No. 1 Carolina Hosts Penn State For Three-Game Set

March 1, 2007 | Baseball

By: UNC Athletic Communications

March 1, 2007

Carolina-Penn State Notes in PDF Format
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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - No. 1 North Carolina welcomes Penn State of the Big Ten Conference to Boshamer Stadium for a three-game series beginning Friday at 3 p.m. The Tar Heels are off to their second 9-0 start in the last three years, while the Nittany Lions are 1-3 on the young season. A webcast of the first game of the series will be available via ACC Select.

GAMES 10-12: VS. PENN STATE, MARCH 2-4, CHAPEL HILL
PENN STATE (1-3, 0-0 BIG TEN) AT
#1 NORTH CAROLINA (9-0, 0-0 ACC)
• FRIDAY 3 P.M., SATURDAY 1 P.M., SUNDAY 1 P.M.
• ALL-TIME SERIES: Tied, 5-5
• LAST MEETING: Penn State 10, Carolina 3, May 28, 2000

Date	Time	UNC Starter	SBU Starter	TV/Radio
March 2	3 p.m.	Robert Woodard (Sr., RHP) 2-0, 0.66	Seth Whitehill (Jr., RHP) 0-1, 3.38	ACC Select
Feb. 24	1 p.m.	Alex White (Fr., RHP) 2-0, 0.71	Craig Clark (Sr., LHP) 0-1, 1.80	None
Feb. 25	1:30 p.m.	Luke Putkonen (So., RHP) 2-0, 1.64	Scott Gaffney (Jr., RHP) 1-0, 4.50	None

NATIONAL RANKINGS: North Carolina is ranked No. 1 by Baseball America and No. 3 by Collegiate Baseball and the NCBWA. Penn State is unranked.

PENN STATE SERIES: The Tar Heels and Nittany Lions have split 10 all-time meetings. The two teams most recently played in the 2000 NCAA Regional in Upper Montclair, N.J., with Penn State winning twice on the final day to eliminate UNC and advance to the Austin Super Regional.

TAR HEELS AT A GLANCE: Carolina is 9-0 for the second time in the last three seasons and can post its best start since 2001 with a win Friday ... UNC ranks among the top four in the ACC in team batting (.315) and earned run average (1.76) ... Carolina has four players with eight or more RBI and six players with 10 or more hits through nine games ... Two of UNC's top three hitters in terms of average are freshmen ... Dustin Ackley has eight doubles among his team-best 12 hits ... Reid Fronk has scored 14 runs in just 30 at-bats ... Tar Heel weekend starters have allowed only four runs in 37 1/3 innings ... RHP Robert Woodard goes for career win No. 26 Friday against Penn State ... UNC relievers have allowed only one of 15 inherited base runners to score.

SCOUTING THE NITTANY LIONS: Penn State has not played since Feb. 18 and is 1-3 after facing Kansas State and Centenary in its opening weekend. Matt Cavagnaro leads the squad with a .421 average, while Mike Deese and Rick Marlin are also batting above .300. The Nittany Lions committed eight errors over their first four games, and their staff owns a 3.97 ERA.

LAST TIME OUT: Left fielder Reid Fronk was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th inning to lift No. 1 North Carolina to a 4-3 win over No. 22 Coastal Carolina Wednesday at Boshamer Stadium. Sophomore Tim Federowicz earned the win in relief and started the game-winning rally with a single in the 10th for the Tar Heels. After setting down the Chanticleers in order in the top of the 10th, Federowicz (1-0) singled off Coastal third baseman Derek Martin with one out in the bottom of the inning. Kyle Shelton and Benji Johnson followed with singles to load the bases, and after a strikeout of Drew Poulk, CCU's Travis Risser hit Fronk to drive in pinch runner Matt McNichol with the winning run. Risser (1-1) took the loss for Coastal after allowing one run on four hits over 1 2/3 innings.

SEEKING BEST START SINCE 2001: A win Friday against Penn State will give Carolina's best start since 2001. At 9-0, the Tar Heels have already matched their best start since that 2001 squad won a school-record 21 games to open the year. UNC was also 9-0 to start the 2005 campaign. The Tar Heels are one of only five remaining unbeaten teams with at least nine wins on the year, joining Florida State (14-0), Vanderbilt (11-0), Louisiana-Lafayette (10-0) and Kentucky (9-0).

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 20-5 when holding the No. 1 ranking.

FED-EX DOES IT ALL: Sophomore Tim Federowicz has pitched twice this season and has figured into both sides of Carolina victories in each instance. In the Feb. 17 win over Seton Hall, Federowicz drove in what proved to be the game-winning run and picked up his first career save. And in Wednesday's win over No. 22 Coastal Carolina, the Apex native retired the Chanticleers in order in the top of the 10th and then started the game-winning rally with a single. He is batting .343 on the season with nine RBI and is 1-0 with a save on the mound.

CAROLINA'S IRONMAN: Junior Reid Fronk has played in 80 straight games dating to the end of the 2005 season, and he has constantly done the little things to help the Tar Heels to 63 victories over this stretch. Wednesday night was a prime example when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to drive in the winning run against Coastal Carolina. This season, Fronk leads Carolina in batting average (.400), on-base percentage (.545) and runs scored (14).

STELLAR START FOR STARTERS: Carolina has not allowed more than three earned runs in a single game this season and carries a staff ERA of 1.76 into the weekend. The Tar Heels' weekend rotation has been a huge part of this success, as right-handers Robert Woodard, Alex White and Luke Putkonen have combined to allow just four runs in 37 1/3 innings for a 0.96 mark.

HOME SWEET HOME: Carolina hopes to send the current Boshamer Stadium out in style in its final season of existence in 2007, and the Tar Heels are off to a fine start. UNC has won 15 straight games at home for the nation's second longest home win streak. Only Oral Roberts, which has won 17 games in a row, has a longer run. The Tar Heels, who are five games into a 19-game home stand, won 23 straight at home to open the 2005 season.

WOOTEN SOLID IN RELIEF: UNC knew it would have a large void to fill with the loss of NCAA ERA leader Jonathan Hovis, and junior righty Rob Wooten has stepped up in the early season. He has worked 5 1/3 innings over five appearances and has allowed just one base hit. Wooten has struck out five and has not issued a walk. He is one of seven relievers that has not allowed a run, and no one out of the Tar Heel pen has alowed more than two earned runs on the season.

FRESHMEN FITTING IN: Carolina's rookie class have impressed in the early season, as Dustin Ackley, Drew Poulk, Kyle Seager and Tim Fedroff (the four freshmen with at least 10 at-bats) have combined to hit .369 (38-103) through nine games. Led by Ackley's team-best 11 RBI, this quartet has accounted for 42.8 percent (27 of 63 RBI) of the Tar Heels' run production.

FAST START 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 followed with a solo shot Wednesday and has two home runs and a triple in just 10 at-bats for a 1.300 slugging percentage.

SLUGGERS STRUGGLING: Carolina's top three returning home run hitters from a year ago - Benji Johnson, Tim Federowicz and Chad Flack - are off to a slow start in the power department. This trio combined for 39 homers a year ago, and has just two in 2007, both by Johnson. Flack, who has 28 career home runs, has not gone deep since his walk-off two-run homer at Alabama in last year's Super Regional, a span of 15 games.

CAVI COMING BACK: After suffering an eye injury in the preseason, outfielder Mike Cavasinni has been slowly working his way back to the lineup. He entered as a pinch runner Feb. 24 and has played in the outfield on two occasions. But the comeback was completed Wednesday when he laced a ninth-inning single in his first at-bat of the season.

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 nine games, no reliever has made more than five appearances, and Matt Danford leads the way with just six 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.