University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Fully Armed
June 17, 2011 | Baseball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
June 17, 2011
By Adam Lucas
At some point in Saturday's College World Series opener against a Vanderbilt team that regularly starts five left-handed hitters, Carolina head coach Mike Fox will need a lefthander in his bullpen to get a big out. And when he does, he'll turn to a pair of lefties who have each relied on a pitch they couldn't throw at this same time last year.
One of the most unique characteristics of the 2011 Diamond Heels has been the bullpen's ability to mix and match against different types of hitters. Previous trips to Omaha have often been fortified by a relief corps heavily reliant on one closer and one late innings stopper. This year's squad has a closer, Michael Morin, but often can go through a series of three or four relievers to get the game to Morin.
Pitching coach Scott Forbes pairs primary righties Greg Holt, Shane Taylor and Andrew Smith with lefties R.C. Orlan and Tate Parrish. It's unusual to have multiple capable lefthanders in a college bullpen. It's even more atypical to have two lefties with such distinct styles.
"It's given us a lot more flexibility than we've had in other years," Fox says. "It's been very positive. They're very different in almost every way. Their demeanor, delivery, breaking balls...everything is totally different.
"It's made Coach Forbes and I have to think a little harder, but Coach Forbes has done a great job utilizing them and putting them in the right position to be successful."
Orlan is the fireballer, a sophomore who throws only an occasional breaking ball but can locate his fastball above 90 miles per hour. Parrish, meanwhile, will very rarely throw a fastball, instead preferring a Rob Wooten-esque slider delivered from a variety of unique arm angles.
Orlan made just six ACC appearances as a freshman, as he battled back from an ulnar collateral ligament injury. A combination of rehab with Terri Jo Rucinski--an unsung hero of the 2011 season for her work with a variety of key Tar Heels--and Forbes' daily throwing program slowly added velocity, and Orlan saw the results this past fall.
"Coach Forbes told me that if I took care of doing the right things in the weight room and the training room, I could throw as much as I wanted and I would build arm strength," Orlan says. "I kept long tossing, kept throwing bullpens, and kept doing explosive lifts with Coach (Greg) Gatz, and it added up.
"This fall, I was throwing two or three miles an hour harder than I threw as a freshman. I could tell right away by the swings hitters were taking that things were different. Then, when we started to face the better ACC teams and their three or four hitters were fouling fastballs off the other way instead of pulling them, that's when I knew for sure my fastball was different."
A confidence-building testimonial came in Tallahassee in early April. After dropping the opening game of the series, Carolina led the second game 8-5 in the eighth inning. That's when the Tar Heels began their pitching procession, using four different hurlers to get two outs.
The last of those pitchers was Orlan, who was brought in to face FSU's cleanup hitter, James Ramsey, with two men on base. Ramsey struck out on three pitches, all fastballs.
"At that point I was like, `Hey, I can do this,'" Orlan says. "To do it against that kind of team, that kind of hitter and in that kind of atmosphere was a big step."
If Orlan's success is attributable to increased arm strength, the results achieved by freshman Tate Parrish were achieved even more organically--through simple goofing around in the outfield.
Pitchers, who don't play every day, have a lot of free time. So during American Legion ball last summer and during this fall's Carolina practice sessions, Parrish experimented with different grips. Basically, he just wanted to see how he could make a baseball move. He'd always thrown a curveball in high school, but suddenly he realized that by "spiking" his grip on a slider--tucking his index finger into the ball rather than wrapping that finger around the sphere--he was getting tremendous movement.
"I saw it had a really sharp break on it, and when I dropped my arm angle a little lower, the break was even sharper," Parrish says. "I showed it to Coach Forbes, and he said we would throw it in the bullpen so I could trust it before I threw it in games. It looked good in the bullpen, and we've gone from there."
Parrish has honed that pitch through 30 appearances, beginning with the opening weekend of the season when he struck out Southern Cal slugger Ricky Oropesa and continuing through NCAA Tournament play, when he retired fourth-round draft pick Jake Lowery of James Madison on a pop fly. So frequently has the freshman dug into the baseball with that spike grip that a spot of dried blood has become permanent beneath the nail on his left index finger.
Orlan and Parrish both have to deal with a very small margin of error, because they're often brought in to face just one or two left-handed hitters before giving way to a righty. That means they have to watch the first few innings of the game with an eye towards their plan of attack for the late innings.
"When I'm in the dugout, I'm looking at every one of their lefties," Parrish says. "I want to see what their approach might be, because that could be the same guy I have to come in and face later in the game."
Despite the bevy of difficult situations they've been in this year, neither lefty has ever pitched in a College World Series game, or stepped on the mound in front of more than 20,000 fans. To prepare for that moment, they've leaned on the pitching staff's own Oracle of Omaha, senior Greg Holt.
"He gave me some good advice," Orlan says. "He said I should drink it all in at the opening ceremonies and realize what a great experience this is. And as soon as I finish that, I should be ready to play ball, because we're trying to win the whole thing."
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.
