University of North Carolina Athletics
Kyle Seager and Chad Flack
Photo by: Joe Bray
This Day In Tar Heel Baseball History: April 18
April 18, 2020 | Baseball
CHAPEL HILLÂ - 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.Â
April 18
For today's version of 'This Day in Recent Carolina Baseball History' we go back to 2009 and 2015 for a walkoff in the Bosh's official dedication game and a wild one in Blacksburg. Plus a quick hit from 2008.
On April 18, 2009 we officially dedicated the new Bosh. It was a great day for our program and a testament to the contributions of many people who worked and donated to make the project happen. Special thanks especially to Coach Fox and Vaughn Bryson for giving our players and fans such a beautiful facility.Â
Everyone was feeling great...and then we immediately fell down 3-0 to Miami in the 1st inning. But Adam Warren settled in after that and threw a scoreless 2nd, 3rd, and 4th inning.
In the bottom of the 4th Mark Fleury drew a 1 out walk to get things started. Garrett Gore then hit a triple down the right field line to bring him around. Brett Thomas drew a walk to put runners on the corners and then we attempted to bunt in a run and it did move Brett to 2nd but Garrett couldn't advance so we had runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 down. That brought up Levi Michael and after working  a full count he singled through the right side to bring them both around and tie the game up at 3.
Adam threw a scoreless 5th and 6th before departing. After a tough 1st he had 5 scoreless innings where he only scattered 3 hits.
Miami retook the lead with a run in the 7th but Colin Bates came in with a couple runners on base and 1 out and retired the last 2 hitters of the inning and threw a scoreless 8th and 9th as well, allowing only 1 hit over 2.2 scoreless innings of work.
In the bottom of the 8th Mark Fleury hit a lead off triple. With 1 out Brett Thomas hit a fly ball to deep enough center to bring him home and tie the game back up at 4. The Heels went down in order in the 9th and the game was off to extra innings.
Patrick Johnson came in for the top of the 10th and walked the lead off hitter. The Canes bunted him over to get a runner in scoring position with 1 out. The next batter worked a full count before Patrick got him to pop up to 3rd for the second out of the inning. He intentionally walked the next hitter to set up the force, and Nate Striz came in to pitch to future big league star Yasmani Grandal. It was a long at bat but he eventually got him to ground out to 2nd on a full count to end the inning.
The bottom of the 10th didn't take too long. Kyle Seager led off and on the second pitch of the inning hit a triple down the right field line. That brought up Mark Fleury who'd really been the Heels spark plug that day- getting on base to start the 3 run rally to tie the game in the 4th, tripling and coming around to score to tie the game in the 8th. Now he hit a single right back up the middle to give the Heels a 5-4 victory and make dedication day at the new Bosh a happy success.
Mark was the star of the day but credit also to Brett Thomas for one of the best days of his Tar Heel career. In his 4 times up he hit a double, drew a couple walks with one of them leading to a run, and hit a sac fly. Adam's scoreless stretch from the 2nd to the 6th and Colin's strong relief outing were huge too. Nate got the win for escaping the jam in the 10th.Â
When Miami joined the ACC in 2005 they had been to Omaha 10 times since the Heels last had, and won the CWS twice. And the first time they came to Chapel Hill as a member of the conference they put up 42 runs. It was enough to make you wonder if we were really on their level. But this series clinching win in 2009 capped a 4 year streak that had started in Coral Gables in 2006 of the Heels winning their series with the Canes so the answer was yes, we certainly were on their level.
On April 18, 2015 in Blacksburg the Heels were in an unusual position- trying to avoid losing a series to Virginia Tech. We never had since they joined the conference, but they'd won on Friday night and Saturday proved to be a wild one.Â
Things started off well for the Heels in a truly bizarre first. Skye Bolt walked. Landon Lassiter walked. Tyler Ramirez walked. Korey Dunbar walked. 1-0. Joe Dudek walked. 2-0. Eli Sutherland got hit by a pitch. 3-0. Logan Warmoth hit a sac fly, capping a 4 run rally where he was the only person even to put the ball in play.
It was a great start...and then the Hokies scored 4 in the bottom of the 1st to tie it right back up.
The Heels got it going again in the 3rd. Tyler Ramirez got hit by a pitch, Korey Dunbar singled, and Joe Dudek drew a walk to load the bases with nobody out. Eli Sutherland hit a sac fly that was deep enough not just to score Tyler but also to move Korey to 3rd. And Logan Warmoth bunted to bring him around and make it 6-4.
But again the Hokies followed the Heels putting up a crooked number with a strong inning of their own, scoring 4 in the bottom of the 3rd to take an 8-6 lead. Trevor Kelley came in to finish off the 3rd and then threw a 1-2-3 4th to stabilize things a little bit.
In the 5th Logan got hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and then Alex Raburn singled. Brian Miller bunted...and beat it out for a single, loading the bases with nobody out for the third time on the day already. Skye Bolt hit a grounder that scored Logan and moved everyone else up a base to make it 8-7. Landon Lassiter got a big single to bring in Alex and Brian and give the Heels a 9-8 lead.Â
Tyler Ramirez drew a walk and Joe Dudek hit an infield single and once again the bases were loaded. Eli Sutherland took his second bases loaded hit by pitch of the afternoon and that brought Landon home and made it 10-8.
But the Hokies got runs back in the 5th and 6th and once again the game was tied. Trent Thornton came in though, and that was the end of the Hokies scoring for the day.
After Trent threw a scoreless 7th Eli expanded his repertoire from productively getting hit by a pitch and doubled to left center to lead off the 8th. Logan Warmoth bunted him over to 3rd- he didn't get a hit all day but contributed to runs 4 different times up between a pair of bunts, a sac fly, and getting hit by a pitch. After an Alex Raburn walk, Brian Miller hit a sac fly to bring Eli home and make it 11-10.
In the 8th the Hokies got a one out single but Trent stranded him there and in the 9th they got a two out single but Trent got a ground ball from the final batter of the game to get the win for his 4.1 innings of work where he allowed just a single run.
And a quick hit from 2008:
-The Heels kicked off their series in Cary against Boston College with a 12-3 win. Kyle Seager hit a pair of home runs and drove in 5 runs to lead the offense. Tim Fedroff (including a home run and a double and 3 RBI), Kyle Shelton (including a triple), and Tim Federowicz made it 4 Heels with multi hit games. Mark Fleury made it 4 home runs for the team on the day, Dustin Ackley had a triple, and Chad Flack and Seth Williams both had doubles. Alex White threw 6.2 solid innings for the win, and Rob Wooten, Logan Munson, and Nate Striz combined for 2.1 scoreless innings to close it out.Â
April 18
For today's version of 'This Day in Recent Carolina Baseball History' we go back to 2009 and 2015 for a walkoff in the Bosh's official dedication game and a wild one in Blacksburg. Plus a quick hit from 2008.
On April 18, 2009 we officially dedicated the new Bosh. It was a great day for our program and a testament to the contributions of many people who worked and donated to make the project happen. Special thanks especially to Coach Fox and Vaughn Bryson for giving our players and fans such a beautiful facility.Â
Everyone was feeling great...and then we immediately fell down 3-0 to Miami in the 1st inning. But Adam Warren settled in after that and threw a scoreless 2nd, 3rd, and 4th inning.
In the bottom of the 4th Mark Fleury drew a 1 out walk to get things started. Garrett Gore then hit a triple down the right field line to bring him around. Brett Thomas drew a walk to put runners on the corners and then we attempted to bunt in a run and it did move Brett to 2nd but Garrett couldn't advance so we had runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 down. That brought up Levi Michael and after working  a full count he singled through the right side to bring them both around and tie the game up at 3.
Adam threw a scoreless 5th and 6th before departing. After a tough 1st he had 5 scoreless innings where he only scattered 3 hits.
Miami retook the lead with a run in the 7th but Colin Bates came in with a couple runners on base and 1 out and retired the last 2 hitters of the inning and threw a scoreless 8th and 9th as well, allowing only 1 hit over 2.2 scoreless innings of work.
In the bottom of the 8th Mark Fleury hit a lead off triple. With 1 out Brett Thomas hit a fly ball to deep enough center to bring him home and tie the game back up at 4. The Heels went down in order in the 9th and the game was off to extra innings.
Patrick Johnson came in for the top of the 10th and walked the lead off hitter. The Canes bunted him over to get a runner in scoring position with 1 out. The next batter worked a full count before Patrick got him to pop up to 3rd for the second out of the inning. He intentionally walked the next hitter to set up the force, and Nate Striz came in to pitch to future big league star Yasmani Grandal. It was a long at bat but he eventually got him to ground out to 2nd on a full count to end the inning.
The bottom of the 10th didn't take too long. Kyle Seager led off and on the second pitch of the inning hit a triple down the right field line. That brought up Mark Fleury who'd really been the Heels spark plug that day- getting on base to start the 3 run rally to tie the game in the 4th, tripling and coming around to score to tie the game in the 8th. Now he hit a single right back up the middle to give the Heels a 5-4 victory and make dedication day at the new Bosh a happy success.
Mark was the star of the day but credit also to Brett Thomas for one of the best days of his Tar Heel career. In his 4 times up he hit a double, drew a couple walks with one of them leading to a run, and hit a sac fly. Adam's scoreless stretch from the 2nd to the 6th and Colin's strong relief outing were huge too. Nate got the win for escaping the jam in the 10th.Â
When Miami joined the ACC in 2005 they had been to Omaha 10 times since the Heels last had, and won the CWS twice. And the first time they came to Chapel Hill as a member of the conference they put up 42 runs. It was enough to make you wonder if we were really on their level. But this series clinching win in 2009 capped a 4 year streak that had started in Coral Gables in 2006 of the Heels winning their series with the Canes so the answer was yes, we certainly were on their level.
On April 18, 2015 in Blacksburg the Heels were in an unusual position- trying to avoid losing a series to Virginia Tech. We never had since they joined the conference, but they'd won on Friday night and Saturday proved to be a wild one.Â
Things started off well for the Heels in a truly bizarre first. Skye Bolt walked. Landon Lassiter walked. Tyler Ramirez walked. Korey Dunbar walked. 1-0. Joe Dudek walked. 2-0. Eli Sutherland got hit by a pitch. 3-0. Logan Warmoth hit a sac fly, capping a 4 run rally where he was the only person even to put the ball in play.
It was a great start...and then the Hokies scored 4 in the bottom of the 1st to tie it right back up.
The Heels got it going again in the 3rd. Tyler Ramirez got hit by a pitch, Korey Dunbar singled, and Joe Dudek drew a walk to load the bases with nobody out. Eli Sutherland hit a sac fly that was deep enough not just to score Tyler but also to move Korey to 3rd. And Logan Warmoth bunted to bring him around and make it 6-4.
But again the Hokies followed the Heels putting up a crooked number with a strong inning of their own, scoring 4 in the bottom of the 3rd to take an 8-6 lead. Trevor Kelley came in to finish off the 3rd and then threw a 1-2-3 4th to stabilize things a little bit.
In the 5th Logan got hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and then Alex Raburn singled. Brian Miller bunted...and beat it out for a single, loading the bases with nobody out for the third time on the day already. Skye Bolt hit a grounder that scored Logan and moved everyone else up a base to make it 8-7. Landon Lassiter got a big single to bring in Alex and Brian and give the Heels a 9-8 lead.Â
Tyler Ramirez drew a walk and Joe Dudek hit an infield single and once again the bases were loaded. Eli Sutherland took his second bases loaded hit by pitch of the afternoon and that brought Landon home and made it 10-8.
But the Hokies got runs back in the 5th and 6th and once again the game was tied. Trent Thornton came in though, and that was the end of the Hokies scoring for the day.
After Trent threw a scoreless 7th Eli expanded his repertoire from productively getting hit by a pitch and doubled to left center to lead off the 8th. Logan Warmoth bunted him over to 3rd- he didn't get a hit all day but contributed to runs 4 different times up between a pair of bunts, a sac fly, and getting hit by a pitch. After an Alex Raburn walk, Brian Miller hit a sac fly to bring Eli home and make it 11-10.
In the 8th the Hokies got a one out single but Trent stranded him there and in the 9th they got a two out single but Trent got a ground ball from the final batter of the game to get the win for his 4.1 innings of work where he allowed just a single run.
And a quick hit from 2008:
-The Heels kicked off their series in Cary against Boston College with a 12-3 win. Kyle Seager hit a pair of home runs and drove in 5 runs to lead the offense. Tim Fedroff (including a home run and a double and 3 RBI), Kyle Shelton (including a triple), and Tim Federowicz made it 4 Heels with multi hit games. Mark Fleury made it 4 home runs for the team on the day, Dustin Ackley had a triple, and Chad Flack and Seth Williams both had doubles. Alex White threw 6.2 solid innings for the win, and Rob Wooten, Logan Munson, and Nate Striz combined for 2.1 scoreless innings to close it out.Â
UNC Women's Lacrosse: Humphrey Leads Heels to Win vs #7 Stanford, 18-9
Saturday, April 11
UNC Softball: Dark Ks 8 in No-Hitter vs Queens, 8-0
Thursday, April 09
UNC Baseball: Tar Heels Hold Off Charlotte, 8-4
Wednesday, April 08
UNC Basketball: Michael Malone Introductory Press Conference
Wednesday, April 08