University of North Carolina Athletics
Colin Moran
Photo by: Joe Bray
This Day In Tar Heel Baseball History: April 17
April 17, 2020 | Baseball
CHAPEL HILL - North Carolina will begin to look at "On This Day in Tar Heel History", as Tom Jensen will share his memories as an avid Tar Heel fan and regular at Boshamer Stadium.
April 16
For today's version of 'This Day in Recent Carolina Baseball History' we go back to 2009 for an Alex White masterpiece and to 2012 and 2013 for a couple of emphatic midweek wins starring Chaz Frank.
On April 17, 2009 the Heels kicked off their weekend celebrating the dedication of the new Bosh against Miami. And even after 12 years in the new stadium, there's a pretty decent argument to be made that Alex White's performance on the mound that night was the best it's seen.
In the 1st inning Alex set the Canes down 1-2-3 with a strikeout. In the 2nd Alex set down the Canes 1-2-3 with a couple strikeouts, including one of future big league star Yasmani Grandal. In the 3rd inning Miami did get a hit with one out...and then immediately got him erased on a double play. In the 4th inning Alex set the Canes down 1-2-3 with a strikeout.
In the bottom of the 4th Kyle Seager hit a one out single, and moved over to 2nd when Levi Michael got hit by a pitch. Mark Fleury hit a ground ball to first and the Canes tried to turn a 3-6-3 double play but instead they threw the ball away, allowing Kyle to score and give the Heels a 1-0 lead.
In the 5th Alex set the Canes down 1-2-3 with a pair of strike outs, including another of Grandal. In the 6th Alex set the Canes down 1-2-3. In the 7th Alex set the Canes down 1-2-3 with a strikeout.
In the bottom of the 7th with 2 out Garrett Gore worked a full count and then drew a walk to keep the inning alive. Dustin Ackley doubled to center to bring Garrett all the way around from 1st and make it 2-0. And Kyle followed with an RBI single to score Dusty and make it a 3-0 Heels advantage.
Alex allowed a 1 out walk in the 8th before retiring the next 2 hitters. That was the only batter over the minimum he faced on the night.
So he comes back out for the 9th. He's thrown over 100 pitches. Certainly understandable if he shows some signs of being tired in the final inning.
First Miami hitter: strike out. Second Miami hitter: strike out. Third Miami hitter: strike out. Finishes it up with his most dominant inning of the whole night.
9 innings, 10 strike outs, 1 hit, 1 walk. We've had some other great performances at the Bosh but it's hard to top that one.
Reflecting on this night makes me happy but it also makes me sad. Alex White was an incredible pitcher, something we will especially get to appreciate when we get to the 2008 College World Series. He deserved to have a long and dominant career in the big leagues and he made it up barely 2 years after this night at the Bosh, set to do just that. But he was not blessed with health and because of that only got to spend 2 years up there. But we were lucky to to see him in his full greatness for 3 years in Chapel Hill.
Kyle Seager had 3 hits and Dustin Ackley had a pair to lead the Heels offense and the 3-0 win over the Canes made for a good start to the weekend!
On April 17, 2012 the Heels beat High Point 10-5 at the Bosh to keep the momentum going after their big sweep in Charlottesville the weekend before. Chaz Frank was the star on offense with a triple and a double, driving in 3 runs. Brian Holberton (including an RBI and a run), Adam Griffin (including a pair of RBI's), and Cody Stubbs (including a pair of runs) each had multi hit games as well.
Shane Taylor started and it was a good one- 5 innings, only 1 run allowed, getting him the win. A couple of relievers loaded the bases in the 6th with 1 out as soon as Shane left but Chris McCue came in and got the last 2 outs of the inning to strand them and then threw a scoreless 7th.
The bullpen struggled a little in the 9th and High Point scored 3 runs and still had a couple on base with 1 out when RC Orlan came in and retired the last 2 hitters to strand them and finish off the victory.
On April 17, 2013 the Heels beat Elon 14-5 at the Bosh and Chaz Frank was once again the star on offense. He had 4 hits, including a triple, and drove in 3 runs and scored 2.
Colin Moran- who had a bases loaded triple and drove in 4 runs on the day- and Parks Jordan, who reached base 5 times thanks to a trio of walks- also had multi hit games. Mike Zolk got all the scoring started in the 2nd with an RBI double, and Michael Russell hit a solo shot for his first home run of the season. A Brian Holberton double rounded out the extra base hits for the Heels.
Trevor Kelley threw 3 scoreless innings of relief and only gave up a pair of hits to get the win. Tate Parrish came in in the 6th when the Phoenix had already scored 3 runs and still had a couple runners on base and got the last out of the inning to leave them there and threw a scoreless 7th on top of that.
Mason McCullough threw a scoreless 8th and got the first out of the 9th. Taylore Cherry made a rare appearance to get the last couple outs and close out the win- we would see him in a slightly higher stakes situation the following month.
The win was the 11th in a row for the Heels and pushed their record to an absurd 36-2.
April 16
For today's version of 'This Day in Recent Carolina Baseball History' we go back to 2009 for an Alex White masterpiece and to 2012 and 2013 for a couple of emphatic midweek wins starring Chaz Frank.
On April 17, 2009 the Heels kicked off their weekend celebrating the dedication of the new Bosh against Miami. And even after 12 years in the new stadium, there's a pretty decent argument to be made that Alex White's performance on the mound that night was the best it's seen.
In the 1st inning Alex set the Canes down 1-2-3 with a strikeout. In the 2nd Alex set down the Canes 1-2-3 with a couple strikeouts, including one of future big league star Yasmani Grandal. In the 3rd inning Miami did get a hit with one out...and then immediately got him erased on a double play. In the 4th inning Alex set the Canes down 1-2-3 with a strikeout.
In the bottom of the 4th Kyle Seager hit a one out single, and moved over to 2nd when Levi Michael got hit by a pitch. Mark Fleury hit a ground ball to first and the Canes tried to turn a 3-6-3 double play but instead they threw the ball away, allowing Kyle to score and give the Heels a 1-0 lead.
In the 5th Alex set the Canes down 1-2-3 with a pair of strike outs, including another of Grandal. In the 6th Alex set the Canes down 1-2-3. In the 7th Alex set the Canes down 1-2-3 with a strikeout.
In the bottom of the 7th with 2 out Garrett Gore worked a full count and then drew a walk to keep the inning alive. Dustin Ackley doubled to center to bring Garrett all the way around from 1st and make it 2-0. And Kyle followed with an RBI single to score Dusty and make it a 3-0 Heels advantage.
Alex allowed a 1 out walk in the 8th before retiring the next 2 hitters. That was the only batter over the minimum he faced on the night.
So he comes back out for the 9th. He's thrown over 100 pitches. Certainly understandable if he shows some signs of being tired in the final inning.
First Miami hitter: strike out. Second Miami hitter: strike out. Third Miami hitter: strike out. Finishes it up with his most dominant inning of the whole night.
9 innings, 10 strike outs, 1 hit, 1 walk. We've had some other great performances at the Bosh but it's hard to top that one.
Reflecting on this night makes me happy but it also makes me sad. Alex White was an incredible pitcher, something we will especially get to appreciate when we get to the 2008 College World Series. He deserved to have a long and dominant career in the big leagues and he made it up barely 2 years after this night at the Bosh, set to do just that. But he was not blessed with health and because of that only got to spend 2 years up there. But we were lucky to to see him in his full greatness for 3 years in Chapel Hill.
Kyle Seager had 3 hits and Dustin Ackley had a pair to lead the Heels offense and the 3-0 win over the Canes made for a good start to the weekend!
On April 17, 2012 the Heels beat High Point 10-5 at the Bosh to keep the momentum going after their big sweep in Charlottesville the weekend before. Chaz Frank was the star on offense with a triple and a double, driving in 3 runs. Brian Holberton (including an RBI and a run), Adam Griffin (including a pair of RBI's), and Cody Stubbs (including a pair of runs) each had multi hit games as well.
Shane Taylor started and it was a good one- 5 innings, only 1 run allowed, getting him the win. A couple of relievers loaded the bases in the 6th with 1 out as soon as Shane left but Chris McCue came in and got the last 2 outs of the inning to strand them and then threw a scoreless 7th.
The bullpen struggled a little in the 9th and High Point scored 3 runs and still had a couple on base with 1 out when RC Orlan came in and retired the last 2 hitters to strand them and finish off the victory.
On April 17, 2013 the Heels beat Elon 14-5 at the Bosh and Chaz Frank was once again the star on offense. He had 4 hits, including a triple, and drove in 3 runs and scored 2.
Colin Moran- who had a bases loaded triple and drove in 4 runs on the day- and Parks Jordan, who reached base 5 times thanks to a trio of walks- also had multi hit games. Mike Zolk got all the scoring started in the 2nd with an RBI double, and Michael Russell hit a solo shot for his first home run of the season. A Brian Holberton double rounded out the extra base hits for the Heels.
Trevor Kelley threw 3 scoreless innings of relief and only gave up a pair of hits to get the win. Tate Parrish came in in the 6th when the Phoenix had already scored 3 runs and still had a couple runners on base and got the last out of the inning to leave them there and threw a scoreless 7th on top of that.
Mason McCullough threw a scoreless 8th and got the first out of the 9th. Taylore Cherry made a rare appearance to get the last couple outs and close out the win- we would see him in a slightly higher stakes situation the following month.
The win was the 11th in a row for the Heels and pushed their record to an absurd 36-2.
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