University of North Carolina Athletics
No. 1 Tar Heels Head To Wilmington Wednesday
February 20, 2007 | Baseball
Feb. 20, 2007
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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - No. 1-ranked North Carolina makes its first trip to UNC Wilmington since 2005 Wednesday for a 3 p.m. matchup at Brooks Field. The Tar Heels (3-0) have won three straight against the Seahawks (3-4) dating to 2003. Junior right-hander Mike Facchinei will make his first career start for Carolina.
NATIONAL RANKINGS: North Carolina is ranked No. 1 by Baseball America and No. 3 by Collegiate Baseball and the NCBWA. UNC Wilmington is unranked.
UNCW SERIES: The Tar Heels and Seahawks have met on the diamond 55 times since 1976 with Carolina holding a 43-12 lead. The teams did not meet in 2006, but the Tar Heels won both games two seasons ago. Head coach Mike Fox is 6-3 overall and 3-1 in Wilmington against the Seahawks since returning to his alma mater in 1999. UNCW will play in Chapel Hill April 3.
SCOUTING THE SEAHAWKS: UNC Wilmington is coming off a three-game sweep of Temple after opening the season 0-4. Junior righty Jon Cantrell, a Chapel Hill native, will start Wednesday against Carolina after posting a 2.25 ERA over four innnings of relief so far this year. Jes Snyder leads the UNCW offense with three home runs and nine RBI on the young season. Steve Halford and Mark Carver lead the regulars with a .367 average.
FIRST START FOR FACCHINEI: After an impressive stretch of preseason work, junior right-hander Mike Facchinei has earned his first career start against UNCW Wednesday. The Arden, N.C., native has a 4.50 career ERA in 10 relief appearances. Last season, he struck out 16 in just 11 2/3 innings and allowed only two earned runs over his last five appearances.
TAR HEELS MOVE TO NO. 1: North Carolina moved into the top spot in this week's Baseball America Top 25 rankings after posting a sweep of Seton Hall last weekend to open the season. The Tar Heels are ranked No. 1 by Baseball America for the first time in program history after spending five weeks in the top spot in other polls last season. Carolina outscored the Pirates 27-4 last weekend and moved to No. 1 after top-ranked Clemson went 2-1 against George Mason. The Tar Heels went 14-5 last season when ranked No. 1.
STELLAR START FOR STARTERS: North Carolina starting pitching picked up all three wins and allowed just seven hits and two walks in 18 2/3 shutout innings in the series sweep of Seton Hall. Right-handers Robert Woodard, Alex White and Luke Putkonen struck out a combined 14 batters and surrendered just one extra-base hit on the weekend. As a staff, the Tar Heels allowed just four runs on 13 hits and only two extra-base hits in 27 innings.
PITCHING RICH: Mike Facchinei will become the 14th pitcher used by the Tar Heels in just four games this season. Carolina used just 13 pitchers all of last season, but this year the Tar Heels should feature a deeper and more versatile bullpen. Eleven UNC pitchers posted shutout performances against Seton Hall.
BIG WEEKEND FOR FRESHMEN: Three Carolina freshmen - Dustin Ackley, Drew Poulk and Kyle Seager - started all three games this weekend and combined to go 13-for-33 (.394) against Seton Hall. Ackley, who leads the ACC with 1.67 doubles per game and is tied for seventh in batting, was 6-for-12 with five doubles, five runs scored and four RBI. Seager went 4-for-11 with four RBI. Poulk hit a pair of solo home runs on the weekend, including one in his first collegiate at-bat. The Morehead City native is the first Tar Heel to homer in his first at-bat since Richie Grimsley in 1995 and is the first to go deep in his first game at Carolina since Brian Roberts in 1997.
WEEKLY HONORS FOR WOODARD: Right-hander Robert Woodard was named Atlantic Coast Conference Pitcher of the Week and one of Collegiate Baseball's Louisville Slugger National Players of the Week Monday for his Feb. 16 start against Seton Hall. Woodard retired the first 20 batters he faced in the 11-0 shutout win over the Pirates. The senior allowed just one hit over 7 2/3 scoreless innings. He carried a perfect game into the seventh before allowing a two-out double and located 63 of his 80 pitches for strikes, while matching a career high with seven strikeouts. Woodard won for the 19th time in his last 20 decisions and improved to 24-3 in his career. He is now tied for fifth all-time at Carolina in victories and improved his career winning percentage to .889, which equals Scott Bankhead's school record. Woodard also moved into Carolina's top 10 in career innings pitched with his effort Friday.
HOT START FOR HORTON: Junior All-America Josh Horton picked up where he left off last season with a 5-for-9 series against Seton Hall and three RBI. His current .556 batting average is fourth in the ACC.
SETTING THE TABLE: Junior Reid Fronk had just three hits last weekend but reached base 10 times thanks to six walks and one hit by pitch. He reached base at a team-best .714 clip versus SHU and currently leads the ACC in walks per game and is second in runs scored per game. Fronk also extended his consecutive games played streak to 74 dating back to the end of the 2005 season.
CAVASINNI SIDELINED: Sophomore centerfielder Mike Cavasinni is out indefinitely with an eye injury. He hit .317 a year ago and led the Tar Heels with 16 steals. Freshman Drew Poulk should play center while Cavasinni is sidelined.
HEELS PICKED TO REPEAT: North Carolina was picked as the preseason favorite to defend its Atlantic Coast Conference Coastal Division baseball title, the league office announced Jan. 19. The Tar Heels, who were 54-15 and 22-8 in ACC action a year ago, received 60 points and four first-place votes in the Coastal Division. The preseason poll is determined by vote of the league's 12 head coaches. Clemson was picked to win the Atlantic Division for the second straight season and was picked as the overall league favorite. The Tar Heels and Tigers, who met at the College World Series, are not scheduled to play this season.
PROGRAM HONORED BY BA: The UNC baseball program was recently honored by Baseball America when the magazine ranked its top 64 teams of the 64-team field era (1999-2006). The Tar Heels were rated 14th overall and fifth among teams currently in the ACC. Winning percentage, postseason success, All-Americas, draft choices and number of alumni in the majors all played into the rankings.
WATCH OUT: Preseason All-Americas Andrew Carignan, Chad Flack and Josh Horton find themselves in exclusive company on the preseason watch lists for some of college baseball's top honors. Carignan, a junior closer, is a candidate for the Roger Clemens Award and the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Award, while Flack and Horton, junior infielders, are up for the Brooks Wallace Player of the Year Award.
HEELS PROJECTED TO IMPACT DRAFT: One year after having a pair of pitchers selected in the first round of the Major League Baseball Draft, North Carolina is again projected to have an impact in June with four players on Baseball America's Top 100 College Prospects list for 2007. All-America shortstop Josh Horton (22), pitchers Luke Putkonen (69) and Andrew Carignan (86) and outfielder Reid Fronk (92) were each honored. The Tar Heels are one of just three teams with at least four players rated in the top 100 prospects. Top-ranked Rice leads the way with six, while Carolina and Clemson are tied for second with four each.
RATED ROOKIES: Collegiate Baseball newspaper rated North Carolina's 16-man freshman class sixth nationally in its annual recruiting rankings. The Tar Heels, who brought in five prep All-America selections, have now posted top-six classes twice in the last four years and top-20 groups in three of the last four seasons. The only class ranked in the top 18 comprised solely of high school talent, Carolina's newcomers rated as the No. 2 class in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Baseball America ranked the class eighth and projected RHP/1B Alex White as the league's top newcomer with second baseman Kyle Seager rated as the ACC's No. 4 newcomer.
