University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Tar Heels Get Defensive
April 19, 2009 | Baseball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
April 19, 2009
By Adam Lucas
In the last three blissfully Omaha-filled Carolina baseball seasons, the Diamond Heels have been known for their pitching. They have been known for clutch home runs. They have not--even when it's been justified--been known for defense.
That might be changing.
The Tar Heels swept Miami this weekend, winning the series against the powerful Hurricanes for the fourth straight season; Carolina has beaten Miami nine times out of the last ten meetings.
But the Tar Heels achieved this weekend's sweep differently than past meetings. This time, after a brilliant performance by Alex White on Friday night that immediately goes next to Robert Woodard's 3-hitter against Clemson in 2006 on the shelf of all-time UNC pitching performances, Carolina shut down the Hurricanes with defense.
"When we play good defense, we're in every game," head coach Mike Fox said Sunday afternoon.
His Tar Heels didn't just play good defense this weekend. They played great defense, committing just one error in three games. They made just five errors during the just-concluded crucial 12-game stretch against Virginia, Georgia Tech, Florida State and Miami. That stretch encompasses the four best teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference, and not coincidentally, the Tar Heels finished that stretch 7-5 and firmly in contention for the Coastal Division title. In the three-game sweep, Carolina looked suspiciously like one of those west coast teams that have been such pests in Omaha the last three years--solid pitching, timely hitting, and a defense that makes all the routine plays and even many of the spectacular ones.
The defensive emergence has been all the more surprising because of the sources of many of the gems. Replacing Chad Flack, Seth Williams and Tim Federowicz meant the 2009 Tar Heels were trying to replace three of last season's best defensive players. But Fox's willingness to shuffle players to potentially unfamiliar spots has created a flexible, talented defense.
Garrett Gore's powerful throwing ability sometimes got him in trouble at shortstop. But a move to right field has perfectly utilized his cannon arm, and his ability to adapt to the outfield has been highlighted on several highlight-reel plays. On Sunday, he gunned down Miami leadoff man Scott Lawson making an overly aggressive turn around first base; he nearly doubled Hurricane catcher Yasmani Grandal off first base Saturday on what should have been a completely routine fly out and nearly did the same to Grandal again Sunday.
The kicker? Despite the fact that his weekend almost certainly guaranteed that Gore's right arm will be highlighted on every future opposing scouting report, he said Sunday evening that it wasn't even at full strength after a collision with the wall on a spectacular Saturday catch.
Gore's move to the outfield is part of a Tar Heel infield that has been almost completely remade from 12 months ago. Ryan Graepel and Levi Michael are the new double-play combination and Kyle Seager is filling Flack's role at third. The only constant is Dustin Ackley, who continues to scoop everything in sight at first base.
The new combination didn't thrive immediately, as the Tar Heels entered the weekend ranked last in the league in double plays turned (having a pitching staff that leads the nation in strikeouts also helps contribute to the low figure). But Graepel and Michael combined on a pair of slick twin killings on Sunday, ending a pair of Miami threats against stellar Matt Harvey.
"We've been saving up those double plays," Fox said with a grin. "Graepel was terrific at short, and Levi has been working with Coach (Scott) Jackson on turning double plays. He came across the bag the way we want him to today. Defense is still the staple of our team."
Of course, a team can't have a credible defense without a reliable backstop. That's what the largely unheralded Mark Fleury has become, and he's also transforming into the emotional heartbeat of the 2009 Tar Heels.
When Fleury wasn't in the lineup regularly, sometimes it was difficult for him to figure out how to channel that emotion. Now that he's a fixture at catcher--and figures to be there almost every day for the next month while Jacob Stallings recovers--he's become one of Fox's favorites.
"If you can't watch Mark Fleury play and feed off his energy, you're not paying attention," Fox said. "He's infectious...I just love kids that have that passion for winning."
Fleury has even become the veteran who keeps the youthfully ignorant newcomers in check--he recently admonished Michael for not taking a defensive misplay seriously. That's the kind of unanticipated progress that's necessary to consistently replenish the talent and leadership cupboards for a program determined to establish a regular place among college baseball's elite.
Of course, Fleury's teammates have to listen when he's playing like he did this weekend. His Saturday performance included a walk-off single and a triple that was capped with a headfirst slide only slightly more graceful than Tyler Hansbrough's arms-flailing celebration against Virginia Tech in 2008. But his biggest play of the game might have been leaping from behind the plate on a bunt by Grandal, flipping his mask away, and starting a 2-6-3 double play in the eighth inning.
"I was on my toes ready for it," Fleury said. "I saw it in the air, and I knew I had to get it and throw it to Ryan. We practice that every day."
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly. He is also the author or co-author of four books on Carolina basketball.
