University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Tar Heel Baseball Notebook
June 4, 2008 | Baseball
June 4, 2008
By Adam Lucas
The stellar pitching of Alex White prevented any Tar Heel relievers from making an appearance in Saturday's win over UNC-Wilmington. But it didn't prevent one key reliever from working out a few kinks in the bullpen.
After two disappointing outings during the ACC Tournament and then giving up a run and two walks in a 1.1-inning appearance in the victory over Mount St. Mary's, senior Rob Wooten was able to use his bullpen session on Saturday as a mechanical tuneup.
"I was trying to guide my slider instead of throwing it hard like I usually do," the right-hander said. "I needed to be more aggressive with it. I was trying to do too much with it rather than just throwing it and trusting it."
The adjustments worked. Wooten entered Sunday's game against the Seahawks in the ninth inning with the tying run on deck. After issuing a walk to the first man he faced, Wooten needed just eight pitches to strike out the next two hitters.
Now the quest is to keep that type of efficiency for this weekend's super-regionals against Coastal Carolina.
"At times this year I've tried to do too much," Wooten said. "Last year my slider was good and you always want to make it a little better. But if I just stick to what I did last year, I should be fine."
By appearing in two of Carolina's regional games, Wooten has now seen action in 13 of UNC's 15 postseason games over the last two years...
The Tar Heels practiced at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday to prepare players for this weekend's early start times. They'll repeat the early routine on Wednesday and Thursday...Seth Williams has been a stalwart in center field and has been a key part of enabling the Tar Heels to solidify their defense up the middle. The senior has always gotten plenty of attention for his strong arm, but this year he's shown an even better grasp of reading balls off the bat. "I try to see where the catcher is setting up so I have an idea about pitch location," Williams said. "Being in center field I can see the pitch. I try to think of what I'd do in that situation as a hitter, so if I know Alex White is on the mound throwing in the 90s then I'm going to shade backside a little."...
Chanticleers head coach Gary Gilmore had this take on this weekend's matchup: "If you believe the old adage about good pitching stopping good hitting, that probably isn't the greatest thing for us. I'm more concerned about us being able to get them out and stay in the ballgame than about us being able to score a lot of runs. We have enough athleticism and footspeed that if we need to play small ball, we can."...Gilmore has not determined Coastal's pitching rotation, but the Tar Heels will go with their usual weekend rotation of Alex White, Adam Warren, and Matt Harvey...
Harvey started against Coastal on March 11 and did not make it out of the first inning, throwing just 17 of 39 pitches for strikes, but he has been a very different pitcher over the last two weeks. The freshman has given up just three hits, one run, and three walks over his last 11 innings...The Chanticleers started David Anderson on the mound in that early-season game, and the junior righty gave up just three earned runs in 6.1 innings. But that doesn't necessarily mean Anderson--who also leads the team in home runs with 20--will be back on the mound this weekend. "He pitched in that game because he was the most experienced guy," Gilmore said. "He was the only guy we had available who had starting experience. He had pitched at Clemson and Virginia, so he had big-game experience. I knew the atmosphere wouldn't bother him and the names on the jersey wouldn't intimidate him."...
Coastal bashed 95 home runs as a team this year but had the benefit of playing 34 games at comfy Vrooman Field, where center is 390 feet, the lines are 320 feet, and the power alleys are 360 feet. All of those dimensions are smaller than those of the USA Baseball facility, but Gilmore's hard-hitting team--which averaged nearly eight runs per game this season--can score runs anywhere. "We know (Cary) is more of a pitcher's park than our park," he said. "We have to hit it, and if it doesn't go over the fence, hopefully we can get some doubles."
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly. He is also the author or co-author of four books on Carolina basketball.
