University of North Carolina Athletics
JB Bukauskas
Photo by: Joe Bray
Baseball Weekend Round-up: April 25-26
April 26, 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 25
For today's version of 'This Day in Recent Carolina Baseball History' we go back to 2008 and 2010 for an inning to remember against Florida State in Cary and the biggest series win of the season at Clemson. Plus quick hits from 2009, 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2017.
On April 25th, 2008 the Heels kicked off a big home series matching a pair of Top 5 teams against Florida State. We came into the game with a 36-7 record on the season...and the Noles came in with an even better 34-5 record. Both teams would end up in Omaha that year.
Alex White had the start for the Heels and threw a scoreless 1st, highlighted by striking out Buster Posey swinging. He threw a scoreless 2nd as well, and a 1-2-3 3rd where he struck out the side.
In the 4th though FSU got on the board and after Alex threw a scoreless 5th, they got a pair of runs in the 6th to go ahead 3-0. Alex only gave up 1 hit in 5.1 innings of work before giving way to Brian Moran, who got the last 2 outs of the 6th and then threw a 1-2-3 7th.
The Heels got plenty of runners on base over the first 7 innings- 8 of them- but just couldn't bring any of them home. FSU had a chance to blow the game open in the top of the 8th after getting the bases loaded with 1 out but Brian Moran struck out his last hitter of the day on a full count and then Rob Wooten came in and got a pop out to end the threat and send the game to the bottom of the 8th.
And what a bottom of the 8th it was. Dustin Ackley set the tone by hitting a double on the first pitch of the inning. After an out he came around on a Tim Fedroff double to cut the deficit to 3-1. But after that the Heels made a second out.
Then the fun really started. Kyle Seager walked. And Tim Federowicz reached on an error to load the bases. Garrett Gore singled to right center to bring in a pair of runs and tie the game at 3.
Seth Williams got hit by a pitch to load the bases again. Mark Fleury worked a full count and then drew a walk to give the Heels a 4-3 lead. Dustin Ackley came up for his second at bat of the inning and hit one up the middle to bring Garrett and Seth home and make it a 6-3 lead.
Then came the big blow. Kyle Shelton went deep to left for a 3 run bomb that made it 9-3. But the Heels still weren't done. Tim Fedroff hit his second double of the inning. Chad Flack drew a walk. And Kyle Seager doubled to right center to bring in Tim and Chad and make it an E-L-E-V-E-N run 8th. Against one of the top teams in the country.
The Noles got a run back in the 9th but Rob Wooten finished it out to earn the win in the 11-4 Heels victory, thanks completely to one enormous inning.
Tim Fedroff (all doubles) and Dustin Ackley (including a double, 2 RBI, and 2 runs scored) each had 3 hits for the Heels. Garrett Gore had a pair as well before a rocking crowd of 3,621 crammed wherever they would fit at the USA Baseball complex.
On April 25, 2010 at Clemson the Heels came into the game with a 7-13 record in ACC play and badly needing a quality series win if they wanted to make the NCAA Tournament.
Things started of well. Mike Cavasinni got hit by a pitch to lead off the game. Ben Bunting singled and Clemson threw to 3rd to try to nail Cavi but he was safe and Ben moved to 2nd to put a couple of runners in scoring position with nobody out. Levi Michael hit a triple to bring them both home and give the Heels a 2-0 lead and a Dillon Hazlett single scored him too to make it 3-0 in the top of the 1st.
But in the bottom of the inning Clemson got a run back and in the 2nd they got a pair to tie the game at 3. After that the afternoon settled into a pitching duel between Clemson hurler Dominic Leone, who has spent 6 years in the majors, and Patrick Johnson for the Heels.
I think sometimes the amount of love Heels players get from the fan base is proportionate to their professional careers and because Patrick Johnson hasn't made it further than AA he sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. He shouldn't be.
Here's a little exercise: Player A finished his Heels career with a 22-7 record, a 3.74 ERA, and struck out 263 in 239 innings. Player B finished his career with a 25-8 record, a 3.25 ERA, and struck out 311 in 289 innings. Pretty similar but if you had to pick one, you'd probably go with Player B. Player B is Patrick Johnson. Player A is Matt Harvey.
At any rate I'm sure glad we had both of them that weekend. Matt's masterpiece won us the game Friday night and after the Clemson runs in the first couple innings Patrick threw a scoreless 3rd. And a 1-2-3 4th. And a scoreless 5th. And a scoreless 6th. And a scoreless 7th. And a scoreless 8th. Over that span of 6 shutout innings- against a team that went to Omaha-he allowed just 2 hits.
It was a good thing Patrick was that strong, because Leone for Clemson also allowed only 2 hits between the 3rd and the 8th innings. After 6 runs in the first couple innings neither team even really threatened in the next 6.
Finally the Heels got to face the bullpen in the 9th. With 2 outs Ryan Graepel went up to pinch hit and got things started with a single to right. The Heels went to a second pinch hitter- Brett Knief- who had come up with a big hit to get things started Friday night. Here he came up with the biggest hit of his Tar Heel career- a double into the right center gap that brought Ryan all the way around from 1st and gave the Heels a 4-3 lead.
Now all the Heels needed to do was retire Clemson in the 9th...it was not an easy task. The Tigers got a lead off single and bunted him over to 2nd. PJ came out after that- 8.1 innings and just 1 earned run allowed- it may not have been as dominant as Matt's 15 strikeout outing on Friday that weekend, but it was just as effective.
The next hitter walked. And then the next hitter got an infield single to load the bases with 1 out. And the next hitter got ahead 3-0. To this point it had been a season full of late game disappointments and it sure seemed like we were about to have another.
To much of the stadium the next pitch looked like ball 4, a bases loaded walk to tie the game. At least to folks in the stands, there was nothing resembling a strike call from the home plate ump. The Clemson runner on 1st came to the same conclusion and started trotting down to 2nd.
Then much to my surprise Jacob Stallings rifled the ball down to 1st and picked the runner off. He heard the strike call, was alert to the situation, and took advantage of the Clemson runner's mistake. 2 down.
After a lot of hubbub from the Clemson coaches about the previous play they still had 2 runners in scoring position and a 3-1 count. But Greg Holt battled back and struck out the hitter swinging to close out the save in a very intense 4-3 victory.
The Heels were one of the last teams to get in off the bubble in June. This was a road series win against a future Omaha team- Matt Harvey's effort on Friday night and then Patrick Johnson's big start Sunday and Brett Knief's huge double, and Jacob Stallings' heads up pick off, and Greg Holt's coming back from being down 3-0 strikeout in Clemson that weekend got us into the tournament.
Ben Bunting led the way for the Heels with 3 hits, including a double. Levi Michael's triple in the 1st was also critical to the victory, on top of his having a big night at the plate in the Friday win.
And quick hits from 2009, 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2017:
-In 2009 the Heels clinched the series against Maryland with a 14-3 win at the Bosh. Levi Michael led the way with 4 hits, including a triple and a double, and scored 3 runs. Mark Fleury (including a triple and a double and 4 RBI), Dustin Ackley (including a home run and 3 RBI), and Kyle Seager each had a pair of hits. Seth Baldwin hit a 3 run blast, Mike Cavasinni and Ryan Norton each had doubles, and Mike McKee got in the game and had a hit too.
Adam Warren got the win for 6 strong innings where he struck out 9 and allowed just 4 hits. Logan Munson pitched the last 3 innings and got the save, striking out 4.
-In 2012 the Heels and ECU had one heck of a pitching match up for a midweek game at the Bosh. The Pirates threw Jeff Hoffman, who ended up being a top 10 pick and has spent the last 4 years in the majors. The Heels countered with Kent Emanuel, who was available because it was exam week and we had the following weekend off.
Kent threw a scoreless 1st. And a scoreless 2nd. And a 1-2-3 3rd. And a scoreless 4th. And a 1-2-3 5th. And a 1-2-3 6th where he struck out the side. And a scoreless 7th. And a scoreless 8th- where ECU finally got a runner to 2nd, their first in scoring position all day. He left with 1 out in the 9th and a runner on 1st after going 8.1 innings, allowing 4 hits, walking no one, and striking out 7.
And yet if he was going to get any sort of decision for the day it was going to be a loss if that runner on 1st came around to score because Hoffman and the Pirates shut the Heels out for the first 8 innings too.
Michael Morin came on to pitch and struck out the first hitter he faced. The next one walked to put runners on 1st and 2nd. The following batter singled and the Pirates sent the runner from 2nd home...where he was thrown out to end the threat and at least ensure Kent wasn't going to get an L for his incredible performance.
The Pirates threatened again in the 10th, getting runners to 1st and 3rd before Michael got a pop out to extinguish the threat.
With 2 outs in the bottom of the 10th Mike Zolk drew a walk. On the very next pitch Parks Jordan singled through the right side to move Zoom up to 3rd. And finally Chaz Frank singled up the middle to bring him and give the Heels a big 1-0 rivalry game victory heading into the break.
Michael got the win after Kent's amazing start and Chaz Frank had 3 hits, including a double and Parks Jordan had 2 hits, including a double, in addition to their big pair of singles that won the game in the 10th.
-In 2014 the Heels won the series opener against Virginia Tech 3-2. The game was tied in the bottom of the 8th when Adam Pate drew a leadoff walk, Michael Russell doubled to move him up to 3rd, and he came around on a Skye Bolt FC with the winning run.
Trevor Kelley got the win for 2.1 innings of scoreless work where he retired the first 7 hitters he faced. Reilly Hovis came in with a runner on 1st in the 9th and got the last 2 outs for the save, striking out the final batter of the game. Trent Thornton had a good start, giving up 2 runs over 6 innings, but got a no decision.
The Heels only had 4 hits all day- Michael Russell had 2 of them, including his big double in the 8th. Adam Pate had a leadoff single in the 6th and came around to score, making him responsible for 2 of the 3 Heels runs. Skye Bolt drove in 2 runs, including the game winner.
This gave the Heels 13 straight home wins against the Hokies since they joined the ACC. My main memory from the game is that I competed in the donut eating contest and found that it was harder than it looked. A few weeks earlier someone had won the donut eating contest by eating like 3 donuts and I thought that's pathetic. So I told Marketing I wanted to do it the next time.
When we were in Charlottesville the weekend before I trained hard at the Quality Inn continental breakfast and I thought I was ready for a starring performance.
Well I did win, but I only managed to eat 2. My opponent could only get through 1.5 though. These donuts weren't exactly Krispy Kreme- they were very large, cakey, dining hall donuts and you had to eat them off a baseball bat. Even though I won, it was still kind of a humiliating performance. We dropped the donut eating contest pretty soon after that.
-In 2015 the Heels clinched the series against Boston College with a 6-1 win on a rainy Saturday morning at the Bosh- we started at 10:30, the earliest time I can remember at home- because the weather was just going to keep getting worse over the course of the day.
JB Bukauskas was dominant, going 7 innings and allowing only 3 hits while striking out 8. Trevor Kelley threw the last 2 innings to close it out.
Landon Lassiter led the offense with a pair of doubles and Joe Dudek had a couple hits as well. Zack Gahagan first got the Heels on the board with an RBI single in the 4th, and Korey Dunbar had an RBI double.
-In 2017 the Heels beat Elon 11-2. Brian Miller led the way with 4 hits, driving in and scoring 3. Brandon Riley (including a home run and 3 RBI), Ashton McGee (who also had a double and reached 4 times thanks to a pair of walks), and Tyler Lynn each had a pair of hits. Logan Warmoth had a triple and drove in and scored a run, Adam Pate had a double and scored a run, and Zack Gahagan singled and drove in a run.
Tyler Baum started and threw 4 solid innings and the bullpen combined for 5 scoreless innings where it allowed just 1 hit and struck out 8. Trevor Gay got the win for a scoreless inning and Taylor Sugg, Bo Weiss, the late Zach Attianese, and Cole Aker each threw a shutout frame as well.
April 26
For today's version of 'This Day in Recent Carolina Baseball History' we go back to 2013 and 2016 for an emphatic win in the opener of the most intense season ever of Carolina-State baseball and a wild walk off win at the Bosh. Plus quick hits from 2006, 2009, 2014, 2015, and 2017.
The Tar Heels and the Wolfpack ended up playing 5 times in 2013- a couple games in Raleigh, an epic in Durham, and a pair in Omaha to close it out. Even though the stakes rose with each passing game there was plenty of anticipation even for the first one on April 26, 2013 given that the Heels were #1 and the host Wolfpack were #6.
The Heels struck a pretty emphatic immediate blow. Chaz Frank singled to lead off the game and Landon Lassiter singled as well to put runners on the corners with nobody out.
Up came Colin Moran. And out went Colin Moran. He knocked one deep out of the park to straight center to give the Heels a 3-0 lead before an out had even been recorded in the game.
Kent Emanuel threw a scoreless 1st. The Wolfpack loaded the bases in the bottom of the 2nd with 2 outs for Trea Turner, probably the most fearsome opposing batter the Heels have had to contend with in recent memory. Kent struck him out swinging to retire the side.
In the top of the 3rd the Heels added to the lead. Brian Holberton hit a solo shot to right field. Cody Stubbs and Michael Russell then hit back to back singles with 1 out. Parks Jordan hit a ground ball to 3rd. The Pack threw to 2nd for the out there and then tried to turn the double play to end the inning- but instead threw the ball away, allowing Cody to come home and give the Heels a 5-0 advantage.
Kent threw a scoreless 3rd. And a scoreless 4th. And a 1-2-3 5th.
In the 6th Mike Zolk hit a leadoff single, moved to 2nd on a bunt by Matt Roberts, went to 3rd on a productive groundout by Chaz Frank, and came home to score on a passed ball to make it 6-0 Heels.
Kent threw a scoreless 6th before the Pack finally got one on the board in the 7th. But the Heels immediately got it back with 2 out in the 8th when Matt Roberts drew a walk, Chaz Frank hit an infield single to move him over to 2nd, and Landon Lassiter doubled to bring him home and make it 7-1.
It would have been understandable if Kent was getting a little tired when he went out for the 8th. Instead he capped his day by striking out the side. His final line was 8 innings, just 1 run allowed, and 9 strikeouts in yet another incredible outing in his ACC Pitcher of the Year season. The win pushed his record to 9-1.
Trent Thornton came in to pitch the 9th and threw a scoreless inning with a couple of strike outs- including one of Trea Turner- to finish the night. The win pushed the Heels record to 41-3 overall and 19-2 in conference play.
Michael Russell led the way for the Heels with 3 hits. Brian Holberton (including a home run), Cody Stubbs, Chaz Frank, and Landon Lassiter each had a pair of hits. And Colin Moran's 3 run bomb in the first set the tone for the entire game.
When the Heels hosted UNC-Wilmington at the Bosh on April 26, 2016 the Seahawks were actually having a better season to date (27-9) than the Tar Heels were (26-15). You wouldn't have known it from the 1st inning though. Brian Miller hit a leadoff double, went to 3rd on a bunt by Eli Sutherland, and came around to score on a sac fly by Brandon Riley.
Then with 2 outs the fun really started. Tyler Ramirez walked and Logan Warmoth singled. A wild pitch moved them up to 2nd and 3rd. And Zack Gahagan singled them in. 3-0.
Zack stole second. Tyler Lynn drew a walk. And Cody Roberts hit a double to left center to bring them both in. 5-0. Adam Pate singled to score Cody and the Heels led 6-0 in the 1st.
But then the Seahawks scored 6 in the 3rd to tie it right back up.
Brett Daniels threw a 1-2-3 4th. In the bottom half of the inning Tyler Ramirez doubled, advanced to 3rd on an error, and came around on a wild pitch. 7-6 Heels.
Brett threw a scoreless 5th. In the bottom of the inning Adam Pate hit a leadoff single, stole both 2nd *and* 3rd, and came home on a Brian Miller single. 8-6 Heels.
But in the 7th the Seahawks scored a pair of runs. And in the 8th they got another to take a 9-8 lead.
In the bottom of the 8th Tyler Ramirez got hit by a pitch with 1 out and stole 2nd. Logan Warmoth singled to put runners on the corners. And up came Kyle Datres to...pinch hit? It's a reminder what incredible strides he made from his freshman to his junior year that he ever wouldn't have been in the starting lineup. He came up big here with a pinch hit single to tie the game back up at 9- and that wouldn't be all for him, even with the late entry into the game.
Hansen Butler threw a 1-2-3 9th, including a couple of strikeouts. In the bottom of the 9th Brian Miller hit a leadoff single and moved to 2nd on a passed ball. Eli Sutherland drew a walk to put a couple runners on base with no one out.
But the next batter made an out. Then Tyler Ramirez got hit by a pitch for the second inning in a row to load the bases. But then the next batter made an out.
So 2 outs, bases loaded, and coming to the plate is none other than late substitute Kyle Datres. He falls behind 0-1. Then goes ahead 2-1. A strike to even the count. A ball runs the count full. And 4 hours and 19 minutes after the game started- has to be close to a length record for a 9 inning game- Kyle took ball 4 to bring in Brian for the literal walkoff victory, 10-9
This was a real quality win- Wilmington ended up finishing 2nd in the Columbia regional. Hansen got the win for his strong performance in the 9th. Logan Warmoth led the way for the Heels with 4 hits. Brian Miller had 3, including a double, and also walked 3 times to reach all 6 times he came up over the course of the game. Adam Pate had a pair of hits as well.
And quick hits from 2006, 2009, 2014, 2015, and 2017:
-In 2006 the Heels beat High Point 7-3, thanks to a trio of home runs. Benji Johnson hit a 3 run shot, Josh Horton hit one and had a double as well and drove in 3 runs, and the other came from Jay Cox.
4 Tar Heel relievers combined for 7 innings where they only allowed 1 run- Tyler Trice got the win, Matt Danford threw 2 scoreless innings, Jonathan Hovis threw 2 scoreless innings, and Mike Facchinei had a scoreless frame to close it out. The win gave the Heels a 5 game winning streak coming off their sweep over State the previous weekend and heading into their series at Duke.
-In 2009 the Heels finished their weekend sweep of Maryland with a 4-2 win. The game was tied in the bottom of the 7th when Mike Cavasinni singled and Levi Michael went deep to provide the game winning margin. Levi also had a double, and Mark Fleury had a home run and a double as well. That capped quite a weekend for Mark- 2 home runs, 2 doubles, a triple, and a single.
The bullpen went 8 innings and allowed only 1 run. Colin Bates was first up and went 3.1 scoreless innings. Brian Moran went 2.2 innings and got the win. I don't think we've ever had a combo quite like the 2 of them that year where our 2 best relievers both had the ability to go long such that if you needed 6 innings from them to win a game, you could get 6 innings from them to win a game. Nate Striz retired the last 6 Maryland batters, striking out a pair, for the save.
This game actually completed the Heels' home ACC slate quite early with an 11-4 record, including 7 wins in a row to close it out. That made it Senior Day and the program honored an incredibly special group who joined a team that hadn't been to Omaha in 17 years...and took them there 4 years in a row. Garrett Gore, Tyson Lusk, Mike McKee, Adam Warren and an honorable mention for Mike Cavasinni really helped the program turn a corner over an amazing stretch that will be hard to match ever again.
Even though this was the last one on the schedule, the team would earn a couple more weekends at the Bosh in June.
-In 2014 the Heels clinched the series against Virginia Tech- pushing their home record against the Hokies since they joined the ACC to 14-0- with a 6-4 win at the Bosh. Alex Raburn led the way with 3 hits and Landon Lassiter (including a double) and Parks Jordan (including 2 RBI) each had a pair of hits as well. Tom Zengel hit a double and scored a run.
Benton Moss went 7 innings, allowing just 5 hits, for the win. Reilly Hovis came on with a couple runners on base and 1 out in the 8th, and got a strike out and a fly out to end the threat. He followed that up with a scoreless 9th for the save.
-Benton Moss was good on this day in 2014. But he had one of the best outings of his career on this day in 2015, against Boston College.
He threw a scoreless 1st. And a scoreless 2nd. And a scoreless 3rd. And a 1-2-3 4th. And a 1-2-3 5th. And a scoreless 6th. And a 1-2-3 7th. And a scoreless 8th.
Benton didn't just shut out the Eagles over 8 innings where he only allowed 2 hits and struck out 6. He didn't even let a single runner get to 2nd! Hard to beat that for dominance. The win pushed his record to 6-0 on the season.
Korey Dunbar went deep to get the scoring started and drove in and scored 2 runs each. Tyler Ramirez hit a home run and scored a couple runs. Logan Warmoth had a 2 run single. Brian Miller and Landon Lassiter each singled and scored a run as well.
Trent Thornton threw a scoreless 9th to finish the 6-0 win. It was quite a weekend for the Heels' pitching- 27 innings, 1 run allowed- unearned. Only 10 Eagle hits all weekend, against 26 strikeouts.
This win pushed the Heels' record against BC in Chapel Hill to 14-0 since they joined the ACC. Now it's 17-0. At least Virginia Tech has 1 win here now to improve their record at UNC to 1-20.
-In 2017 the Heels beat Campbell 7-1. Logan Warmoth led the way with 3 doubles that drove in 3 runs. Zack Gahagan had a pair of doubles and drove in 2 runs as well. Adam Pate and Ashton McGee each singled to round out the hits for the Heels. Brian Miller and Tyler Lynn each scored a pair of runs, after walking 3 and 2 times respectively.
Jason Morgan started and threw 3 scoreless innings before giving way to Rodney Hutchison who earned the win for a pair of scoreless frames. Brett Daniels threw a couple scoreless innings of his own, and Trevor Gay had one as well. The Heels pitchers combined to give up only 3 hits on the night.
April 25
For today's version of 'This Day in Recent Carolina Baseball History' we go back to 2008 and 2010 for an inning to remember against Florida State in Cary and the biggest series win of the season at Clemson. Plus quick hits from 2009, 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2017.
On April 25th, 2008 the Heels kicked off a big home series matching a pair of Top 5 teams against Florida State. We came into the game with a 36-7 record on the season...and the Noles came in with an even better 34-5 record. Both teams would end up in Omaha that year.
Alex White had the start for the Heels and threw a scoreless 1st, highlighted by striking out Buster Posey swinging. He threw a scoreless 2nd as well, and a 1-2-3 3rd where he struck out the side.
In the 4th though FSU got on the board and after Alex threw a scoreless 5th, they got a pair of runs in the 6th to go ahead 3-0. Alex only gave up 1 hit in 5.1 innings of work before giving way to Brian Moran, who got the last 2 outs of the 6th and then threw a 1-2-3 7th.
The Heels got plenty of runners on base over the first 7 innings- 8 of them- but just couldn't bring any of them home. FSU had a chance to blow the game open in the top of the 8th after getting the bases loaded with 1 out but Brian Moran struck out his last hitter of the day on a full count and then Rob Wooten came in and got a pop out to end the threat and send the game to the bottom of the 8th.
And what a bottom of the 8th it was. Dustin Ackley set the tone by hitting a double on the first pitch of the inning. After an out he came around on a Tim Fedroff double to cut the deficit to 3-1. But after that the Heels made a second out.
Then the fun really started. Kyle Seager walked. And Tim Federowicz reached on an error to load the bases. Garrett Gore singled to right center to bring in a pair of runs and tie the game at 3.
Seth Williams got hit by a pitch to load the bases again. Mark Fleury worked a full count and then drew a walk to give the Heels a 4-3 lead. Dustin Ackley came up for his second at bat of the inning and hit one up the middle to bring Garrett and Seth home and make it a 6-3 lead.
Then came the big blow. Kyle Shelton went deep to left for a 3 run bomb that made it 9-3. But the Heels still weren't done. Tim Fedroff hit his second double of the inning. Chad Flack drew a walk. And Kyle Seager doubled to right center to bring in Tim and Chad and make it an E-L-E-V-E-N run 8th. Against one of the top teams in the country.
The Noles got a run back in the 9th but Rob Wooten finished it out to earn the win in the 11-4 Heels victory, thanks completely to one enormous inning.
Tim Fedroff (all doubles) and Dustin Ackley (including a double, 2 RBI, and 2 runs scored) each had 3 hits for the Heels. Garrett Gore had a pair as well before a rocking crowd of 3,621 crammed wherever they would fit at the USA Baseball complex.
On April 25, 2010 at Clemson the Heels came into the game with a 7-13 record in ACC play and badly needing a quality series win if they wanted to make the NCAA Tournament.
Things started of well. Mike Cavasinni got hit by a pitch to lead off the game. Ben Bunting singled and Clemson threw to 3rd to try to nail Cavi but he was safe and Ben moved to 2nd to put a couple of runners in scoring position with nobody out. Levi Michael hit a triple to bring them both home and give the Heels a 2-0 lead and a Dillon Hazlett single scored him too to make it 3-0 in the top of the 1st.
But in the bottom of the inning Clemson got a run back and in the 2nd they got a pair to tie the game at 3. After that the afternoon settled into a pitching duel between Clemson hurler Dominic Leone, who has spent 6 years in the majors, and Patrick Johnson for the Heels.
I think sometimes the amount of love Heels players get from the fan base is proportionate to their professional careers and because Patrick Johnson hasn't made it further than AA he sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. He shouldn't be.
Here's a little exercise: Player A finished his Heels career with a 22-7 record, a 3.74 ERA, and struck out 263 in 239 innings. Player B finished his career with a 25-8 record, a 3.25 ERA, and struck out 311 in 289 innings. Pretty similar but if you had to pick one, you'd probably go with Player B. Player B is Patrick Johnson. Player A is Matt Harvey.
At any rate I'm sure glad we had both of them that weekend. Matt's masterpiece won us the game Friday night and after the Clemson runs in the first couple innings Patrick threw a scoreless 3rd. And a 1-2-3 4th. And a scoreless 5th. And a scoreless 6th. And a scoreless 7th. And a scoreless 8th. Over that span of 6 shutout innings- against a team that went to Omaha-he allowed just 2 hits.
It was a good thing Patrick was that strong, because Leone for Clemson also allowed only 2 hits between the 3rd and the 8th innings. After 6 runs in the first couple innings neither team even really threatened in the next 6.
Finally the Heels got to face the bullpen in the 9th. With 2 outs Ryan Graepel went up to pinch hit and got things started with a single to right. The Heels went to a second pinch hitter- Brett Knief- who had come up with a big hit to get things started Friday night. Here he came up with the biggest hit of his Tar Heel career- a double into the right center gap that brought Ryan all the way around from 1st and gave the Heels a 4-3 lead.
Now all the Heels needed to do was retire Clemson in the 9th...it was not an easy task. The Tigers got a lead off single and bunted him over to 2nd. PJ came out after that- 8.1 innings and just 1 earned run allowed- it may not have been as dominant as Matt's 15 strikeout outing on Friday that weekend, but it was just as effective.
The next hitter walked. And then the next hitter got an infield single to load the bases with 1 out. And the next hitter got ahead 3-0. To this point it had been a season full of late game disappointments and it sure seemed like we were about to have another.
To much of the stadium the next pitch looked like ball 4, a bases loaded walk to tie the game. At least to folks in the stands, there was nothing resembling a strike call from the home plate ump. The Clemson runner on 1st came to the same conclusion and started trotting down to 2nd.
Then much to my surprise Jacob Stallings rifled the ball down to 1st and picked the runner off. He heard the strike call, was alert to the situation, and took advantage of the Clemson runner's mistake. 2 down.
After a lot of hubbub from the Clemson coaches about the previous play they still had 2 runners in scoring position and a 3-1 count. But Greg Holt battled back and struck out the hitter swinging to close out the save in a very intense 4-3 victory.
The Heels were one of the last teams to get in off the bubble in June. This was a road series win against a future Omaha team- Matt Harvey's effort on Friday night and then Patrick Johnson's big start Sunday and Brett Knief's huge double, and Jacob Stallings' heads up pick off, and Greg Holt's coming back from being down 3-0 strikeout in Clemson that weekend got us into the tournament.
Ben Bunting led the way for the Heels with 3 hits, including a double. Levi Michael's triple in the 1st was also critical to the victory, on top of his having a big night at the plate in the Friday win.
And quick hits from 2009, 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2017:
-In 2009 the Heels clinched the series against Maryland with a 14-3 win at the Bosh. Levi Michael led the way with 4 hits, including a triple and a double, and scored 3 runs. Mark Fleury (including a triple and a double and 4 RBI), Dustin Ackley (including a home run and 3 RBI), and Kyle Seager each had a pair of hits. Seth Baldwin hit a 3 run blast, Mike Cavasinni and Ryan Norton each had doubles, and Mike McKee got in the game and had a hit too.
Adam Warren got the win for 6 strong innings where he struck out 9 and allowed just 4 hits. Logan Munson pitched the last 3 innings and got the save, striking out 4.
-In 2012 the Heels and ECU had one heck of a pitching match up for a midweek game at the Bosh. The Pirates threw Jeff Hoffman, who ended up being a top 10 pick and has spent the last 4 years in the majors. The Heels countered with Kent Emanuel, who was available because it was exam week and we had the following weekend off.
Kent threw a scoreless 1st. And a scoreless 2nd. And a 1-2-3 3rd. And a scoreless 4th. And a 1-2-3 5th. And a 1-2-3 6th where he struck out the side. And a scoreless 7th. And a scoreless 8th- where ECU finally got a runner to 2nd, their first in scoring position all day. He left with 1 out in the 9th and a runner on 1st after going 8.1 innings, allowing 4 hits, walking no one, and striking out 7.
And yet if he was going to get any sort of decision for the day it was going to be a loss if that runner on 1st came around to score because Hoffman and the Pirates shut the Heels out for the first 8 innings too.
Michael Morin came on to pitch and struck out the first hitter he faced. The next one walked to put runners on 1st and 2nd. The following batter singled and the Pirates sent the runner from 2nd home...where he was thrown out to end the threat and at least ensure Kent wasn't going to get an L for his incredible performance.
The Pirates threatened again in the 10th, getting runners to 1st and 3rd before Michael got a pop out to extinguish the threat.
With 2 outs in the bottom of the 10th Mike Zolk drew a walk. On the very next pitch Parks Jordan singled through the right side to move Zoom up to 3rd. And finally Chaz Frank singled up the middle to bring him and give the Heels a big 1-0 rivalry game victory heading into the break.
Michael got the win after Kent's amazing start and Chaz Frank had 3 hits, including a double and Parks Jordan had 2 hits, including a double, in addition to their big pair of singles that won the game in the 10th.
-In 2014 the Heels won the series opener against Virginia Tech 3-2. The game was tied in the bottom of the 8th when Adam Pate drew a leadoff walk, Michael Russell doubled to move him up to 3rd, and he came around on a Skye Bolt FC with the winning run.
Trevor Kelley got the win for 2.1 innings of scoreless work where he retired the first 7 hitters he faced. Reilly Hovis came in with a runner on 1st in the 9th and got the last 2 outs for the save, striking out the final batter of the game. Trent Thornton had a good start, giving up 2 runs over 6 innings, but got a no decision.
The Heels only had 4 hits all day- Michael Russell had 2 of them, including his big double in the 8th. Adam Pate had a leadoff single in the 6th and came around to score, making him responsible for 2 of the 3 Heels runs. Skye Bolt drove in 2 runs, including the game winner.
This gave the Heels 13 straight home wins against the Hokies since they joined the ACC. My main memory from the game is that I competed in the donut eating contest and found that it was harder than it looked. A few weeks earlier someone had won the donut eating contest by eating like 3 donuts and I thought that's pathetic. So I told Marketing I wanted to do it the next time.
When we were in Charlottesville the weekend before I trained hard at the Quality Inn continental breakfast and I thought I was ready for a starring performance.
Well I did win, but I only managed to eat 2. My opponent could only get through 1.5 though. These donuts weren't exactly Krispy Kreme- they were very large, cakey, dining hall donuts and you had to eat them off a baseball bat. Even though I won, it was still kind of a humiliating performance. We dropped the donut eating contest pretty soon after that.
-In 2015 the Heels clinched the series against Boston College with a 6-1 win on a rainy Saturday morning at the Bosh- we started at 10:30, the earliest time I can remember at home- because the weather was just going to keep getting worse over the course of the day.
JB Bukauskas was dominant, going 7 innings and allowing only 3 hits while striking out 8. Trevor Kelley threw the last 2 innings to close it out.
Landon Lassiter led the offense with a pair of doubles and Joe Dudek had a couple hits as well. Zack Gahagan first got the Heels on the board with an RBI single in the 4th, and Korey Dunbar had an RBI double.
-In 2017 the Heels beat Elon 11-2. Brian Miller led the way with 4 hits, driving in and scoring 3. Brandon Riley (including a home run and 3 RBI), Ashton McGee (who also had a double and reached 4 times thanks to a pair of walks), and Tyler Lynn each had a pair of hits. Logan Warmoth had a triple and drove in and scored a run, Adam Pate had a double and scored a run, and Zack Gahagan singled and drove in a run.
Tyler Baum started and threw 4 solid innings and the bullpen combined for 5 scoreless innings where it allowed just 1 hit and struck out 8. Trevor Gay got the win for a scoreless inning and Taylor Sugg, Bo Weiss, the late Zach Attianese, and Cole Aker each threw a shutout frame as well.
April 26
For today's version of 'This Day in Recent Carolina Baseball History' we go back to 2013 and 2016 for an emphatic win in the opener of the most intense season ever of Carolina-State baseball and a wild walk off win at the Bosh. Plus quick hits from 2006, 2009, 2014, 2015, and 2017.
The Tar Heels and the Wolfpack ended up playing 5 times in 2013- a couple games in Raleigh, an epic in Durham, and a pair in Omaha to close it out. Even though the stakes rose with each passing game there was plenty of anticipation even for the first one on April 26, 2013 given that the Heels were #1 and the host Wolfpack were #6.
The Heels struck a pretty emphatic immediate blow. Chaz Frank singled to lead off the game and Landon Lassiter singled as well to put runners on the corners with nobody out.
Up came Colin Moran. And out went Colin Moran. He knocked one deep out of the park to straight center to give the Heels a 3-0 lead before an out had even been recorded in the game.
Kent Emanuel threw a scoreless 1st. The Wolfpack loaded the bases in the bottom of the 2nd with 2 outs for Trea Turner, probably the most fearsome opposing batter the Heels have had to contend with in recent memory. Kent struck him out swinging to retire the side.
In the top of the 3rd the Heels added to the lead. Brian Holberton hit a solo shot to right field. Cody Stubbs and Michael Russell then hit back to back singles with 1 out. Parks Jordan hit a ground ball to 3rd. The Pack threw to 2nd for the out there and then tried to turn the double play to end the inning- but instead threw the ball away, allowing Cody to come home and give the Heels a 5-0 advantage.
Kent threw a scoreless 3rd. And a scoreless 4th. And a 1-2-3 5th.
In the 6th Mike Zolk hit a leadoff single, moved to 2nd on a bunt by Matt Roberts, went to 3rd on a productive groundout by Chaz Frank, and came home to score on a passed ball to make it 6-0 Heels.
Kent threw a scoreless 6th before the Pack finally got one on the board in the 7th. But the Heels immediately got it back with 2 out in the 8th when Matt Roberts drew a walk, Chaz Frank hit an infield single to move him over to 2nd, and Landon Lassiter doubled to bring him home and make it 7-1.
It would have been understandable if Kent was getting a little tired when he went out for the 8th. Instead he capped his day by striking out the side. His final line was 8 innings, just 1 run allowed, and 9 strikeouts in yet another incredible outing in his ACC Pitcher of the Year season. The win pushed his record to 9-1.
Trent Thornton came in to pitch the 9th and threw a scoreless inning with a couple of strike outs- including one of Trea Turner- to finish the night. The win pushed the Heels record to 41-3 overall and 19-2 in conference play.
Michael Russell led the way for the Heels with 3 hits. Brian Holberton (including a home run), Cody Stubbs, Chaz Frank, and Landon Lassiter each had a pair of hits. And Colin Moran's 3 run bomb in the first set the tone for the entire game.
When the Heels hosted UNC-Wilmington at the Bosh on April 26, 2016 the Seahawks were actually having a better season to date (27-9) than the Tar Heels were (26-15). You wouldn't have known it from the 1st inning though. Brian Miller hit a leadoff double, went to 3rd on a bunt by Eli Sutherland, and came around to score on a sac fly by Brandon Riley.
Then with 2 outs the fun really started. Tyler Ramirez walked and Logan Warmoth singled. A wild pitch moved them up to 2nd and 3rd. And Zack Gahagan singled them in. 3-0.
Zack stole second. Tyler Lynn drew a walk. And Cody Roberts hit a double to left center to bring them both in. 5-0. Adam Pate singled to score Cody and the Heels led 6-0 in the 1st.
But then the Seahawks scored 6 in the 3rd to tie it right back up.
Brett Daniels threw a 1-2-3 4th. In the bottom half of the inning Tyler Ramirez doubled, advanced to 3rd on an error, and came around on a wild pitch. 7-6 Heels.
Brett threw a scoreless 5th. In the bottom of the inning Adam Pate hit a leadoff single, stole both 2nd *and* 3rd, and came home on a Brian Miller single. 8-6 Heels.
But in the 7th the Seahawks scored a pair of runs. And in the 8th they got another to take a 9-8 lead.
In the bottom of the 8th Tyler Ramirez got hit by a pitch with 1 out and stole 2nd. Logan Warmoth singled to put runners on the corners. And up came Kyle Datres to...pinch hit? It's a reminder what incredible strides he made from his freshman to his junior year that he ever wouldn't have been in the starting lineup. He came up big here with a pinch hit single to tie the game back up at 9- and that wouldn't be all for him, even with the late entry into the game.
Hansen Butler threw a 1-2-3 9th, including a couple of strikeouts. In the bottom of the 9th Brian Miller hit a leadoff single and moved to 2nd on a passed ball. Eli Sutherland drew a walk to put a couple runners on base with no one out.
But the next batter made an out. Then Tyler Ramirez got hit by a pitch for the second inning in a row to load the bases. But then the next batter made an out.
So 2 outs, bases loaded, and coming to the plate is none other than late substitute Kyle Datres. He falls behind 0-1. Then goes ahead 2-1. A strike to even the count. A ball runs the count full. And 4 hours and 19 minutes after the game started- has to be close to a length record for a 9 inning game- Kyle took ball 4 to bring in Brian for the literal walkoff victory, 10-9
This was a real quality win- Wilmington ended up finishing 2nd in the Columbia regional. Hansen got the win for his strong performance in the 9th. Logan Warmoth led the way for the Heels with 4 hits. Brian Miller had 3, including a double, and also walked 3 times to reach all 6 times he came up over the course of the game. Adam Pate had a pair of hits as well.
And quick hits from 2006, 2009, 2014, 2015, and 2017:
-In 2006 the Heels beat High Point 7-3, thanks to a trio of home runs. Benji Johnson hit a 3 run shot, Josh Horton hit one and had a double as well and drove in 3 runs, and the other came from Jay Cox.
4 Tar Heel relievers combined for 7 innings where they only allowed 1 run- Tyler Trice got the win, Matt Danford threw 2 scoreless innings, Jonathan Hovis threw 2 scoreless innings, and Mike Facchinei had a scoreless frame to close it out. The win gave the Heels a 5 game winning streak coming off their sweep over State the previous weekend and heading into their series at Duke.
-In 2009 the Heels finished their weekend sweep of Maryland with a 4-2 win. The game was tied in the bottom of the 7th when Mike Cavasinni singled and Levi Michael went deep to provide the game winning margin. Levi also had a double, and Mark Fleury had a home run and a double as well. That capped quite a weekend for Mark- 2 home runs, 2 doubles, a triple, and a single.
The bullpen went 8 innings and allowed only 1 run. Colin Bates was first up and went 3.1 scoreless innings. Brian Moran went 2.2 innings and got the win. I don't think we've ever had a combo quite like the 2 of them that year where our 2 best relievers both had the ability to go long such that if you needed 6 innings from them to win a game, you could get 6 innings from them to win a game. Nate Striz retired the last 6 Maryland batters, striking out a pair, for the save.
This game actually completed the Heels' home ACC slate quite early with an 11-4 record, including 7 wins in a row to close it out. That made it Senior Day and the program honored an incredibly special group who joined a team that hadn't been to Omaha in 17 years...and took them there 4 years in a row. Garrett Gore, Tyson Lusk, Mike McKee, Adam Warren and an honorable mention for Mike Cavasinni really helped the program turn a corner over an amazing stretch that will be hard to match ever again.
Even though this was the last one on the schedule, the team would earn a couple more weekends at the Bosh in June.
-In 2014 the Heels clinched the series against Virginia Tech- pushing their home record against the Hokies since they joined the ACC to 14-0- with a 6-4 win at the Bosh. Alex Raburn led the way with 3 hits and Landon Lassiter (including a double) and Parks Jordan (including 2 RBI) each had a pair of hits as well. Tom Zengel hit a double and scored a run.
Benton Moss went 7 innings, allowing just 5 hits, for the win. Reilly Hovis came on with a couple runners on base and 1 out in the 8th, and got a strike out and a fly out to end the threat. He followed that up with a scoreless 9th for the save.
-Benton Moss was good on this day in 2014. But he had one of the best outings of his career on this day in 2015, against Boston College.
He threw a scoreless 1st. And a scoreless 2nd. And a scoreless 3rd. And a 1-2-3 4th. And a 1-2-3 5th. And a scoreless 6th. And a 1-2-3 7th. And a scoreless 8th.
Benton didn't just shut out the Eagles over 8 innings where he only allowed 2 hits and struck out 6. He didn't even let a single runner get to 2nd! Hard to beat that for dominance. The win pushed his record to 6-0 on the season.
Korey Dunbar went deep to get the scoring started and drove in and scored 2 runs each. Tyler Ramirez hit a home run and scored a couple runs. Logan Warmoth had a 2 run single. Brian Miller and Landon Lassiter each singled and scored a run as well.
Trent Thornton threw a scoreless 9th to finish the 6-0 win. It was quite a weekend for the Heels' pitching- 27 innings, 1 run allowed- unearned. Only 10 Eagle hits all weekend, against 26 strikeouts.
This win pushed the Heels' record against BC in Chapel Hill to 14-0 since they joined the ACC. Now it's 17-0. At least Virginia Tech has 1 win here now to improve their record at UNC to 1-20.
-In 2017 the Heels beat Campbell 7-1. Logan Warmoth led the way with 3 doubles that drove in 3 runs. Zack Gahagan had a pair of doubles and drove in 2 runs as well. Adam Pate and Ashton McGee each singled to round out the hits for the Heels. Brian Miller and Tyler Lynn each scored a pair of runs, after walking 3 and 2 times respectively.
Jason Morgan started and threw 3 scoreless innings before giving way to Rodney Hutchison who earned the win for a pair of scoreless frames. Brett Daniels threw a couple scoreless innings of his own, and Trevor Gay had one as well. The Heels pitchers combined to give up only 3 hits on the night.
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