This Day In Tar Heel Baseball History: April 21

Brendan Illies scores the winning run against Ga. Tech

Photo by: Joe Bray

April 21, 2020 | Baseball

By: Tom Jensen

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 21
For today's version of 'This Day in Recent Carolina Baseball History' we go back to 2006 and 2018 for a win in a much anticipated showdown against NC State and an amazing comeback against Georgia Tech at the Bosh. Plus quick hits from 2009, 2010, 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019.

When the Heels opened their series against NC State at the Bosh on April 21, 2006 there was a buzz about the game I'd never felt during my time as a student as I reached the end of my senior year. We were No. 1 in the country in at least one poll, and the Pack were in the top 10 as well. The pitching match up to open the series was going to be our Andrew Miller- who everyone knew would be a top 10 pick in the June draft- against their Andrew Brackman- also projected to be a first round pick and unusually well known for a baseball player because he was also on the basketball team.

I got to the game plenty early- and for the first time ever still couldn't get a seat in the grandstand at the old Bosh and had to stand down the 1st base line and watch the game from there. It was the first night I can remember feeling like the Diamond Heels were really becoming a big deal to the broader public.

The game did not disappoint. Andrew Miller set the Pack down in order in the 1st and 2nd innings before they got a run in the top of the 3rd to go up 1-0. But in the bottom half the Heels got it right back when Bryan Steed doubled to left to lead off the inning and Josh Horton singled to bring him around with 2 outs.

Andrew threw a scoreless 4th and in the bottom half of the inning the Heels blew the game open. Jay Cox singled, stole 2nd, went to 3rd on a wild pitch, and came home on a Tim Federowicz single to get it started. After a ground out, a Seth Williams walk, and a FC the Heels had runners on the corners with 2 down and a 2-1 lead.

Reid Fronk singled to bring Tim around and make it 3-1. And then Chad Flack delivered the big blow- a double to right center that scored 2 and made it a 5-1 Heels advantage.

Andrew retired the Pack 1-2-3 in the 5th. And the 6th. And the 7th. They finally got a base runner in the 8th but he didn't score.

Andrew Brackman settled in too after the 4 run Heels 4th and threw 3 scoreless innings before State went to the bullpen in the 8th. Kyle Shelton pinch hit to lead off the inning for the Heels and delivered a single. Mike Cavasinni pinch ran for him and stole 2nd. Seth Williams walked and Bryan Steed bunted them both over to put runners on 2nd and 3rd.

But the next Heels batter struck out, bringing up Chad Flack with 2 down. And just as he had in the same situation earlier in the game he delivered a double, this time to left, that brought both runners in and extended the Heels lead to 7-1.

Andrew Miller came back out for the 9th and the Pack finally got to him a little bit, scoring a pair of runs. He exited after giving up only 3 hits over his first 8 innings, and the eventual victory pushed his record for the season to 9-0.

Andrew Carignan came in with 1 out and the bases loaded and got the last 2 outs to earn his 10th save of the season.

Attendance was 3,656 which was absolutely absurd for the old Bosh which had a seating capacity of only 2,500. I think a lot of folks kind of got hooked on Carolina Baseball that night and helped contribute to the outpouring of support the program saw especially over the next 4 years.

Besides Andrew's strong outing the star was Chad Flack with his 2 doubles and 4 RBI. Josh Horton added 3 hits and Bryan Steed had a pair, including his key early double that got everything started for the Heels offense. There would be plenty more excitement the rest of the weekend.

On April 21st, 2018 the Heels were trying to do something that surprisingly they'd never done in 4 chances- win a series against Georgia Tech at the new Bosh. But they won the Friday night game 9-3, giving them two shots to do it the rest of the weekend.

Things started off well. In the bottom of the 1st Dallas Tessar reached on an error to lead off, moved over to 2nd on a productive out by Michael Busch, and took 3rd on another error. Ike Freeman singled him in and the Heels led 1-0.

In the bottom of the 2nd Cody Roberts drew a leadoff walk, Brandon Martorano singled to move him over to 3rd, and a sac fly by Dallas brought Cody home to make it 2-0.

Austin Bergner was on the mound for the Heels and had a great start to his day, throwing 3 scoreless innings without allowing any hits and even striking out the side in the 2nd inning.

But as so often happened in games against Georgia Tech last decade after getting off to a good start, things changed. The Jackets got a couple runs in the 4th to tie it. And they got 3 in the 5th to make it 5-2. And they got another in the 7th to make it 6-2. The game went to the bottom of the 8th with that same score and it looked like it was just going to be another disappointing outcome against Georgia Tech.

In the bottom of the 8th Brandon Riley hit a lead off single and Clemente Inclan drew a 1 out walk. But after a strike out there were 2 down and it appeared the opportunity might be squandered.

But Brandon Martorano worked a full count and drew a walk to load the bases. And the Heels sent up Jackson Hesterlee to pinch hit. Jackson had not played much to that point and it may have seemed like a curious choice to send him up in such a high leverage situation. He quickly fell behind 0-2.

Trust the coaches. Jackson knocked the next pitch out of the ballpark for a grand slam to tie the game. It ended up being the only home run he hit all season- but it was probably also the most memorable home run *anyone* on the team hit all season.

Josh Hiatt set the Jackets down in order in the 9th. It should also be noted that Caden O'Brien and Hansen Butler in the 6th and then Taylor Sugg in the 8th had thrown scoreless innings that helped keep the Heels in the game during the 6 inning stretch where they didn't get any runs.

The Heels went down in the 9th. And then in the 10th after that huge comeback, all that excitement, the Jackets scored a pair of runs to go right back up 8-6 and it looked like the day was going to end in a loss after all.

But in the bottom of the 10th Dylan Enwiller hit a lead off double. And after an out Brandon Martorano doubled too, to bring in Dylan and make it 8-7. Ben Casparius came up to pinch hit and for the second time that day a perhaps unlikely pinch hitter delivered- after working a full count he tripled to right on the 7th pitch of the at bat to bring B Mart home and tie the game up at 8.

That brought up Dallas Tessar. Three and a half hours earlier he'd gotten the Heels offense started for the day by reaching to lead off the game and coming around to score. This time up he finished what he started- a fly ball to right was deep enough to bring home the winning run and give the Heels a 9-8, double come from behind victory for their first series win ever over the Jackets at the new Bosh.

This is the only home ACC series I've missed in the last 15 years. This game was playing out at my mom's birthday dinner back in Ann Arbor. At first I was trying to just take subtle glances at my phone during the first game tying rally in the 8th but by the 10th I finally just said sorry but I know we're at a fancy restaurant and I know it's your birthday but I'm just going to have to follow this game pitch by pitch now, I sincerely apologize. (She knows the deal, and I *did* after all miss a home series partially to celebrate her birthday!)

Brandon Martorano had 4 hits on the day, including the big double in the 10th and another double as well. Brandon Riley and Michael Busch each had a pair of hits in the victory as well.

And quick hits from 2009, 2010, 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019:

-In 2009 the Heels beat UNC-Wilmington at the Bosh 7-5. The Heels actually fell behind 4-0 in the top of the 5th...but then came right back with 6 runs of their own thanks to a pair of 3 run bombs in the bottom half of the inning.

Mark Fleury led the way with 3 hits, including one of the home runs and a double. Dustin Ackley hit the other three run blast in the 5th. Garrett Gore and Kyle Seager each had a pair of hits as well.

Jimmy Messer started and went 5.2 innings for the win. Colin Bates threw the last 3.1 scoreless innings and allowed just 1 hit in earning the save.

-In 2010 the Heels were on a 4 game losing streak and coming off getting swept in Miami and really needed a win. They got one emphatically with a 13-0 victory over Davidson.

Brian Goodwin had the big hit for the day, a 3 run homer, one of 2 hits he had to go with 5 RBI. Tarron Robinson also had a pair of hits including a home run. Dillon Hazlett had 3 hits and drove in 3 runs. Coach Jesse Wierzbicki and Seth Baldwin each had a pair of hits as well. Mike Cavasinni tripled, Jacob Stallings doubled, and Tommy Coyle had a pair of RBI.

7 Heel pitchers combined for a 3 hit shutout on a true staff day. Greg Holt threw the first 4 innings and got the win and Zach Bernard, Coach Bryant Gaines, Jimmy Messer, and Garrett Davis each threw a scoreless inning with RC Orlan and Teddy Mitrosilis rounding out the pitching effort. The win got the Heels back on the right track heading into a possibly season defining weekend at Clemson.

-In 2013 the Heels finished off the sweep against Duke with a 10-1 win that made it a cumulative score of 21-3 for the weekend. Hobbs Johnson threw 7.1 scoreless innings to cap off an amazing weekend for the starting rotation.

Brian Holberton had a home run and a double and drove in 4 of the runs. Cody Stubbs hit 3 doubles and drove in and scored a pair of runs.
Parks Jordan also had 3 hits and drove in a couple runs and Colin Moran and Landon Lassiter had pairs of hit as well. The win pushed the season record to 39-2 and gave them a 14 game winning streak to go with the 16 and 9 game winning streaks they'd already pulled off that season.

-In 2015 the Heels beat Campbell 8-3. Korey Dunbar led the offense with a home run and a double and drove in 3 runs. Tyler Ramirez had 3 hits, including a solo shot, and Skye Bolt had 3 hits, including a double and a pair of runs driven in as well. Doubles from Landon Lassiter and Joe Dudek rounded out the Heels attack.

Since our last game in Blacksburg the previous weekend had been rained out Benton Moss got the rare weekday start and threw 4.2 solid innings. Trevor Kelley relieved him and threw 4.1 scoreless innings while allowing only 3 hits to earn the win. It was a week where we had to play 5 games so Benton and Trevor getting through the first game of the week on their own went a long way in preserving pitching depth and helping make what ended up as a 5-0 week possible.

-In 2017 the Heels kicked off a weekend series at Pitt with a 5-2 win. JB Bukauskas pushed his record on the season to 7-0 with 6.2 strong innings where he struck out 8 and allowed only a pair of runs. Josh Hiatt came on with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 7th and got the last out of the inning before striking out 4 across a scoreless, hitless 8th and 9th to earn his 11th save of the season.

Tyler Lynn led the Heels offense with 3 hits, including a double, and drove in 3 runs. Brandon Riley also had 3 hits and scored 2 runs. Cody Roberts had a pair of hits, including a double, Logan Warmoth hit a key 2 run single, and Ashton McGee had a double to round out the attack.

-Finally in 2019 the Heels followed up their double walk off extra inning sweep of Boston College the previous day with a considerably more emphatic 16-8 victory to finish off the weekend sweep.

Danny Serretti (including a home run, a double, and 3 RBI), Jackson Hesterlee (including a double and 3 RBI), and Dylan Harris (including a double and 2 runs) each had 3 hit games. Michael Busch (including a home run and a double and 3 RBI), Dylan Enwiller (including a double and 4 RBI), and Ashton McGee (including a double and 3 runs) all had pairs of hits to make it 6 Heels with multi hit days.

Joey Lancellotti got his second relief win of the weekend with 3.2 scoreless innings and Connor Ollio closed it out with a couple scoreless hitless innings where he struck out 3 to finish the sweep!