University of North Carolina Athletics
Carolina Baseball Monday Notebook
April 24, 2006 | Baseball
April 24, 2006
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Winners of 11 of its last 13 games, No. 1 North Carolina hosts a pair of midweek outings at Boshamer Stadium before returning to Atlantic Coast Conference action at Duke this weekend. The Tar Heels (34-8) will take on VCU (22-16) Tuesday and High Point (20-23) Wednesday. First pitch is slated for 6 p.m. both nights.
Redshirt freshman right-hander Luke Putkonen will start for the 10th time this season Tuesday against the Rams. He is 4-0 with a 3.76 ERA and is holding the opposition to a .243 average. VCU will counter with left-hander Jared Bolden, who is 3-4 with a 4.32 ERA in nine appearances, including five starts.
Freshman righty Adam Warren will make his second start Wednesday against the Panthers. He is 1-0 on the year with a 4.85 ERA in 13 innings.
The Tar Heels are 14-5 all-time against VCU and posted a 3-2 win in Chapel Hill a year ago. Carolina owns a 12-2-1 all-time mark versus High Point, including a 10-9 victory in 2005.
NOTING THE WEEK OF APRIL 17-23:
• The Tar Heels' weekend sweep of NC State gives them a 34-8 record and a 15-6 mark in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Carolina has opened up a two-game lead in the Coastal Division and also owns the best league record in either division. The Tar Heels' 34-8 record is their best through 42 games since the 2000 squad opened with the same mark and their 34 victories rank second nationally behind only Old Dominion. With just six more wins, Carolina will record its fifth straight 40-win season.
• Carolina's sweep of State marked its first series win over its in-state rival since 2002. Head coach Mike Fox is 14-11 against the Wolfpack, including a 9-3 record at Boshamer Stadium. The Tar Heels have now won seven straight ACC games dating to the series finale at Miami.
• The Carolina-NC State series drew a total of 9,004 fans to Boshamer Stadium over the weekend. Friday's crowd of 3,656 and Sunday's crowd of 3,153 rank among the largest in program history.
• Junior right-hander Daniel Bard, who was named ACC Pitcher of the Week for the second time this season Monday, capped Carolina's sweep of rival NC State with a four-hit shutout of the ACC's top hitting team. Bard (5-2) struck out eight and did not walk a batter en route to his third career complete game shutout and first this season. He allowed a single to the first batter he faced before setting down the next nine and followed a fifth inning single by retiring the next 10 Wolfpack batters. The Pack's Matt Camp led off the ninth with a double but was stranded at third to preserve the first shutout of NC State since April 8, 2005 at Virginia.
• Sunday's nine shutout innings gives Bard a run of 16 straight innings without an earned run. He has won back-to-back starts for the first time since a March 11 victory at Wake Forest and his eight strikeouts were his most since fanning eight Demon Deacons in that same start. The nine innings also marked Bard's longest career outing without issuing a walk.
• Bard lowered his ERA to 3.82 and is now 5-2 on the season with 67 strikeouts and just 24 walks in 61.1 innings. Sunday's win was also the 20th of Bard's collegiate career.
• Sophomore first baseman Chad Flack drove in a team-high eight runs on eight hits, including three doubles and a home run, to lead No. 1 North Carolina to a 3-1 week and series sweep of NC State. He slugged a team-best .700 on the week and extended his current hitting streak to nine games, including seven multi-hit games in the last eight outings.
• Against NC State, Flack was 5-for-15 with six RBI. He notched a pair of two-run doubles in the 7-3 win in game one and came back with a big two-run home run in the 4-0 win in the series finale. Earlier in the week at UNC Greensboro, Flack matched his career high with three hits and drove in four runs.
• Flack, who has driven in 17 runs over the last 13 games, is hitting .366 with five home runs and 35 RBI in 40 starts at first base. He is slugging .543 and is second on the team with 12 steals.
• Led by the starting rotation of Andrew Miller, Robert Woodard and Daniel Bard, Carolina notched a 1.12 ERA in the three-game series with NC State and also on the week. Against the Wolfpack, the Tar Heels allowed just five runs, 19 hits and two extra-base hits over 32 innings. NC State entered the series as the top hitting team in the ACC and the second-best hitting team in the nation, but Carolina's staff held them to just a .173 average. The Tar Heels now own a 3.27 team ERA and have six shutouts on the season and one more will match a school record set in 1978, 2000, 2004 and 2005.
• Carolina's bullpen was equally sharp, holding NC State scoreless over 7.2 innings. Closer Andrew Carignan saved Friday's win and picked up the win in game two of the series after retiring all five batters he faced over the 13th and 14th innings. He is now 1-1 on the year with 10 saves and a 0.40 ERA over 22.1 innings. Jonathan Hovis and Matt Danford combined for 5.1 scoreless innings in the 14-inning game two win.
• Center fielder Mike Cavasinni had two hits in both games he started against NC State and also had a pinch-hit double at UNCG to hit a team-best .500 (5-10) for the week. His average now sits at a season-high .307.
• Junior lefty Andrew Miller improved to 9-0 with a win in game one of the NC State series to establish a career high in victories. His nine wins are the most by a Tar Heel since Ryan Snare won 10 in 2000. Miller sports an ACC-best 1.55 ERA and is holding opponents to a .185 average in 69.1 innings. Against the Wolfpack, he allowed three runs on five singles over 8.1 innings. He fanned seven and now has 265 strikeouts in his career.
• Shortstop Josh Horton hit a team-best .462 (6-13) in the State series and is now 14-for-27 in six career games against the Wolfpack. Horton's .394 average is currently fourth in the ACC, while teammate Jay Cox has moved in the conference's top spot with a .399 average.
• Junior righty Robert Woodard carried a no-hitter into the fifth in game two against State and allowed just one run on five hits and two walks over seven innings. The Charlotte product continued an outstanding run of pitching against NC State and has allowed just eight hits and two earned runs in 17.2 innings.
