University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Rebound In Rock Hill
February 28, 2008 | Baseball
Feb. 28, 2008
By Adam Lucas
ROCK HILL, S.C.--Something unusual happened to North Carolina on Thursday night: they played a perfectly ordinary baseball game.
On Tuesday, the Tar Heels struck out 16 Old Dominion batters, gave up just one earned run, and still managed to lose 8-6 to the Monarchs in ten innings. That game fit perfectly with the beginning of the season, which has also included a 14-13 win over Florida Atlantic and another victory over the Owls that featured a four-run ninth-inning rally.
It took a trip to the Palmetto State to engineer a return to normalcy with a 6-1 victory over Winthrop. Sure, the game still had its quirks--like four intentional walks of Tar Heel hitters and Winthrop center fielder Tyler McBride being removed for a pinch-hitter while in the middle of an at-bat with a 1-1 count.
But Adam Warren was his refreshingly typical self, allowing just one run over 5.1 innings, scattering six hits and rediscovering the stuff that had abandoned him in his uncharacteristic first start in Boca Raton.
"Last time, he walked the first hitter on four pitches and couldn't regroup," said head coach Mike Fox. "This time, he was more aggressive. His 2-seam fastball had some run for their left-handed hitters. His curveball was pretty good, and he threw some good breaking balls when he needed to.
"He is so good at erasing bad starts. He is always prepared and our team has a lot of confidence in him."
In years past, a bizarre performance like Tuesday's loss--"maybe the wildest game I've seen since I've been here," Fox said--wouldn't have caused much concern. The Tar Heels had veterans like Andrew Carignan, Josh Horton, and Robert Woodard in the clubhouse who would refuse to make one defeat turn into a snowball.
In 2008, however, that leadership role is yet to be determined. But on a chilly day at the gorgeous Winthrop Ballpark, the Tar Heels reached base via hit or walk 16 times. Eleven of those 16 trips came from upperclassmen.
And after making four costly errors against ODU, Carolina was flawless defensively, including a beautiful first-inning play deep in the hole between third and short by junior Garrett Gore in his return from a hamstring injury.
"After the game Tuesday, I told the team it was just one of many and it will be very uncharacteristic of our team," Fox said. "I'm glad we got the ugliest game of the year out of our system early. And I thought Garrett Gore set the tone by making that play in the first inning."
Warren, a junior, did the tone-setting on the mound by flashing the form that enabled him to finish 12-0 as a sophomore. The Tar Heels then turned to a procession of youngsters, using sophomore Brian Moran and freshmen Ryan Leach and Garrett Davis in relief.
Moran, primarily a lefty specialist as a freshman, has expanded his repertoire and is throwing harder, which means he can face both lefties and righties. Leach raised some eyebrows when his first two fastballs hit 93 miles per hour on the in-stadium radar gun and followed that with a sharp curveball to fan Eddie Tisdale to end the eighth. And Davis--who is currently on track to be Sunday's starter--struck out the side in the ninth inning in his first Carolina appearance.
"We have to get those guys out there," Fox said. "We need to get those nerves out. If they prepare, it will come out in a game."
Even if the game is decidedly--and blissfully--normal.
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly. He is also the author or co-author of four books on Carolina basketball.
