University of North Carolina Athletics
Top-Ranked Tar Heels Host Gardner-Webb, Coastal Carolina
February 26, 2007 | Baseball
Carolina Midweek Notes in PDF Format
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Feb. 26, 2007
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - No. 1-ranked North Carolina hosts a pair of midweek games this week as Gardner-Webb and Coastal Carolina come to Boshamer Stadium. The Tar Heels, who are off to a 7-0 start, will start right-hander Adam Warren against the Bulldogs (5-5) Tuesday, while righty Mike Facchinei will take the mound versus the Chanticleers (9-1) Wednesday. Both games will start at 3 p.m.
NATIONAL RANKINGS: North Carolina is ranked No. 1 by Baseball America and No. 3 by Collegiate Baseball and the NCBWA. Coastal Carolina is ranked No. 22 by Baseball America. Gardner-Webb is unranked.
GARDNER-WEBB SERIES: Carolina is 3-0 all-time against Gardner-Webb, posting wins in each of the last three seasons. The Tar Heels scored an 11-8 win over the Bulldogs a year ago.
COASTAL CAROLINA SERIES: The Tar Heels are 33-12 in 45 all-time meetings with Coastal Carolina. UNC blanked the Chanticleers, 15-0, last season after dropping a 14-5 decision to Coastal in 2005.
TAR HEELS AT A GLANCE: The Tar Heels have started 7-0 for the third straight season ... UNC ranks among the top four in the ACC in team batting (.333), earned run average (1.71) and fielding (.970) ... Carolina has four players with seven or more RBI and six players with nine or more hits through seven games ... Three of the UNC's top five hitters in terms of average are freshmen ... Dustin Ackley has eight doubles among his team-best 11 hits ... Reid Fronk has scored 13 runs in just 35 plate appearances ... Tar Heel starting pitching has allowed only six runs in 43 1/3 innings ... RHP Adam Warren makes his fourth career start Tuesday ... RHP Mike Facchinei (1-0) makes his second career start Wednesday after carrying a no-hitter into the sixth at UNCW last week.
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS: Garder-Webb carries a four-game winning streak into Tuesday's meeting with Carolina. The Bulldogs are led by Jamaal Kinard, who is batting .387 with four RBI and eight steals. Lefty Ben Campbell will make the start after posting a 1-0 record and a 1.29 ERA over three outings.
SCOUTING THE CHANTICLEERS: Coastal brings a 9-1 record and a .333 team average into Wednesday's game with UNC. The Chants are led by David Sappelt (.467-1-7), Dom Duggan (.438-0-4) and Derek Martin, who has a team-best 11 RBI. Right-hander David Anderson, who is 2-0 in four relief appearances, will make the start.
LAST TIME OUT: Freshmen outfielders Tim Fedroff and Drew Poulk each homered and combined for seven hits on the day, and starting pitchers Alex White and Luke Putkonen allowed just three runs over 12 2/3 innings to lead No. 1 North Carolina to a doubleheader sweep of Stony Brook Feb. 24 at Boshamer Stadium. The Tar Heels posted an 8-2 win in game one and followed with a 9-2 victory in the second contest. Fedroff went 4-for-6 with a solo home run, a triple and two RBI in his first two career starts, while Poulk was 3-for-3 with three runs scored and a two-run home run all in game two. Sophomore Tim Federowicz also had four hits on the day, including a 3-for-4 effort with three RBI in the first game. Juniors Reid Fronk and Josh Horton each added two RBI in the series finale.
TAR HEELS REMAIN NO. 1: North Carolina remained in the top spot in this week's Baseball America Top 25 rankings after posting a 4-0 week. The Tar Heels are ranked No. 1 by Baseball America for the just the second week in program history after spending five weeks in the top spot in other polls last season. Carolina is now 18-5 when holding the No. 1 ranking.
FAST START FOR FRONK: Junior outfielder Reid Fronk continued his quick start to 2007 with a .438 (7-16) week to lead the Tar Heels to a 4-0 record against UNC Wilmington and Stony Brook. Fronk led the Tar Heels on the week with seven hits, four doubles, seven runs scored and five RBI and also slugged a team-best .875 over the four games. He capped his first career four-hit game with a two-run home run in the Friday win over Stony Brook and also went 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI in the series finale. On the season Fronk is second on the squad with a .435 average and he leads the team with 13 runs scored in just 23 at-bats. Fronk also leads UNC with a .559 on-base percentage. He has played in 78 straight games dating to the 2005 season.
STELLAR START FOR STARTERS: After allowing five runs in the win at UNCW, Carolina came back to allow only five combined runs in the three games against Stony Brook. The Tar Heels now own a 1.71 earned run average on the season, and their weekend starting rotation of Robert Woodard, Alex White and Luke Putkonen has combined to allow just four runs in 37 1/3 innings this season.
THE RUNNIN' HEELS: After stealing just one base over the first four games of the season, the Tar Heels swiped seven bases in seven attempts against Stony Brook last weekend. Outfielders Drew Poulk and Seth Williams lead the team with two steals.
FRESHMEN FITTING IN: Carolina's rookie class continued to impress last week as Dustin Ackley, Drew Poulk, Kyle Seager and Tim Fedroff combined to go 20-for-46 (.435) in the four games. Ackley (.440), Poulk (.429) and Fedroff (.571) are all batting well over .400 on the season, and Ackley and Seager are tied with preseason All-America Chad Flack for the team lead with eight RBI. Poulk leads the team with three home runs on the year. Ackley leads the ACC with 1.14 doubles per game, while Poulk is tied for third with 0.43 home runs per game.
JUNIORS MAKING THE JUMP: Junior pitchers Mike Facchinei, Tyler Trice and Rob Wooten have been strong in the early season. Trice and Wooten have not allowed a hit in four combined innings (over five appearances) out of the bullpen, while Facchinei picked up his first career win with six strong innings at UNCW last Wednesday. He allowed just one hit and two runs in his first career start. Facchinei makes start No. 2 of his career against Coastal Carolina Wednesday.
BIG DAY FOR FEDROFF: Freshman outfielder Tim Fedroff had just one at-bat on the season prior to the Feb. 24 doubleheader with Stony Brook, but he delivered in his first career starts. The Flagtown, N.J., native went 4-for-6 on the day with a home run, a triple and two RBI. He is now batting .571 (4-7) on the season.
CAVI COMING BACK: After suffering an eye injury in the preseason, outfielder Mike Cavasinni is working his way back and entered as a pinch runner Feb. 24 against Stony Brook. The Huntersville native came around to score his first run of the season on a passed ball.
DEPTH ON THE MOUND: After reaching the finals of the College World Series with just 13 pitchers a year ago, the Tar Heels have already used a total of 17 hurlers in 2007. Through seven games, no reliever has made more than three appearances, and Matt Danford leads the way with just 3 1/3 innings of work.
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.
