University of North Carolina Athletics
No. 12 Tar Heels Hope to Rebound at ECU Tuesday
April 18, 2005 | Baseball
April 18, 2005
No. 12 North Carolina (28-8-1, 11-4-1 ACC) hopes to rebound from a series lost to Miami last weekend when it travels to Greenville to face East Carolina (21-13, 7-8 C-USA) Tuesday at 7 p.m. This game was originally scheduled for last Wednesday but was rained out. Jones Angell and Adam Lucas will call the action for the Tar Heel Sports Network on AM-1360 WCHL in Chapel Hill and on TarHeelBlue.com. Tuesday's game marks the first of two games for the Tar Heels and Pirates, as the teams will meet May 17 in Chapel Hill. Carolina has won the last three meetings on the diamond between the two schools.
CAROLINA-ECU SERIES HISTORY
Carolina owns a 38-24 lead in the all-time series with East Carolina, which began in 1958. The Tar Heels and Pirates did not meet in 2004, but Carolina swept the season series in 2003 with an 8-4 win in Greenville on April 16 and a 7-6 victory in Chapel Hill a week later on April 23. The Tar Heels are 6-3 against ECU under Mike Fox. Carolina has won three straight in the series and last lost to the Pirates, 2-1, on April 17, 2002.
A LOOK AT THE TAR HEELS
The Tar Heels are coming off a series with Miami in which they committed 13 errors and allowed 42 runs, but the staff earned run average still remains as the ACC's best 2.62. Tuesday's starter Daniel Bard is 6-2 with a 3.48 ERA and 44 strikeouts and 23 walks in 51.2 innings. At the plate, Carolina hit seven home runs last weekend and 43 homers on the season. Freshman Seth Williams leads the team with nine and is one of four Tar Heels with at least seven this season. Junior Mike Daniel continues to lead the team with a .370 average, while redshirt sophomore Matt Ellington tops the team with 37 RBI. Carolina is batting .296 as team and boasts a .460 slugging percentage.
SCOUTING THE PIRATES
ECU is coming off a three-game Conference USA sweep of Louisville to run its record to 21-13. The Pirates are batting .312 as a team, led by Billy Richardson's .423 mark. Brian Cavanaugh is also hitting above .400 at .402. Mark Minicozzi has a team-best 28 RBI, but four other Pirates have driven in at least 25 runs on the year. East Carolina's pitching staff sports a 5.26 ERA. Right-hander Brett Braxton is expected to start Tuesday. He is 1-0 on the year with a 9.00 ERA in 11 innings.
A LOOK AT THE STARTER
Daniel Bard (Soph., RHP): Carolina sophomore righty Daniel Bard will take the hill against the Pirates on Tuesday. He is coming off the shortest start of his career after lasting just 1.2 innings versus Miami last Saturday. Bard allowed six runs on four hits and three walks. On the season, Bard is 6-2 with a 3.48 ERA and has 44 strikeouts in 51.2 innings. He is holding opponents to a .208 average and had won his last three starts prior to the Miami series. Bard is 14-6 in his career and Tuesday's start will mark his first appearance against the Pirates. He suffered his first loss of the season at Clark-LeClair Stadium in March to Ohio State. Bard allowed just two runs on five hits, but the Tar Heels scored just once and lost 2-1 to the Buckeyes.
TAR HEELS AGAINST ECU
The Tar Heels and Pirates did not meet last season but played twice in both the 2002 and `03 seasons. Senior second baseman Greg Mangum has enjoyed success versus the ECU, going 5-for-15 with three runs scored and two RBI in three games against the Pirates. Junior outfielder Mike Daniel went 3-for-8 with two runs scored in 2003. On the mound, Carolina closer Matt Danford tossed five shutout innings and earned the win in a start against ECU on April 16, 2003, while reliever Jonathan Hovis tossed 1.2 shutout innings of relief on April 23, 2003.
LAST TIME AT CLARK-LECLAIR
The Tar Heels would like to forget their last trip to Greenville for the Keith LeClair Classic earlier this season, as they dropped three straight one-run games and scored just four runs over the weekend. Carolina opened the event with a 4-3, 11-inning loss to Arizona State and then followed with a 2-1 loss to Ohio State and a 1-0 loss to Michigan. The Tar Heels have posted a 19-3 record since that weekend and are batting .320 as a team and scoring 7.4 runs per game over this run.
AGAINST IN-STATE RIVALS
Tuesday will mark Carolina's ninth game of the season against an in-state opponent, and the Tar Heels own a 7-1 mark through the first eight games. Their only defeat was last Wednesday's 10-3 loss to Elon. Carolina has defeated Wake Forest three times and owns wins over Appalachian State, UNC Wilmington, Gardner-Webb and Davidson.
NOTING THE MIAMI SERIES
• Carolina went 0-2-1 in the nationally-televised series with No. 9 Miami. After dropping the first two games of the series, Carolina tied the Hurricanes on Sunday, 7-7, due to a travel curfew for Miami. The tie was the first for the Tar Heels since a 4-4 game with Charlotte on April 27, 1989, the last season they advanced to the College World Series.
• The 17 and 18 runs allowed by Carolina in the first two games of the series were the most given up since a 19-5 loss to Georgia Tech on May 12, 2001. The 35 runs are the most ever allowed over a two-game stretch by the Tar Heels.
• Carolina entered the Miami series with the nation's best ERA at 1.96. Carolina posted a 9.96 ERA over the weekend, allowing 42 runs, 31 of which were earned. The Tar Heels' staff ERA is now 2.62, which still leads the ACC.
• After committing just one error over its four previous games, UNC committed 13 errors in the Miami series, including a season high of six in Saturday's loss.
• The Tar Heels hit seven home runs in the Miami series and now have 43 on the season, which ranks second in the ACC behind league leader Georgia Tech with 48.
• Entering the weekend, Carolina was 17-0 when scoring at least six runs. The Tar Heels scored at least seven runs in all three games of the Miami series yet failed to win a game.
TAR HEELS HOST VCU WEDNESDAY
Following Tuesday's meeting with East Carolina, the Tar Heels host VCU at Boshamer Stadium at 6 p.m. Wednesday. Carolina leads the all-time series with the Rams, 13-5. However, VCU posted an 8-6 win over the Tar Heels on May 12, 2004. Freshman right-hander Andy Gale will start for Carolina Wednesday. He tossed his first career complete game shutout and struck out 10 in his last start versus Davidson. The Rams are 20-9 on the season and won two of three from Virginia Tech last weekend.
BIG WEEK FOR ELLINGTON
Redshirt sophomore Matt Ellington led the Tar Heels last week with a .529 average, two home runs and six RBI. He was 9-for-17 at the plate and also scored six runs over the week. In the three-game set with Miami, Ellington hit a team-best .538 (7-13) with the two homers, a double, six RBI and five runs scored. He slugged 1.077 in the series, went 3-for-5 in the last two games and homered in back-to-back games for the first time this season. Ellington drove in two runs in every game of the series and scored at least one run in all for games on the week. On the season, Ellington is batting .326 and leads the team with 37 RBI and is second with seven home runs.
WILLIAMS CLOSING IN ON FRESHMAN HOMER MARK
Freshman outfielder Seth Williams homered twice in the Miami series and needs just two more to tie the Carolina rookie home run mark of 11 set by Drex Roberts in 1981. Williams now leads the Tar Heels and all ACC rookies with nine on the season. He also ranks fourth overall in the league in homers. With just 84 at-bats on the year, Williams has homered once every 9.3 trips to the plate. His nine homers are the most by a Tar Heel freshman since Chris Iannetta also hit nine in 2002. On the season, Williams is batting .310 with 23 RBI. He is slugging a team-best .690. Against Miami, Williams was 4-for-8 with the two home runs and three RBI.
FLACK ATTACK
Freshman first baseman Chad Flack saw an 11-game hitting streak snapped on Sunday but still enjoyed a strong week for the Tar Heels. Flack batted .400 (6-15) with a homer and seven RBI over the four games. He set a career high with four RBI in the loss to Miami on Saturday. Flack hit a three-run home run in the first inning to give the Tar Heels a brief 3-2 lead and later added a sacrifice fly. Flack is currently batting .363 with seven home runs and 24 RBI. Over the last 12 games, Flack his hitting .490 (24-49) with five home runs and 14 RBI.
GREAT EFFORT FROM DANFORD
With none of Carolina's starters making it out of the fourth inning in the Miami series, reliever Matt Danford, the Tar Heels' closer and a former starter, was called upon to work a season-long 6.1 innings in relief in Sunday's tie. He scattered six hits and allowed two earned runs and struck out four and walked one. The outing was the longest for Danford since he went 7.2 innings in a start against Michigan State as a freshman on February 28, 2003. On the year, Danford is 3-1 with six saves and a 1.17 ERA. He has 30 strikeouts in 30.2 innings. Danford is fourth in the ACC with the six saves and is third with 17 games finished.
