University of North Carolina Athletics
First Pitch Dinner Brings In Best Crowd Ever
January 31, 2012 | Baseball
Jan. 31, 2012
First Pitch Dinner Photo Gallery
The North Carolina baseball team kicked off the 2012 season in style this past Saturday night with the fourth annual First Pitch Dinner. More than 450 people were in attendance at the Loudermilk Center for Excellence to hear from seven of Carolina's MLB players.
The evening started with an MVP reception on the fifth floor of the Loudermilk Center where fans had a chance to meet with the seven Major League players in attendance as well as get autographs.
The action moved down to the third floor later in the night as fans had a chance to meet the 2012 Diamond Heels and get autographs from the next batch of Tar Heels. Following a dinner the Tar Heel radio team of Jones Angell and Adam Lucas began the program with Jimmy Messer introducing the team before Jacob Stallings made his senior remarks.
Four of the five Tar Heels (Dustin Ackley, Andrew Carignan, Tim Federowicz and Alex White) that made their MLB debut in 2011 were brought on stage for a Q&A session in which they recapped their time in the Major Leagues and where they were when they got the "call". Major League veterans Chris Iannetta, Daniel Bard and Andrew Miller joined the quartet on the stage to tell abou their experiences as well.
The night finished with a live auction which saw several rare Tar Heel memorabilia draw plenty of interest from those in attendance.
The 2012 season on the diamond gets underway Feb. 17 when the Tar Heels welcome in Xavier for a three-game series that begins at 3 p.m.
