University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels, Seminoles Meet In No. 1, No. 2 Showdown
April 19, 2007 | Baseball
April 19, 2007
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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The top two teams in Collegiate Baseball's rankings and the ACC's division leaders will square off this weekend in Tallahassee when No. 2 North Carolina and No. 1 Florida State meet for a three-game series beginning Friday at Dick Howser Stadium. With a combined 67 wins on the season, the Tar Heels (32-7, 13-5 ACC) and Seminoles (35-5, 13-2 ACC) are scheduled to play at 7 p.m. Friday, 1 p.m. Saturday and 12:30 p.m. Sunday. Jones Angell and Adam Lucas will have the call of all three games on the Tar Heel Sports Network. A webcast of Friday's game this be available through ACC Select, while Saturday's game will be televised on Fox Sports Net South in North Carolina.
GAMES 40-42: AT FLORIDA STATE, APRIL 20-22
#2 NORTH CAROLINA (32-7, 13-5 ACC) AT
#1 FLORIDA STATE (35-5, 13-2 ACC)
• FRIDAY 7 P.M., SATURDAY 1 P.M., SUNDAY 12:30 P.M.
• ALL-TIME SERIES: Florida State leads, 54-22
• LAST MEETING: FSU 6, UNC 5, April 2, 2006
|
Date |
Time | UNC Starter | FSU Starter |
Media Coverage |
| April 20 | 7 p.m. | Robert Woodard (Sr., RHP) 7-0, 1.98 |
Bryan Henry (Sr., RHP) 9-0, 2.37 |
ACC Select/ THSN |
| April 21 | 1 p.m. | Alex White (Fr., RHP) 4-2, 3.04 |
Michael Hyde (Sr., RHP) 8-2, 2.84 |
FSN South/ THSN |
| April 21 | 12:30 p.m. | Luke Putkonen (So., RHP) 5-1, 3.43 |
Ryan Strauss (Jr., RHP) 8-0, 2.44 |
Tar Heel Sports Network |
NATIONAL RANKINGS: North Carolina is ranked in the top three of all four major polls and is No. 2 according to Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball and the NCBWA. Florida State is also in the top three of all four polls and is No. 1 according to Collegiate Baseball.
FLORIDA STATE SERIES: North Carolina trails its all-time series with Florida State, 22-54, and owns a 15-36 record since the Seminoles joined the ACC in 1992. With a 9-10 record versus FSU over the last five seasons, the Tar Heels have won the last three series at home. But UNC is just 3-17 in Tallahassee since 1993. Carolina last won at FSU in 2003 and is just 1-11 there under Mike Fox. The Tar Heels last won a series at Dick Howser Stadium in 1995.
TAR HEELS AT A GLANCE: Carolina's 32 wins are tied for the second most in the nation behind only Florida State ... The Tar Heels' 6-1 road record is tops in the nation by percentage ... UNC ranks in the ACC's top three in ERA, average and fielding ... UNC's .329 team batting average would rank as a school record ... Eight Tar Heels have driven in at least 20 runs on the year and five have hit four or more home runs ... Dustin Ackley leads the nation with his .474 average and no Tar Heel has ever won an NCAA batting title ... Carolina has drawn 164 walks and struck out just 136 times over 332 innings ... The Tar Heels have struck out at least 52 fewer times than every other ACC team (through April 15) ... Paced by a weekend rotation that sports a 45-6 combined career record, the Tar Heels own a 2.66 staff ERA ... RHP Robert Woodard goes for career win No. 31 and the UNC win record Friday ... Closer Andrew Carignan has 22 strikeouts and just one walk in his last 10 outings.
SCOUTING THE SEMINOLES: Now 30-1 at Dick Howser Stadium, No. 1 Florida State just dropped its first home game of the season Wednesday, 5-4, to Florida. The Seminoles are a balanced team with a .369 average and a 3.07 staff ERA. Second baseman Tony Thomas, Jr. leads the team with his .465 average and seven home runs. Catcher Buster Posey and outfielder Jack Rye are also batting over .400. The weekend rotation of Bryan Henry (9-0), Michael Hyde (8-2) and Ryan Strauss (8-0) is a combined 25-2 on the season.
LAST TIME OUT: Campbell answered game-tying rallies by No. 2 North Carolina with a run in the 10th inning and two in the 11th to earn a 7-5 upset victory Tuesday at Boshamer Stadium. The Tar Heels outhit the Camels by a 16-10 margin but left 14 men on base to fall for the second time in the last three games. Second baseman Zach Johnson and center fielder Carlton Floyd each had three hits for Campbell and were responsible for driving in the game-winning runs in the 11th inning. With the game knotted at five, Johnson followed back-to-back walks by UNC's Tim Federowicz with an RBI single through the left side, and Floyd added a doubled to left for the seventh and final run. The Tar Heels, who stranded a pair of base runners in the four of the final six innings, put two on in the bottom of the 11th but could not muster the big hit when they needed it and suffered their first midweek loss of the year. Ryan Hamme (3-1) earned the win for Campbell after allowing two runs on five hits over three innings of relief. Federowicz (1-2) was one of three Tar Heels with four hits on the day but allowed two runs on two hits and two walks over the final 1 1/3 innings. At the plate, he was 4-for-6 with an RBI double. First baseman Dustin Ackley and third baseman Chad Flack also added four hits.
HISTORY VS. THE SEMINOLES: The Tar Heels have had success at the plate vs. Florida State, as juniors Chad Flack (.364), Reid Fronk (.364), Josh Horton (.405) and Seth Williams (.375) are all batting above .350 ... Flack leads all current players with three home runs and seven RBI in eight games ... Senior reliever Matt Danford has made four appearances vs. FSU and has allowed two earned runs over 8 1/3 innings ... Closer Andrew Carignan is 0-1 with five walks over 3 1/3 innings ... Senior RHP Robert Woodard is 1-0 with a 4.55 ERA over 27 2/3 innings vs. the Seminoles.
1 VS. 2 DEBUT FOR HEELS: Carolina is playing in its first-ever No. 1 vs. No. 2 series this weekend in Tallahassee. The Seminoles are No. 1 in the Collegiate Baseball rankings, while the Tar Heels are second. In 1999, Carolina was ranked third entering its series at top-ranked FSU and was swept and outscored 26-14. Last year, the sixth-ranked Tar Heels won two of three from No. 1 Florida State in Chapel Hill.
RECENT SUCCESS VS. NO. 1: Carolina has been very successful under head coach Mike Fox against the No. 1 team in the country and owns a 9-7 record in such games since 1999. This weekend's series marks the second straight season that UNC has played a top-ranked Florida State team. The Tar Heels are 8-3 in their last 11 games versus No. 1, including six wins in the last seven meetings with Florida State when it sits at the top of the polls. The Tar Heels won two of three from FSU last year and swept the No. 1-ranked Seminoles at Boshamer Stadium in 2002. Carolina has won three of its last four series against the top-ranked team in the nation. In addition to the 2002 and 2006 series wins over FSU, the Tar Heels took two of three from No. 1 Clemson from March 31-April 2, 2000.
WOODARD HUNTING HISTORY AGAIN: Already tied with Michael Hoog atop Carolina's career win list, senior right-hander Robert Woodard can establish a new mark with a victory Friday against Florida State. Currently 30-3 in his career, Woodard can also become just the 16th pitcher in ACC history to win at least 31 games. The Charlotte product owns a .909 career winning percentage, which is the best mark in Carolina history and the top percentage in ACC history for a pitcher with 25 or more decisions. Woodard has won his last 12 decisions and 25 of his last 26. This season, Woodard is 7-0 with a 1.98 ERA. He has won at least seven games in each of his four years at UNC.
BALANCED ATTACK: The Tar Heels rank as one of the most balanced teams in the nation according to the recent NCAA statistics, which were released Wednesday and include games through April 15. Carolina is one only four teams in the nation to rank among the top 15 nationally in team average and team ERA, joining Virginia, Florida State and Michigan. The Tar Heels were fourth with a 2.66 ERA and 15th with a .328 average. UNC was also 35th in fielding (.970), 18th in scoring average (7.9) and 20th in slugging (.493).
TOUGH STRETCH AHEAD: The Tar Heels have lost two of three for just he second time this season heading into one of their toughest stretches of the year. Beginning with this weekend's series at Florida State, Carolina plays seven of its next eight games against teams ranked in the top 20 of Thursday's Boyd Nation Pseudo-RPI. FSU is 11th in the RPI, while East Carolina is 14th and NC State is 20th. The Tar Heels also play three of their final four ACC series on the road.
ACKLEY ON THE NATIONAL SCENE: Named midseason freshman of the year by Baseball America earlier in the season, Dustin Ackley also ranks as one of the top players in the nation regardless of class. In the most recent edition of the NCAA stats released Wednesday, the Walnut Cove product shared the nation's top batting average with Florida State's Tony Thomas, Jr. at .467, but he had four hits Tuesday to push his average to .474. Thomas is now batting .465 heading into the weekend. Ackley was also 19th with 1.29 RBI per game, 45th in slugging at .687 and the 13th toughest to strikeout at 21.4 ABs/strikeout.
FLACK ON TRACK: After reaching a low point of .195 on March 23, Chad Flack's batting average has slowly been on a rise over the last couple of weeks. He has hit safely in 11 of the last 15 games with a .345 average over this stretch to raise his season mark to .254. Flack matched a career high with four hits Tuesday and homered for the second time in the last four games.
ACKLEY HITS IN 28 STRAIGHT: Freshman Dustin Ackley saw his UNC rookie record hitting streak snapped at 28 games against Duke April 14, but has bounced back with six hits over the last two games. Over his streak, Ackley hit .504 (57-113) with 18 multi-hit games.
UNC'S LONGEST HITTING STREAKS 1. Ron Maurer 1990 31 2. Scott Bradley 1980 30 3. Dustin Ackley 2007 28 4. Chris Madonna 1994 26 5. Mike Stoner 1995 25 6. Chris Iannetta 2004 23
CARIGNAN CARRIES BULLPEN: Through his first 65 collegiate appearances, junior closer Andrew Carignan had never worked more than two innings. Now he's worked no fewer than two innings in each of his last three outings. April 14 against Boston College, Carignan allowed just one hit over four scoreless innings after entering in a bases-loaded, no-outs situation. April 17 against Charlotte, he stepped in with runners on the corners in the seventh, fanned the 49ers' top hitter and went the rest of the way to pick up his first win of the season. On the year, Carignan has allowed only one of 19 inherited runners to score. He has eight saves to rank 15th nationally and his 23 career saves are eighth in ACC history. Carignan sports a 0.65 ERA and has 32 strikeouts in 27 2/3 innings. He has 22 strikeouts and just one walk over his last 10 outings.
HEELS EQUAL BEST 35-GAME MARK, SEEK BEST START THROUGH 40: The April 10 win over Charlotte was the Tar Heels' 30th of the season, matching the 1983 squad as the quickest to 30 wins. A win Friday would also match Carolina's best-ever mark through 40 games at 33-7, joining the 1983 and 1990 teams. UNC was also 21-4 through 25 games to equal the best start in school history. The Tar Heels were also 21-4 through 25 outings in 1983, 1990 and 2000. Carolina opened 10-0 this year for the third time under Mike Fox. His 2000 Tar Heels opened 21-0 for the best start in school history, and Fox's first team started 16-0 in 1999. UNC has won 30-plus games in each of the last 10 seasons and 28 of last 30.
PITCHING BETTERING 2006 NUMBERS: Despite losing first-round picks Andrew Miller and Daniel Bard and national ERA leader Jonathan Hovis, the Tar Heels' pitching staff is fourth nationally with a 2.66 ERA in 2007. This mark is nearly a run better than last year's 3.47 ERA through 39 games. Last year's staff had the edge in strikeouts (325 to 290), but the 2007 staff is holding the opposition to a .227 average, compared to a .236 mark a year ago. Last year's team finished ninth nationally with a 3.35 ERA.
PATIENCE PAYS FOR HORTON: All-America shortstop Josh Horton ranks as the nation's fourth toughest player to strikeout with just 5 Ks in 133 at-bats. He has also drawn a team-high 32 walks and has helped lead the Tar Heels to a remarkable 164 walks against just 136 strikeouts. A year ago, Carolina punched out 385 times, while drawing just 271 walks.
WILLIAMS HEATS UP: Seth Williams has been a key part of Carolina's balanced offense of late with a .375 average, 10 RBI and five multi-hit games over the last eight outings. He has continued to move up Mike Fox's batting order and seems to have found a home in the No. 2 spot. On the season, Williams is now batting .304 with a team-best six home runs and 21 RBI. Williams was batting just .224 on March 21.
ALL THEY DO IS WIN: Carolina's weekend rotation of Robert Woodard, Alex White and Luke Putkonen is 16-3 this season, but that should be no surprise since this trio is a combined 45-6 in Carolina Blue. Woodard has done the bulk of the work with a 30-3 career mark, but Putkonen is 11-1 over the last two seasons, and White is off to a 4-2 start in his freshman season. Toss in midweek ace Adam Warren, who is 7-0 this year and 8-0 in his career, and the Tar Heels' regular starters are an eye-popping 53-6 in their careers.
DANFORD REACHES CENTURY MARK: With 3 1/3 shutout innings against Charlotte April 10, senior reliever Matt Danford became just the sixth pitcher in UNC history and the 17th in ACC history to pitch in 100 career games. He is currently sixth all-time at UNC in appearances, three games behind Kevin Brower for fifth. In 102 games, Danford is 16-5 with 10 saves and a 3.25 ERA at Carolina.
