University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Aced
May 19, 2011 | Baseball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
May 19, 2011
By Adam Lucas
Less than 10 months ago, Patrick Johnson stood on the Boshamer Stadium mound and had trouble getting outs against a team of first-graders. While his peers were playing in the Cape Cod League or other summer showcases building a reputation, he was coming off surgery and flipping the ball left-handed to a group of Carolina baseball campers because he was unable to throw with his right arm.
Camp director Robert Woodard had assigned Johnson the youngest group of campers, a formidable challenge even under the best of conditions. For one week, Johnson stood and flipped, with sporadic--at best--control.
It was about as far as a college pitcher could be from the place Johnson stood on Thursday night, when he commanded that same Boshamer mound and threw a complete game shutout against the consensus top team in America, twirling the Tar Heels to a 6-0 must-win victory over Virginia. His night ended with a bear hug from Mike Fox, who wrapped him in an embrace before Johnson reached the dugout after polishing off the Cavaliers, a team that had not been shut out this season.
"It's pretty amazing any time you can share something like that with your coach," Johnson said. "It's unreal."
The Tar Heel coaching staff had an inkling even before Johnson's first pitch that it could be a special night. Assistant coach Woodard watched the senior's bullpen session and reported he had sharp stuff, but bullpen sessions are notorious for not carrying over to the game.
This time, it did. Johnson was helped by his defense turning an early double play and by his own quick feet on a fourth-inning pickoff at first base, and once he struck out Jared King with a 2-2 fastball and a man on third base to end the fifth, he was officially in a groove. The Conover native went on to retire the last 15 men he faced in a row.
Given the opposition, it was one of the most impressive pitching performances in a recent Carolina history replete with outstanding pitchers. Virginia's offensive strategy is to put the ball in play, to spoil quality two-strike pitches by fouling them off and waiting for a pitcher to make a mistake. Twelve times the Wahoos extended Johnson to at-bats of at least six pitches--but 10 times he eventually recorded the out.
"You have to keep telling yourself in your head to make your pitch and win the battle," Johnson said. "I kept telling myself to not lose the battle, to not give in to them. I didn't want to walk them."
He didn't walk anyone and gave up just four hits. Carolina baseball fans have been spoiled by seeing some similar outings by many of the outstanding arms who have come through the program in recent years.
But Johnson is different. Many of those hurlers arrived as highly touted stars and immediately took up residence in the weekend rotation. Johnson started his career as a midweek starter, then worked his way into a key bullpen role as a sophomore. Finally, as a junior, he moved into the weekend rotation. Now, as a senior, he's an ace, the Friday-night horse the Tar Heels needed to create the foundation for a young staff.
"In the eyes of a coach who has watched his progression for four years, nobody deserves this success more than Patrick," Fox said. "Nobody knows how much time and effort that kid has put in. He never missed a day of rehab and trying to get back to where he was."
As Johnson left Boshamer Stadium on Wednesday after practice, Fox reminded him of the progress he'd made during his four years in Chapel Hill. "Would you have it any other way?" the head coach asked.
"No, sir," his senior replied.
The toughest part of that career, the seemingly endless rehab work, was conducted under the watchful eye of trainer Terri Jo Rucinski, who struck just the right balance of cajoling and encouraging during a long and sometimes frustrating road back to the mound. Perhaps, since Johnson was out of the spotlight while he regained arm strength, that's why he's been slow to receive any league or national recognition this year. Even now, at 10-1 (the 18th pitcher in school history to reach 10 wins), he doesn't have the name recognition of Florida State's Sean Gilmartin or Virginia's Danny Hultzen, who will pitch against the Tar Heels Friday night.
He doesn't seem particularly eager to see his name in lights. He's 5-foot-11, 170 pounds. He doesn't have a dominating out pitch like an Alex White slider or a Matt Harvey fastball.
But maybe there's been a little too much talk about what he doesn't have and not enough talk about what he does have: toughness and a knack for getting the big outs. In the last two weekends, he's outdueled Georgia Tech's Mark Pope (a certain first-round pick in June) and shut out the nation's best team.
"Everybody talks about high draft picks and signees and rankings," Fox said. "What gets lost is the development of players in your program, which is something you have to have."
"I'm not a big-name guy," Johnson said. "I'm under the radar."
Not anymore.
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly. He is also the author or co-author of six books on Carolina basketball, including the official chronicle of the first 100 years of Tar Heel hoops, A Century of Excellence, which is available now. Get real-time UNC sports updates from the THM staff on Twitter.
