 2 (Game 1), UNC's first ACC victory.
TAR HEEL TIDBITS
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* Jeremy Cleveland continues to swing the bat well in his freshman season. While Cleveland saw a 12-game hitting streak snapped with an 0-for-4 game vs. Virginia on April 14, he now owns the two longest hitting streaks on the team this year -- 12 games (March 27-April 13) and 11 games (March 2-21).
* When Ryan Blake went 2-for-4 in Wednesday's win over ECU, it marked his first multi-hit game since March 21, a span of 17 games. While Blake leads the team with seven home runs and ranks second with 33 RBIs, his batting average has plummeted to .227.
* After a nine-game stretch without an RBI (March 16-27), Chris Maples has been on fire, hitting safely in 13 of the last 14 games and recording 15 RBIs. The junior third baseman has driven in a team-high 35 runs on the season, and he led the Heels with five hits against Virginia April 13-15.
* Sean Farrell has drawn 30 walks in 42 games. Last year, Farrell walked just 20 times the whole season. Farrell's home run against East Carolina on Wednesday was UNC's first homer in four games.
THE VIRGINIA SERIES (APRIL 13-15): TAR HEELS TAKE TWO OF THREE FROM CAVS
ehind its best pitching of the season, Carolina took two of three games from Virginia to improve to 23-18 overall, 5-10 in the ACC. The Tar Heels, who have never lost a three-game series to the Cavaliers in Chapel Hill, won Friday's opener 10-6 behind a stellar pitching performance by Dennis Robinson. The freshman righty struck out a career-high 13 batters in a career-high 8.0 innings for his third win of the season. After allowing two hits and one run in the top of the first, Robinson settled down struck out two in the third, fourth, sixth, seventh and eighth innings en route to setting season highs in K's and innings for the UNC pitching staff this season. Adam Greenberg knocked in a team-high three runs to lead the Heels at the plate, who led by as much as 9-2 before two late home runs cut the Virginia deficit. The Cavs again got the early lead in Saturday's 7-6 UNC win, only to see the Tar Heels rally for the victory. Down 5-4 entering the bottom of the seventh, Carolina got three runs in that half inning and then held on for a 7-6 win behind the pitching of Kevin Brower. Brower struck out four over the final 3.0 innings, including a full-count strikeout for the final out of the game with UVa. threatening with runners at the corners. In Sunday's series finale, Virginia's Brandon Creswell allowed just two UNC runs (only one earned) on six hits for a complete-game victory to avoid the series sweep. Carolina rallied for runs in the eighth and ninth innings but could not prevail, falling 5-2. Chris Maples had a team-high five hits in the series.
