University of North Carolina Athletics
Chapel Hill Regional Capsule Previews
May 30, 2011 | Baseball
May 30, 2011
By Adam Lucas
Thwarting many of the pre-Memorial Day prognostications that featured a host of local teams, Carolina will welcome three relatively unfamiliar squads to Boshamer Stadium this weekend for the Chapel Hill regional.
To get you ready for the weekend--and remember, tickets are available and a boisterous home crowd is essential--here's a quick look at the three teams that will visit Chapel Hill. The following capsules include quotes from Monday night's Mike Fox radio show, after he'd had a chance to do some research on the opposition.
#2 seed: Florida International
Conference: Sun Belt
2011 record: 40-18-1 overall, 20-9-1 in the conference
RPI: 24
Common opponents: The Golden Panthers swept a three-game series from Seton Hall in early March.
History: FIU and Carolina have not met on the diamond in the Mike Fox era. They have met twice in NCAA Tournament play--1998 (an 8-2 Tar Heel win) and 1995 (a 6-5 Carolina win). The Tar Heels have won all of the previous five meetings overall.
How they got here: In the most recent NCAA statistics, Florida International ranks in the top 15 in America in batting average (.315) and home runs (52). Their team ERA ranks 48th in the country.
Name to know: The most familiar name nationally will be Garrett Wittels, who had a 56-game hitting streak (the NCAA record is 58 games) snapped earlier this season against Southeastern Louisiana in the season opener. Wittels has had another season--a .348 batting average and a team-high 86 hits--but the Golden Panthers offense also features Jeremy Patton, who hit .371 with 53 RBI, and Mike Martinez, who had team highs in home runs (14), RBI (59) and slugging percentage (.531). All three players are juniors.
The Golden Panthers are guided by a head coach with plenty of postseason experience. Turtle Thomas, who was hired in the summer of 2007, made 14 trips to the College World Series as an assistant coach at four different schools and was considered one of the top assistants in the country when he joined FIU. Thomas has area ties, as he is a 1975 graduate of High Point University and has a master's degree from UNC-Greensboro.
Coach Fox says: "They look like they're very offensive minded. They have three guys with over 80 hits. It doesn't look like they like to walk very much. Turtle Thomas used to be in the SEC and that's the old SEC mindset--go up there and swing, and sometimes you're going to swing and miss but don't worry about it.
#3 seed: James Madison Dukes
Conference: CAA
2011 record: 40-17, 21-9 in the conference
RPI: 60
Common opponents: JMU lost a 7-3 midweek decision to Virginia in March, but went 2-0 against Maryland and 1-1 against Virginia Tech. James Madison swept a three-game series from UNC-Wilmington.
History: Carolina and James Madison have met in NCAA Tournament play during the Mike Fox era, with the Tar Heels winning 5-0 and 9-7 decisions in the 2002 Columbia regional. The only other meetings during the Fox era were the first two games of the 2001 season, when the Tar Heels won a pair of games, 23-9 and 7-6, at Boshamer Stadium.
How they got here: James Madison was a powerful offensive team throughout the 2011 season, and led the nation in five different offensive categories, including scoring (9.2 runs/game), in the latest NCAA figures. The Dukes got much improved pitching during the final weeks of the regular season and conference tournament. The squad's team ERA went down by over half a run over the final two weeks of the season.
Names to know: Jake Lowery was a member of the 60-player midseason watch list for the Golden Spikes Award, which is given to the best college player in the country. Lowery, who ranks in the top five in the nation in seven different offensive categories, is also on the 13-member Johnny Bench Award semifinalists list, an honor given to the nation's best catcher.
Lowery is joined among the nation's best offensive players by shortstop David Herbek. The duo has combined for 37 home runs, a figure higher than all but 43 other Division I teams. As a team, Carolina has hit 36 home runs.
Coach Fox says: "They have hit a lot of home runs. They've got Lowery with 22 of them. We'll get a lot of video on him. It's going to be interesting to see them. We know the league they're in and they've played UNC-Wilmington a few times. (Head coach) Spanky McFarland is a character. They have a good team and they swing it well."
#4 seed: Maine Black Bears
Conference: America East
2011 record: 32-22, 18-6 in the conference
RPI: 161
Common opponents: Maine lost a two-game set at Florida State in March, falling 10-2 and 9-3. They lost two out of three to Stony Brook, a conference opponent and a Tar Heel weekend foe early this season.
History: Carolina is 5-2 all-time against Maine, including taking two out of three last year in a weekend series at Boshamer Stadium. The Black Bears are in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 2006, when they were also assigned to the Chapel Hill Regional. Prior to 2006--when the Tar Heels claimed 15-7 and 14-4 wins in the Chapel Hill Regional--the two squads hadn't met since 1987.
That 15-7 win was closer than the score indicated. In what was the first regional play in Chapel Hill since 1983, the Tar Heels trailed 6-4 in the sixth inning before scoring 10 runs over the next two innings to earn the victory.
The starting pitcher in that game against Maine was Robert Woodard, a current Tar Heel assistant coach.
How they got here: Maine won three straight games in the America East Tournament, besting Binghamton, Stony Brook and Albany. The Black Bears have won 17 of their past 18 games.
Name to know: The Black Bears are built on pitching and are likely to start ace Keith Bilodeau, who has a 10-2 record and 2.87 ERA, on the mound. A junior righty who was a first team all-conference pick, Bilodeau was a pitcher the Tar Heel coaches were well aware of even before the brackets were announced, as they had identified him as one of the aces nationwide who could make a potential fourth seed a dangerous opponent. Bilodeau has made marked improvement since he threw in relief in Chapel Hill last season, giving up six runs in two innings.
Coach Fox says: "Their league was good this year. We're getting video on Bilodeau, and we know a little bit about him. It seems like every team has one of those guys who can beat you on the mound, and he is one of those guys. That will determine a little bit about what we do with our pitching."
