University of North Carolina Athletics
This Day In Tar Heel Baseball History: April 9
April 9, 2020 | Baseball
April 9
For today's version of 'This Day in Recent Carolina Baseball History' we go back to 2006 and 2011 for big time wins on the road in Florida as well as to 2008, 2010, 2013, 2016, and 2017 for quick hits looking at other happenings on this day.
On April 9, 2006 the Heels were in Coral Gables playing Miami for the series. We'd won 8-7 Friday night, but the Canes won 9-7 Saturday to knot it up. The Heels were looking to avenge the tough weekend they'd had when Miami was in Chapel Hill for the first time as an ACC team the year before and put up 42 runs over the course of the series.Â
Things started off well in the 2nd. Tim Federowicz hit a solo home run and after that Matt Spencer walked and Bryan Steed hit a double to put runners on 2nd and 3rd. Mike Cavasinni singled to bring in Matt and Reid Fronk hit a sac fly to bring in Bryan and the Heels led 3-0.
The Canes got one back in the bottom of the 2nd. In the 4th Cavi drew a walk with 1 out and Reid Fronk knocked one out of the park to right to make it 5-1. On the very next pitch Chad Flack hit one out (to left to provide some variety!) and the Heels led 6-1.
In the bottom of the inning the Canes got one back but in the top of the 5th the Heels continued to build the lead. Tim reached on an error and stole second, and Bryan hit his second double of the day to bring him around. Cavi hit an infield single and the Canes threw the ball away to let Bryan come in and make it 8-2.
The Miami offense was loaded though and in the bottom of the 5th they scored 4 times to cut the deficit to 8-6.
That gave the Heels' bullpen an opportunity to shine. Jonathan Hovis came on with a runner on 1st and 2 out in the 5th. He got the last out of the inning and then mowed down the Miami lineup in the 6th, 7th, and 8th without allowing a single hit. Jonathan was the only senior baseball player in my UNC Class of 2006 and I think because he was only on that first Omaha team he's maybe not remembered as much as he deserves to be but he was an incredible reliever and a huge part of that team's success. He certainly showed it that day in Miami.
In the 8th Reid Fronk hit his second home run of the day to make it 9-6 and in the bottom of the 9th Andrew Carignan came on to face the future major league regular trio of Jemile Weeks, Jon Jay, and Yonder Alonso. He set them down in order for the save and the big road series victory. Jonathan got his 6th win of the season.Â
In 2005 the Heels didn't win a game against Florida State or Miami. With the win that day, they had series wins over both teams on consecutive weekends a year later. I think that was when you could really start to feel like the 2006 version of the Diamond Heels might be something special.Â
When the Heels headed to Tallahassee in 2011 they were trying to do something they hadn't done since 1995- win a series on the road at Florida State. After a 5-3 loss in the opening game of the series it didn't look as if that was likely to change.
On April 9, 2011 the Heels fell behind 2-0 in the bottom of the 1st. But they responded quickly. In the top of the 2nd Coach Jesse Wierzbicki hit a lead off triple and Chaz Frank and Tom Zengel both drew walks to load the bases. Seth Baldwin singled to bring in Wierz and keep the bases packed, Ben Bunting hit into an FC that brought Chaz around, and Levi Michael followed with an FC of his own to bring Tom in and give the Heels a 3-2 lead.Â
The Noles tied it right back up in the bottom of the 2nd though, and then took a 5-3 lead in the bottom of the 4th.
In the top of the 5th the Heels made 2 quick outs but Tommy Coyle kept things going with a single and Jacob Stallings hit a triple to bring him around and cut the deficit to 5-4. Colin Moran worked a full count and then singled to bring in Jacob to tie the game. Coach Wierzbicki reached on an error that allowed Colin to come all the way around to score from 1st and then Chaz Frank singled to bring in Wierz and make it 7-5.
The Heels were doing a good job of scoring, but they weren't doing a great job of stopping the Noles from scoring. Shane Taylor changed that. He threw a 1-2-3 5th, got into a little trouble in the 6th but got out of it unscathed, and threw a 1-2-3 7th. His final batter of the game, in the 8th, was future Blue Jays 2B Devon Travis. He struck him out to cap a 4 inning scoreless outing with a total of 5 K's.Â
Greg Holt and R.C. Orlan got the last 2 outs of the 8th and Michael Morin came on for a scoreless 9th and got the save in an 8-5 come from behind Heels win that owed a whole lot of credit to Shane (who got his 2nd win of the season) and the bullpen and set up a chance for an elusive series win in Tallahassee the next day.Â
For today's version of 'This Day in Recent Carolina Baseball History' we go back to 2006 and 2011 for big time wins on the road in Florida as well as to 2008, 2010, 2013, 2016, and 2017 for quick hits looking at other happenings on this day.
On April 9, 2006 the Heels were in Coral Gables playing Miami for the series. We'd won 8-7 Friday night, but the Canes won 9-7 Saturday to knot it up. The Heels were looking to avenge the tough weekend they'd had when Miami was in Chapel Hill for the first time as an ACC team the year before and put up 42 runs over the course of the series.Â
Things started off well in the 2nd. Tim Federowicz hit a solo home run and after that Matt Spencer walked and Bryan Steed hit a double to put runners on 2nd and 3rd. Mike Cavasinni singled to bring in Matt and Reid Fronk hit a sac fly to bring in Bryan and the Heels led 3-0.
The Canes got one back in the bottom of the 2nd. In the 4th Cavi drew a walk with 1 out and Reid Fronk knocked one out of the park to right to make it 5-1. On the very next pitch Chad Flack hit one out (to left to provide some variety!) and the Heels led 6-1.
In the bottom of the inning the Canes got one back but in the top of the 5th the Heels continued to build the lead. Tim reached on an error and stole second, and Bryan hit his second double of the day to bring him around. Cavi hit an infield single and the Canes threw the ball away to let Bryan come in and make it 8-2.
The Miami offense was loaded though and in the bottom of the 5th they scored 4 times to cut the deficit to 8-6.
That gave the Heels' bullpen an opportunity to shine. Jonathan Hovis came on with a runner on 1st and 2 out in the 5th. He got the last out of the inning and then mowed down the Miami lineup in the 6th, 7th, and 8th without allowing a single hit. Jonathan was the only senior baseball player in my UNC Class of 2006 and I think because he was only on that first Omaha team he's maybe not remembered as much as he deserves to be but he was an incredible reliever and a huge part of that team's success. He certainly showed it that day in Miami.
In the 8th Reid Fronk hit his second home run of the day to make it 9-6 and in the bottom of the 9th Andrew Carignan came on to face the future major league regular trio of Jemile Weeks, Jon Jay, and Yonder Alonso. He set them down in order for the save and the big road series victory. Jonathan got his 6th win of the season.Â
In 2005 the Heels didn't win a game against Florida State or Miami. With the win that day, they had series wins over both teams on consecutive weekends a year later. I think that was when you could really start to feel like the 2006 version of the Diamond Heels might be something special.Â
When the Heels headed to Tallahassee in 2011 they were trying to do something they hadn't done since 1995- win a series on the road at Florida State. After a 5-3 loss in the opening game of the series it didn't look as if that was likely to change.
On April 9, 2011 the Heels fell behind 2-0 in the bottom of the 1st. But they responded quickly. In the top of the 2nd Coach Jesse Wierzbicki hit a lead off triple and Chaz Frank and Tom Zengel both drew walks to load the bases. Seth Baldwin singled to bring in Wierz and keep the bases packed, Ben Bunting hit into an FC that brought Chaz around, and Levi Michael followed with an FC of his own to bring Tom in and give the Heels a 3-2 lead.Â
The Noles tied it right back up in the bottom of the 2nd though, and then took a 5-3 lead in the bottom of the 4th.
In the top of the 5th the Heels made 2 quick outs but Tommy Coyle kept things going with a single and Jacob Stallings hit a triple to bring him around and cut the deficit to 5-4. Colin Moran worked a full count and then singled to bring in Jacob to tie the game. Coach Wierzbicki reached on an error that allowed Colin to come all the way around to score from 1st and then Chaz Frank singled to bring in Wierz and make it 7-5.
The Heels were doing a good job of scoring, but they weren't doing a great job of stopping the Noles from scoring. Shane Taylor changed that. He threw a 1-2-3 5th, got into a little trouble in the 6th but got out of it unscathed, and threw a 1-2-3 7th. His final batter of the game, in the 8th, was future Blue Jays 2B Devon Travis. He struck him out to cap a 4 inning scoreless outing with a total of 5 K's.Â
Greg Holt and R.C. Orlan got the last 2 outs of the 8th and Michael Morin came on for a scoreless 9th and got the save in an 8-5 come from behind Heels win that owed a whole lot of credit to Shane (who got his 2nd win of the season) and the bullpen and set up a chance for an elusive series win in Tallahassee the next day.Â
And we go back to 2008, 2010, 2013, 2016, and 2017 for other quick hits from April 9th:
-In 2008 the Heels beat North Carolina A&T 5-0 in Cary thanks to a great start from Mike Facchinei who started and threw 6.1 scoreless innings while only allowing a pair of hits and striking out 8. Rob Wooten, Nate Striz, Tim Federowicz, and Rob Catapano struck out 5 and allowed just a single hit over the last 2.2 innings to finish the shutout. Dustin Ackley (3 hits, including a double, and 2 RBI and 2 runs), and Tim Fedroff (a pair of hits including a double and 3 RBI) gave the Heels all the offense they needed.
-In 2010 the Heels kicked off a home series against State with a 14-7 win. Coach Jesse Wierzbicki led the way with 2 doubles that drove in 3 runs, making him 1 of 4 guys with multiple hits. Brian Goodwin (3 RBI and 2 runs scored), Tommy Coyle, and Dillon Hazlett also joined the parade. Mike Cavasinni had a notable performance as well, scoring 4 runs and driving in a pair on a single, 2 walks, and a HBP. That's the kind of spark you want from your leadoff hitter! Matt Harvey got the win for 7 innings of work where he allowed just a single earned run and Colin Bates threw 1.2 scoreless innings to close it out.
-In 2013 the Heels went to Elon and won 15-3. A trio of guys had 3 hits- Skye Bolt (including a home run and a double and driving in 3 runs and scoring 3), Colin Moran (including a double and driving in 3 runs and scoring 2), and Brian Holberton (including a double and scoring 3 runs and driving in 1.) Landon Lassiter also had a pair of hits and Mike Zolk drove in a pair of runs. The thing I remember most about this game though is that Matt Roberts, who was from Alamance County, went deep in front of the home town crowd. Chris Munnelly threw 5.1 innings and got the win, Chris McCue followed him with 2.2 scoreless innings where he only allowed 1 hit, and Mason McCullough finished off the game with a scoreless 9th. The win pushed our record to 30-2.
-In 2016 the Heels clinched their series against Virginia Tech at the Bosh with a 4-1 win thanks to a masterpiece by JB Bukauskas who struck out 13 and allowed only 2 hits in 7.1 innings. Combined with Zac Gallen's outing the night before that made it 16.1 innings, 26 strikeouts, and only 6 hits allowed over the 2 day span for the Heels starters. Tyler Ramirez (including a double) and Brian Miller each had a pair of hits and each scored 2 of the runs. Cody Roberts had a pair of hits, including a double, as well and drove in a run and Eli Sutherland got the big hit of the game in the 7th with a single that drove in a pair. AJ Bogucki came in with a couple runners on base and no one out in the 9th and set down the remaining Hokie batters in order to close it out and get the save. The win made the Heels 11-0 in series against Virginia Tech since they joined the conference, a record that is now 14-0 with one tie due to a series where the last game was rained out.
-Finally in 2017 the Heels scored 31 runs in a double header at Boston College to sweep the series. The 16-4 and 15-3 wins actually represented a slight come down offensively from the series opener when the Heels scored 17- 48 runs total for the series.
In the first game a trio of Heels had 3 hits- Kyle Datres (including a home run and a double and 4 RBI), Logan Warmoth (including a double and scoring twice), and Brian Miller. Another trio had 2 hits each- Zack Gahagan (including a home run, 2 RBI, and 2 runs scored), Brandon Riley, and Ashton McGee. Michael Busch didn't start the game but doubled and drove in a pair of runs as a late sub. Luca Dalatri threw 6 strong innings and only allowed 3 hits for the win, and Taylor Sugg tossed a scoreless 9th to close it out.
In the second game (which had to be shortened because we needed to fly back, who knows how many more runs we might have scored!) Logan Warmoth led the way with 3 hits, including a home run and a double, and scored 3 runs and drove in a pair. Cody Roberts also had 3 hits, including a pair of doubles, and scored 4 times and drove in a pair. Kyle Datres (including a double, 3 RBI, and scoring 2 runs) and Brandon Riley each had a pair of hits. Austin Bergner threw 5 solid innings and only allowed 2 hits for the win and Jason Morgan set the Eagles down 1-2-3 in their final at bat to cap a most emphatic sweep for the Heels. The win gave the Heels their 8th straight in what would become an 11 game streak.
