University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Set For Home Opener
February 24, 2011 | Baseball
Feb. 24, 2011
Friday, Carolina baseball returns to Boshamer Stadium after opening the season on the road for just the second time in Coach Mike Fox's tenure. Last weekend, the Tar Heels took four games in three days from Cal Poly, Cal State Fullerton, Missouri and USC.
It was June 6, 2010 when Carolina fell in the Norman Regional against the Oklahoma Sooners. When the Tar Heels took the field against the Cal Poly Mustangs, just two players, Jacob Stallings at catcher and Jesse Wierzbicki at first base, started at the same position as they had eight months ago. To start the new season, there were position changes (Levi Michael moved from third base to shortstop, Ben Bunting moved from left field to center, Seth Baldwin moved to right field from designated hitter, and Tommy Coyle, who started 52 games last season, reclaimed second base from the departed Dillon Hazlett) and there were newcomers (Colin Moran at third base, Parks Jordan in left field and Tom Zengel at designated hitter).
The shifting of established players and the injection of new talent meant that the product on the field would be a work in progress. But after four games, so far, so good. Twelve position players and 14 pitchers saw the field over the weekend, and all made solid contributions. The Tar Heels doubled up the competition, scoring 28 runs to their opponents' 14.
Carolina got off to a sleepy start, scoring a run each in the first and ninth innings in a 2-1 win over Cal Poly. Chris Munnelly pitched 6 1/3 innings, giving up just four hits and the one earned run. Senior reliever Greg Holt earned the win, closing the game by dismissing the eight Mustangs he faced in order, including five strikeouts.
Rainy weather scuttled the schedule; a noon tilt with No. 8 Cal State Fullerton would be Saturday's only game, and the Heels would follow that with a doubleheader Sunday against Missouri and USC. Carolina got a quality start from Patrick Johnson against the Titans; he pitched 5 2/3 innings and allowed seven hits and two runs. The Tar Heels took a 3-2 lead into a half-hour rain delay before a Carlos Lopez double knotted the score. Some savvy base running by Seth Baldwin in the 11th (and some timely hitting from Bunting) allowed the Heels to jump in front before sophomore Cody Penny came on to close out the Titans with two strikeouts looking followed by a flyout from preseason All-America Nick Ramirez.
Sunday morning, Carolina faced its first deficit of the young season when Missouri led 2-0 in the sixth. A Stallings double cleared the bases in the bottom of that inning, and the Tar Heels got two RBI each from Michael, Zengel and Wierzbicki in the next frame. In the eighth, a Baldwin home run scored he and Chaz Frank to tack on two more. The Tigers added a late run, but Carolina took the game 11-3 when Bryant Gaines struck out Eric Anderson looking.
After sandwiches from local establishment Togo's, Carolina took on the homestanding USC Trojans in a back-and-forth affair. USC took a 3-2 lead in the fourth, but Carolina struck back with four runs in the fifth and one in the sixth. The Trojans tied the score in the bottom half before Shane Taylor came on to shut things down. Chaz Frank drove in Seth Baldwin for the go-ahead run in the seventh, and the Tar Heels added another three in the ninth for the 11-7 win.
"That was a special three days for us, starting out season not having any idea what we were going to get, and just watching some of our young guys, how they were performing for the first time," Coach Mike Fox said immediately following his team's fourth victory. "To me that's fun, just watching them kind of grow up, and I think it's pretty cool. Today was a good day for us."
"What a weekend for us," Stallings said. "I couldn't be more proud of our young guys coming up big, especially our bullpen. They just did a great job all weekend. The backstop said a tone was established early in the trip. "[Coach Fox] said we were going to have to come out here, play two games in one day one time; (we) might as well win `em while we're out here."
The long-anticipated trip is in the rear view mirror now, so what's left is to learn from it and move forward. The weekend presented several different scenarios, and the team found ways to score runs, play defense and pitch well to win. "Last year, we got a little snake bit because we lost so many close games and blew so many late leads," Stallings said. "Out here, we held late leads and won the close games late, and I think that'll give us a huge amount of confidence going forward."
The performances weren't perfect; Carolina committed five errors in the field and had some miscues on the basepaths. "Some of it's subtle, some of it's pretty blatant," Fox said. "[There are] some things that we'll need to correct. But while you're making those mistakes, if you're winning, I'll take that combination."
