UNC Baseball Notebook: Feb. 25, 2002

Feb. 25, 2002

Overall Record: 3-3, 0-0 ACC
Last Week: 2-1 (0-0 vs. ranked teams)
Friday (2/22): UNC vs. Georgia: L, 10-8
Saturday (2/23): UNC vs. Armstrong Atlantic State: W, 10-6
Sunday (2/24): Connecticut vs. UNC: W, 13-5

KEY PERFORMERS
Junior left fielder Sean Farrell went 6-for-12 in the Memorial Health Diamond Classic, including three home runs, nine RBIs and eight runs scored in three games. Farrell tied career highs with two home runs and five RBIs in Saturday's win over Armstrong Atlantic, while he scored a career high four runs in Sunday's 13-5 rout of Connecticut. Farrell lead the team in runs (11), hits (8), home runs (4), RBIs (11) and walks (7).

Freshman RHP Garry Bakker picked up his first career win on Sunday against Connecticut. Bakker gave up just four hits and one unearned run in six innings while striking out six. This was Bakker's second strong outing of the season, lowering his ERA to 0.82.

NEWS AND NOTES

Sophomore reliever Whitley Benson pitched the final 2.2 innings of Saturday's win over Armstrong Atlantic State, getting all eight outs on strikeouts. His previous career high for strikeouts was six last season against Towson.

Senior Chris Maples made the first pitching appearance of his UNC career on Sunday and struck out the side in the ninth inning against Connecticut.

One year after hitting just 30 home runs as a team, the lowest HR output since hitting 29 in 1978, Carolina has 11 homers through just six games. Sean Farrell leads UNC with four, while Ron Braun has three for the season after hitting two deep in the Diamond Classic. The Tar Heels had nine HRs overall at the three-game tournament.

With Friday and Saturday starters Daniel Moore and Scott Autrey struggling, Michael Gross and Scott Manshack turned in fine middle relief appearances over the weekend. The two combined to throw seven innings, allowing just one run on four hits. Gross collected the win on Saturday, his first as a Tar Heel.

Chris Iannetta made his first two starts of the season after being held out of the majority of the Seton Hall series with a sore back, and his UNC debut was impressive. The freshman made one start at first and one at catcher and was 4-for-10 (.400) with two doubles, one home run and four RBIs. He also threw out both of UConn's steal attempts in having a great defensive game behind the plate on Sunday.

Russ Adams was Carolina's DH over the weekend as he continues to nurse a hairline fracture in his left thumb suffered in the season-opener against Seton Hall on Feb. 15. Adams was just 1-for-11 in three games, but he stole four bases and leads the team with six for the season. He also scored five runs over the weekend.

QUOTABLE
UNC head coach Mike Fox: "I was really interested to see how we would respond after losing two games last weekend at home and then another close one Friday afternoon to Georgia. I learned that this team has character and a lot of heart with the way we responded on Saturday and Sunday. It says a lot about the make-up of our team and about our resolve.

"We swung the bats very well and the best thing was that last weekend didn't carry over to this weekend. That's one of the things we should have learned from last year that we have a new chance each time we go out there and play. You can't let a loss carry over to the next day. We have more maturity and experience this year and we need to continue to have that same kind of resolve each week.

"Overall, I was very proud of our team and feel good about the way we played in Savannah."

NEXT WEEK (PROBABLE STARTER)
Tuesday vs. UNC-Wilmington at 3 p.m. (Carter Harrell)
Wednesday vs. Elon -- POSTPONED (rescheduled for Monday, April 29 at 6 p.m.)
Friday vs. California at 3 p.m. (Scott Autrey)
Saturday vs. California at 1 p.m. (Daniel Moore)
Sunday vs. California at 1 p.m. (Garry Bakker)

Scoreboard Slider

University of North Carolina Athletics

Related News

Players Mentioned

Russ Adams

Scott Autrey

Ron Braun

Carter Harrell

Chris Maples

Related Videos