University of North Carolina Athletics
Monday Baseball Notebook
May 12, 2008 | Baseball
May 12, 2008
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - No. 2 North Carolina will play its final regular season game at Cary's USA Baseball National Training Complex Tuesday when Winthrop comes to town. First pitch between the Tar Heels (42-9) and Eagles (22-30) is slated for 6 p.m. on both the Tar Heel Sports Network and ACC Select.
Carolina scored a 6-1 win over Winthrop back on Feb. 28 at the Eagles' Coca-Cola Classic. The Tar Heels hold a 10-3 lead in 13 all-time meetings.
Sophomore left-hander Rob Catapano, who is 4-0 with a 3.15 ERA in 34 1/3 innings, will take the mound for the Tar Heels opposite Winthrop lefty Billy Tinsley, who is 3-2 with a 5.67 ERA.
Each Monday, TarHeelBlue.com will take a look back at the previous week on the diamond before moving on to another week of baseball action.
NORTH CAROLINA WEEKLY RESULTS:
Record: 42-9, 20-6 ACC
May 6: #2 North Carolina 9, North Florida 2
May 7: #2 North Carolina 11, North Florida 5
May 9: #2 North Carolina 9, #24 Virginia 3
May 10: #2 North Carolina 5, Virginia 2
May 11: Virginia 5, #2 North Carolina 4 (6 innings)
NOTING THE WEEK OF MAY 5-11:
• With a 4-1 week and two wins at No. 24 Virginia, Carolina now has won 17 of its last 19 games and 10 of its last 12 in ACC play. The Tar Heels are 20-6 in the league and are second behind top-ranked Miami (22-3) in the Coastal Division. Carolina still has a chance to win its third straight Coastal title with a sweep next weekend in Coral Gables but will have no worse that No. 3 seed in the 2008 ACC Tournament. Florida State has clinched the Atlantic Division with a 22-5 record entering its final weekend series against NC State.
• With the series win at Virginia, Carolina has not dropped lost a series in its last 12 Atlantic Coast Conference weekends. The Tar Heels are 8-0-1 in league series this season and won their last three weekends a year ago.
• With two wins at Virginia over the weekend, Carolina improved to 15-3 on the road this season to rank among the nation's top road squads.
• By winning the first two games of the Virginia series, the Tar Heels matched their 1983 squad for the best record through 50 games in school history at 42-8.
• Saturday's 5-2 win gave the Tar Heels at least 20 wins in ACC action for the third straight year. UNC won a school-record 22 league games in 2006.
• First baseman Dustin Ackley hit .526 (10-19) with six runs scored, six RBI, two stolen bases and four doubles to jump-start the offense for No. 2 North Carolina in a 4-1 week. In the series win at Virginia, he hit a team-high .556 (5-9) with four runs, three RBI and three doubles. Ackley posted back-to-back three RBI games in wins over UNF Wednesday and UVa Friday and logged multi-hit games in four of the five outings last week. With his stellar week, Ackley raised his season average to a team-best .400 (82-205) with 26 extra-base hits with 40 RBI and 17 stolen bases.
• Senior right-hander Rob Wooten made four appearances and combined for seven shutout innings in a 4-1 week for No. 2 North Carolina but was at his best in a shut-down performance against No. 24 Virginia Saturday. In the 5-2 series-clinching win, Wooten tossed career-long 4 2/3 innings to pick up his fourth win of the season. He struck out a career-best seven batters, allowed just two base runners and held the Cavaliers to just one hit, a ninth-inning single. Wooten entered in a tight spot in the fifth inning, struck out two batters on seven pitches and cruised from there. For the week, Wooten struck out 11, while walking only one over four appearances against North Florida and Virginia. Over 29 appearances, Wooten is 4-1 on the year with a 0.64 ERA over 42 innings. He has struck out 50 and walked only 15.
• Sophomore right-hander Alex White ran his record to 8-2 with six strong innings in Friday's win at Virginia. The preseason All-America struck out eight and limited the Wahoos to just three runs on six hits. He owns an ACC-best 2.36 ERA on the season and has tallied 69 strikeouts in just 61 innings. White is now 2-0 in three career starts versus UVa.
• In the weekend at Virginia, Carolina struck out 32 batters and allowed only 22 hits in 24 innings. The Tar Heels fanned 12 batters Friday and bettered that mark with 13 strikeouts Saturday. Carolina leads the nation with 515 strikeouts and a 2.30 ERA.
• Paced by Wooten's seven shutout innings, Carolina's bullpen continued its strong work with a 0.78 ERA in 23 innings last week. The relievers struck out 24 and allowed only two runs to lower their season ERA to 1.44 over 224 2/3 innings.
• Kyle Seager doubled both Saturday and Sunday against Virginia to tie the Tar Heels' single-season school record with 25 doubles. Jarrett Shearin established the mark in 1998. Seager, who is batting .382 with an ACC-best 65 RBI, is also tied for eighth in school history with 38 extra-base hits on eight home runs and five triples to go along with the 25 doubles.
• With triples in Saturday's win at Virginia, both Seager and Kyle Shelton moved a tie for seventh on the Tar Heels' single-season list with five three-baggers apiece on the year. Shelton also hit his fourth career home run and third this season in Saturday's win.
• Garrett Gore led Carolina with a .563 average (9-16) last week to raise his season average to .279. He drove in five runs over the five games to give him a career-best 34 RBI. Against the Cavaliers, Gore hit .400 (4-10) with four RBI.
• Ackley, Gore, Tim Federowicz (.471) and Kyle Shelton (.450) gave the Tar Heels four hitters with averages of .450 or better for the week. Federowicz was 8-for-17 with four RBI, while Shelton was 9-for-20 with four doubles, a triple and the lone home run of the week. As a team, Carolina hit .374 for the week.
• Ryan Graepel went 4-for-8 last week, including a 3-for-4 mark as a pinch hitter. He drove in two runs, scored three runs and hit safely in all three games at Virginia.
