University of North Carolina Athletics
Baseball Blog From Rock Hill (bottom of the 8th)
February 28, 2008 | Baseball
Feb. 28, 2008
The Diamond Heels are 3-1 on the season but we're 0-4 on internet connectivity. That streak will come to an end today in Rock Hill as the blog is ready to roll in Rock Hill. Adam Lucas here with you and reminding you to send in your emails throughout the day so we can have something to talk about here on TarHeelBlue.com.
St. John's just dispatched Kent State 9-4 in the first game of the day. We'll have a 30-minute period between games and then the first pitch will be thrown somewhere around 4:15 or so. We'll be back with lineups shortly.
3:50 p.m.: The Carolina lineup is in:
1. Tim Fedroff, RF
2. Garrett Gore, SS
3. Dustin Ackley, LF
4. Chad Flack, 3b
5. Kyle Seager, 2b
6. Tim Federowicz, C
7. Zeke Blanton, DH
8. Seth Williams, CF
9. Kyle Shelton, 1b
Adam Warren, P
4:15 p.m.: Uniform update--the Tar Heels are resplendent in their navy tops with white pants and white hats with a navy bill. This is already the second appearance in five games for the navy jerseys, as they were also worn in the season opener at Florida Atlantic. Carolina is currently taking infield and we appear to be maybe ten minutes away from the first pitch.
4:20 p.m.: If you check your handy pocket schedule, you'll notice this game was originally slated for 5 p.m. The first pitch was moved up because of some very chilly weather, although it's quite tropical here in the Winthrop press box. We have a Winthrop lineup:
1. Aaron Bonomi, 2b
2. Kevin Nolan, SS
3. Billy Froehlich, RF
4. Eddie Rohan, DH
5. Eddie Tisdale, 1b
6. John Murrian, C
7. Tony Brunetti, LF
8. Bryn Henderson, 3b
9. Tyler McBride, CF
And lefty Ryan Mullins will start on the mound for the Eagles.
4:25 p.m.: Stanley Brown is our first emailer of the day (of course, we want you to join him in the inbox). Stanley wants to know how good the Eagles are supposed to be. They're currently 2-2 with wins over Evansville and Gardner-Webb and a pair of losses to St. John's. The Red Storm are on spring break and have been in Rock Hill for nearly a week, which is reminiscent of Carolina's weeklong trip to Boston last season...except there is slightly more to do in Boston than Rock Hill (although Rock Hill really does appear to be a nice place). The Eagles were picked fourth in the Big South preseason poll.
First pitch is minutes away, as Winthrop is going through their traditional kung fu-esque pregame ritual (seriously).
4:30 p.m.: I would estimate that the kid running the scoreboard is about 12 years old. That prompted the following stern comment from the guy who is running the music (who just said this actual phrase: "I can't believe I don't have Splish-Splash on here. I'm going to make a note.")--"You have to pay attention today. This is North Carolina. I mean really pay attention." So that is good, I think.
The head coaches are meeting at home plate.
4:40 p.m.: Winthrop is clad in white pinstripe vests with maroon undershirts and white pants with pinstripes. The Eagles have maroon caps. Good crowd at the Winthrop Ballpark, which is very nice. It would easily rate in the top third of the ACC. Chairback seats all around, the most gigantic batter's eye of all time, and even a picnic area down the right field line. At the moment, the crowd is split about 50-50 between Eagle fans and Tar Heel fans.
Top of the first: Gametime temperature is 43 degrees. Fedroff flies out to center on the first pitch. Gore strikes out swinging on three pitches. Ackley takes a close 2-2 pitch for a ball and then walks for the first baserunner of the day. Flack flies out hard to right center. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 left on base.
Bottom of the first: Adam Warren on the mound for the Tar Heels, looking to bounce back from a rough opening start. He had trouble establishing the inner half of the plate against FAU and will be looking to do that today. Bonomi (or, here at the Ballpark, "Booooo-nooooo-meeeeee") grounds out to short. Nolan grounds out to short, as Gore makes a very nice play deep in the hole between third and short. Froehlich grounds out hard to Kyle Seager at second base. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 left on base. We're scoreless at the end of the first.
Top of the second: Seager flies out high to center. Mullins, by the way, throws his fastball around 85 or 86 and throws a lot of curveballs, especially to lefties. On a 3-2 pitch, Federowicz grounds out to shortstop. Blanton squibs one to second and is retired. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 left on base.
Bottom of the 2nd: On a scale of 1-10 of big voice-ness, where 10 is the PA guy at Miami, the Winthrop PA guy--who seems like a nice guy--probably rates about an 8. Rohan flies out to left. Tisdale doubles straight down the left field line on the first pitch. Incidentally, there is no visible line down the right and left field lines. Makes that whole fair/foul thing kind of tough. Murrian flies out to left (this one was definitely fair). Warren, who is hearty enough to go with the short sleeves on a chilly day, seems to be throwing his curveball much better than in his first start. Brunetti drops a little blooper in front of Seth Williams in center, who started to try and make a diving play but then thought better of it and played it on one hop. 1-0, Winthrop. Warren then picks off Brunetti at first to end the inning. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, and 0 left on base.
Top of the 3rd: Mullins was only scheduled to go two innings today but is back out there for the top of the third. Seth Williams, who has hit just about everywhere in the UNC order so far (he hit 2nd on Tuesday night and is 8th today), grounds out to short for the third straight Carolina groundout. The first Carolina hit of the day belongs to Kyle Shelton, who hits a sharp grounder between third and short. We've got action in the Winthrop bullpen. Fedroff draws a four-pitch walk, and the bullpen action will get a little more feverish. Gore grounds through the same spot as Shelton and the bases are loaded for Dustin Ackley, who does not yet have a grand slam this year. The Eagles try to kill some time on the mound with a meeting of the minds. That reminds me, at some point we're going to get to see Winthrop coach Joe Hudak make the slowest walk to the mound in college baseball. Ackley reaches for a 1-0 pitch and pops out to the shortstop. That brings up Flack in a big two-out spot. On a 1-2 pitch, he hits a sharp one-hopper to shortstop, who throws to second baseman Aaron Bonomi to end the inning. 0 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 3 left on base.
Bottom of the 3rd: Henderson pops to right. We have a major discussion here in the press box about whether the scoreboard's radar gun is working. Considering it has Warren's fastball at 83, I'm going to guess it's a little bit slow. McBride flies out to Fedroff a step in front of the warning track, which brings Warren's ERA down to 20.00 (it was at 54.00 after the rough first outing). Back to the top of the order, and lefthanded-hitting Bonomi goes the other way for a single. Warren and Bonomi have a good game of cat-and-mouse going at first, and on the third throw over there Warren finally picks him off for the second pickoff of the day. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 left on base. End of 3: Winthrop 1, Carolina 0.
Top of the 4th: Seager hits a leadoff single back up the middle. That may do it for Mullins. Here comes Hudak, who must be chilly because that was actually a fairly brisk walk to the mound. Righty Mike Ritson is the new Winthrop pitcher. Good outing for Mullins. The book on Ritson: a fastball in the mid-to-high 80s, a slider that he throws a lot, and a changeup. He will be greeted by Tim Federowicz. FedEx hits a line drive double to left. Runners at second and third for Zeke Blanton, who had a great at-bat in the ODU game. The freshman hits an RBI grounder to short. Carolina 1, Winthrop 1. The Eagles will walk Seth Williams intentionally and bring up Shelton with two men on. Shelton shows bunt on the first pitch but misses it. Ritson gets the strikeout on a ball down and away that's in the dirt and allows both Tar Heel runners to move up. And that will do it for Ritson. The Eagles are bringing lefty Dane Yoder in to face Fedroff. What, is everyone's email button broken? Nothing but sliders so far to Fedroff. Finally, on 2-2, Fedroff swings and misses at the fifth slider. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 2 left on base.
Bottom of the 4th: Upgrade the PA guy to a 9 on the scale of 1-10. Kevin Nolan leads off the Winthrop half-inning with a single up the middle. I'm going to guess he won't get much of a lead. Froehlich grounds to Shelton at first, who throws to Gore to get the lead runner and the first out of the inning. On a 2-1 count, Eddie Rohan grounds to Flack, who throws to Gore at second, who relays it to Shelton for a 5-4-3 inning-ending double play. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 left on base. Carolina 1, Winthrop 1.
Top of the 5th: We have an email question about Warren's pitch count--he has thrown an efficient 48 pitches through four innings. Gore is hit leading off the inning, and he was plunked right near that hamstring injury that kept him out of the last couple games. He's trying to walk it off down the first-base line. Looks like he'll be OK. Ackley ropes a single to right, and here comes Flack with nobody out and runners on first and second. Flack flies high to left, and alert baserunning by both Gore and Ackley moves them each up a base. Runners on second and third for Seager. Official attendance: 1,010. Seager sends the first pitch in the air to left field. It's deep enough to score Gore. Carolina 2, Winthrop 1. The Eagles will issue their second intentional walk of the game, this time to Federowicz. Runners on first and second with two out for Blanton. He won't face Yoder. He'll face righty Chad Bradwell. Fortunately, we have an email from Dana Shillingburg to pass the time during the pitching change. She says it's 25 degrees where she is, which appears to be somewhere near College Park, as she knows a couple of Terp players. We need to find out if she knows the guy in the Testudo costume who puts his giant head in front of the radio booth when we go up there. Not that I am still bitter three years later. Oh yeah, back to the game. Righty Bradwell against a pinch-hitter, lefty Ben Bunting. Bradwell is a fastball/slider guy whose fastball isn't overpowering. Good thing, because on his very first pitch he plunks Bunting in the back. Scoreboard radar gun puts that one at 69 miles an hour, and that actually might be accurate. Bases loaded for Williams. The first pitch...62 miles an hour. Four-pitch walk for Williams. Carolina 3, Winthrop 1. That last pitch blistered in there at 75. Sixth straight ball to Shelton, and that will do it for Bradwell. Not a great outing. Here comes lefty Cam Walters as Winthrop's sixth pitcher of the day. Yes, we're still in the fifth. Good news: the Eagles still have 10 eligible pitchers on the roster. Walters is a fastball/curveball guy who will throw a lot of curves. None of them are strikes, however, and Shelton walks. Carolina 4, Winthrop 1. The last four Tar Heel batters: three walks and one hit batter. Here's Fedroff, the ninth batter of the inning. He lofts a high fly to left and the inning is over. 3 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 3 left on base.
Bottom of the 5th: Timely email from Jeanie Buchanan in Lexington, NC, who wonders about Rob Wooten's status. The Carolina reliever was hit by a line drive in Tuesday's game and unavailable for the closing innings of that game, when he would have been very useful. Wooten had x-rays yesterday and nothing is broken. The last I heard, he was available if needed today. That huge sigh of relief is coming from pitching coach Scott Forbes, who would have needed major creativity if Wooten was injured. Meanwhile, Eddie Tisdale hits a leadoff double to right. I believe the entire dialogue of Major League has been recited in this press box in the last two hours. Murrian hits a long fly ball to center that's caught by Seth Williams. Tisdale moves over to third. By the way, there's not much room behind the plate here at the Winthrop Ballpark. That's relevant because Warren threw an 0-1 pitch through the wickets of Federowicz, but the ball bounced straight back to the plate so no run scored. Brunetti walks and there is action in the UNC bullpen--it's Ryan Leach and Brian Moran. First and third, one out. Quick visit from Scott Forbes, whose picture is outside the park thanks to his time at Winthrop. John Martin says the rumor is that they call this place, "The House That Forbes Built." Warren fans Henderson on a curve just off the black. Two down for the number-9 hitter, Tyler McBride. Warren retires McBride on a 1-0 grounder to short. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 2 left on base. Carolina 4, Winthrop 1.
Top of the 6th: Not sure the email inbox can handle this much traffic. Keep them coming. Big news--Frank Viola threw out the first pitch here at Winthrop Ballpark. Not today, but on Tuesday. Today the first pitch was thrown out by...well, we didn't have one today. It's still Cam Walters on the mound for Winthrop. Zack Kinlaw emails from Chapel Hill wanting to know why Andrew Miller's jersey isn't retired yet. He was indeed national player of the year, although there's some debate about whether baseball follows the same guidelines for jersey retirement as basketball. Kendric Burney currently wears #33. Garrett Gore interrupts all this merriment by lining hard to third. Something unbelievable just happened: Dustin Ackley struck out swinging. That's his second strikeout of the season. Pretty soon he'll be "slumping" down at .500 like a mortal. Flack grounds to the pitcher on the second pitch and the inning is over in approximately 3% of the time it took to play the top of the fifth. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 left on base.
Bottom of the 6th: Warren, who has thrown 67 pitches, is still on the mound to face the top of the order. Intrepid SID John Martin just visited the Winthrop press buffet. His total haul: one Ritz cracker. I think that exhausted the supply of Ritz. Tomorrow I may bring a slice of cheese and go exotic with cheese-and-Ritz. Bonomi singles on a 2-2 pitch. Odd scene: Warren is on the mound in short sleeves and Leach in the UNC bullpen is warming up while wearing one of those puffy satin jackets. They used to be called Starter jackets but I think that stopped in the late 80s. I had a blue Carolina one, which ruled. Bonomi is from Australia, which apparently is hilarious. Nolan grounds it to Gore, who ranges far to his left to make the play. He didn't have a play at second, so threw to first for the out. Here comes Mike Fox, looks like that will do it for Warren, whose ERA dropped over 40 today, down to 12.15. The new pitcher is lefty Brian Moran. Man on second, one out. 80 pitches for Warren. Froehlich strikes out swinging on three pitches. Moran, by the way, has looked good in the first week for the Tar Heels. He's always been good against lefties but the coaches are hoping to stretch him out some against righties. That's what he'll face now in the person of DH Eddie Rohan. Moran gets his second straight K, this time on a breaking ball that froze Rohan. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 left on base. Carolina 4, Winthrop 1.
Top of the 7th: Gordon Douglas, former Tar Heel hurler (1983-86), wants to know if Winthrop might need his services on the mound. Don't go away, Gordon. Rusty Rogers checks in, too. We've still got three innings left, so keep the emails coming. I pledge to eat one Ritz cracker per email from here on out. It's Seager against Walters leading off the seventh. If the kid running the scoreboard doesn't stop messing with the height of his adjustable-height chair, someone is going to get hurt. Seager grounds it to first, where Tisdale makes a nice play. But then Walters muffs the throw to first, allowing Seager to move to second on a two-base error. You know what that means: first base is open. And you know what that means: Federowicz just drew his second straight intentional walk (the third of the game). Ben Bunting, who is now in the DH spot, is up with no one out. Corners are in, expecting a bunt. Beautiful bunt to third and both runners move up on the sacrifice. Nice play by the freshman. Uh-oh, first base is open and Seth Williams is up. Can't stand the suspense here. Yep, another intentional walk. That's the fourth of the game. Bases loaded for Shelton. Word here in the press box is that Joe Hudak coaches a team of 12-year-olds here in Rock Hill and with that team has occasionally intentionally walked the bases loaded in the first inning. Here comes pitcher number six for Winthrop, Matteo D'Angelo. It might surprise you to learn that he pitched for the Italian national team last summer. Shelton strikes out swinging, two out. Fedroff flares out to the third baseman, and that's the seventh time in the first five games of the season that the Tar Heels have left the bases loaded. 0 runs, 0 hits, 1 error, 2 intentional walks, 3 left on base.
Bottom of the 7th: It's still 4-1, in case you were wondering. Big news: John Martin has just recalled that he ate at The Drover in Omaha with Gordon Douglas last summer. Have you ever been to The Drover? Mmmm, whiskey filet. A little more filling than a Ritz cracker. Eddie Tisdale doubles off Moran leading off the seventh. In terms of Omaha food, I would rate The Drover and a Zesto's peanut-butter-and-chocolate milkshake as the two must-haves. Of course, Joe Bray would recommend the triple Kong burger. Murrian grounds out to second, moving Tisdale to third with one out. My sleeper pick for Omaha steakhouses: Johnny's Cafe near the stockyards. Looks like a hole in the wall from the outside but the food was really good. Plus you can take the kids and no one gives you a weird look. Brunetti strikes out looking on three pitches. Big pitch by Moran. Henderon walks, and here's McBride representing the tying run. Moran has lost the feel a little. Leach is still warming. After a visit from Forbes, Moran gets a strike to even the count at 1-1. McBride looked bad on that one. So bad that the Eagles will yank him for a pinch-hitter with a 1-1 count. The consensus (which means I polled John and me) is we have never seen that. The pinch-hitter is Bennett Jordan. Moran freezes Jordan on an inside fastball for strike three to end the inning. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 bizarre pinch-hitting appearance, 2 left on base. Carolina 4, Winthrop 1.
Top of the 8th: This "working press box" now includes almost as many middle schoolers as adults. Of course, they're the smartest ones in the crowd of 1,010 because it is very cold outside. Garrett Gore leads off the 8th. Vicki Catapano writes from Knoxville that she's planning to be at the game tomorrow and wants to know if she'll have trouble scoring tickets. First of all, if Rob can't put her on the ticket list, then he's not as good a guy as we thought. Each player gets four comp tickets, if I'm not mistaken. That being said, be very wary of the lady manning the ticket booth. I tried to sneak in as media and she informed me, "This is highly irregular!" Fortunately, Dave Arendas happened by to add me to the ticket list. Otherwise, I think I was getting ready to be in handcuffs. Gore blasts a ball to right, which Froehlich drops as he runs into the wall. Gore's hamstring is apparently fine, as he motors all the way to third with a triple. Infield in for Ackley, who--you are not going to believe this--will not be intentionally walked. The Eagles get a big out, as Ackley grounds out to the pitcher. One down, man on third for Flack. Infield still in, which turns out to be fortunate, as Flack hits a screamer to second, where Bonomi fields it off his shoetops for the second out. Kyle Seager blasts one over the flagpole for a two-run homer to right. That's his third homer of the season. Carolina 6, Winthrop 1. Federowicz walks on a 3-2 pitch, his third walk of the day. Two were intentional. The Tar Heels will send out Kendric Burney, the aforementioned #33, as a pinch-runner for Federowicz. Bunting grounds out to end the inning. 2 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 left on base.
Bottom of the 8th: Matt Clements writes in from Carolina Brewery wondering about Warren's stat line. First, let me say that I would really like a cheddar burger with those good Brewery fries. Tomorrow's blog will not take place at dinner, which might cut down on the food references. Or it might not. Bonomi reaches on an infield single between third and short. Warren's line: 5.1 IP, 6 hits, 1 run, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K. Very solid. Fedroff makes a beautiful running one-handed catch of a tailing liner off the bat of Nolan for the first out. Remember, Fedroff was a guy who struggled defensively in his first Carolina fall practice, but he's been solid in right. Moran has thrown 36 pitches, so in comes Leach. Nice work by Moran. He's making a strong case for one of those up-for-grabs bullpen spots. Leach against Froehlich, runner on first with one out. Leach's first two pitches come in at 93, which prompts a, "Daaaannngggg," from the middle schoolers. Unfortunately, they are also balls, and Froehlich walks on four pitches. The next batter is Eddie Rohan. Nope, wait. That's "Eddie RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRooooooooooo..." and for just a second I could've sworn he was going to say, "Rodriguez," a la Eddy Rodriguez at Miami (if you've been to Coral Gables you get this, otherwise you are staring blankly at the screen), but no such luck. Despite the buildup, Rohan pops to short for the second out. One of the middle schoolers has the loudest case of hiccups I've ever heard. What do you think--get him a drink of water or just try to scare him? I vote for the latter. Tisdale strikes out swinging on a 3-2 curveball to end the inning. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 2 left on base. Carolina 6, Winthrop 1.
Top of the 9th: Either the middle schooler just swallowed the scoreboard controls or his hiccups are getting worse. Seth Williams leads off against D'Angelo, who is throwing almost exclusively breaking stuff. Although I am a long way from home plate umpire Randy Hoback, I can tell he's cold. Because he just called Williams out on a third strike that almost hit big Seth in the shin. One out, and here's pinch-hitter Greg Holt making his first Tar Heel appearance. Holt just turned on an inside pitch and hit it way down the left-field line, but it was foul. They're continuing to pound him inside and he's continuing to turn on them. Finally, at 2-2, they go away and he pops foul to first base for the second out. Fedroff pops foul to third to end the inning. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 left on base.
Bottom of the 9th: All kinds of changes. Mark Fleury is catching (should've told you that last inning). Flack moves to first and Seager to third. Ryan Graepel is in at shortstop. Garrett Davis is on the mound making his first Carolina appearance. It begins well, as he strikes out Murrian looking. The Tar Heels play Brunetti the other way and he pulls a double to right-center. Davis will face a pinch-hitter, Sean Sullivan. There's strikeout number two, as Sullivan goes down looking. Everyone on your feet for the last out. Very quickly, Jordan goes down swinging on three pitches as Davis strikes out the side.
Thanks for all the emails. I'll be back with you on the blog tomorrow around noon for the Kent State game. In a couple of hours, we'll have postgame coverage on the site with quotes, etc. from Rock Hill.
Final score: Carolina 6, Winthrop 1. Warren gets the win, Yoder gets the loss.
