University of North Carolina Athletics
Adam Warren in the 2007 Winthrop game
Photo by: Joe Bray
This Day In Tar Heel Baseball History: May 15
May 15, 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.
May 15
For today's version of 'This Day in Recent Carolina Baseball History' we go back to 2009 for a crucial win in Boston for the Heels' Coastal Division hopes and for a great homecoming game in Asheville for Coach Fox. Plus a quick hit from 2007.
On May 15, 2009 as the Heels prepared to play the second game of their ACC closing series at Boston College they found themselves a game behind Georgia Tech for the division lead. The teams had gone into the weekend tied but on Thursday UNC lost its opener to BC while Georgia Tech won its opener at Duke to move into the lead. The only path for the Diamond Heels to an outright division title at that point was winning their last 2 games and Georgia Tech losing its last 2 games, an unlikely set of 4 different outcomes going the right way.
The Heels came out swinging in Boston. Dustin Ackley singled and stole second, and Kyle Seager walked to put a couple of runners on in the 1st inning. With 2 outs Garrett Gore singled to score Dusty and then Mark Fleury drew a walk to load the bases.
That brought up Ryan Graepel. He fell behind 1-2, then singled. His hit was going to bring in both Kyle and Garrett anyway but the ball was misplayed on top of that, allowing Mark to come all the way around and give the Heels an early 4-0 lead.
The Eagles got a run back in the 1st and another one in the second to cut their deficit to 4-2. In the 3rd Kyle Seager singled and then came around on a Garrett Gore double to get the advantage for the Heels back up to 5-2.
Boston College got a run in the bottom of the 3rd to make it 5-3 and still had runners on the corners with 1 out when Brian Moran came in to pitch. Brian struck out the first guy he faced and got a line out to strand the Eagle runners where they were and keep the Heels up by a couple of runs.
Brian followed that up with a 1-2-3 4th with a couple of strikeouts and a 1-2-3 5th with another strikeout. At this point Brian had retired 18 opposing hitters in a row and 34 out of 35 over the course of his work in the previous week.
Our starting rotation in 2009 was the pretty remarkable trio of Alex White, Adam Warren, and Matt Harvey. But when it comes to who the best pitcher on the team was, that year? It was Brian Moran. 65.1 innings pitched, 90 strikeouts and only 8 walks, 45 hits allowed, a 2.20 ERA. As good as all those other guys were, none of them were in the ballpark of being that dominant that particular season.
In the 6th the Heels blew it open. Mark Fleury and Ryan Graepel singled to lead off the inning. Ben Bunting tried to bunt them over and did such a good job of it he reached himself to load the bases with nobody out.
After an out Mike Cavasinni fell behind 1-2 and then came up with a big hit, scoring Mark and Ryan to make 7-2. A Dustin Ackley double on the very next pitch scored Ben and made it 8-2. Kyle Seager got ahead 2-0 and then singled to bring in Cavi and Dusty to make it 10-2.
Boston College got one back in the 6th and still had the bases loaded with 1 out. Colin Bates came on and struck out Tony Sanchez, who was a first round pick of the Pirates the following month, and then got a force at the plate to end the inning with no further damage and the Heels still ahead 10-4.
In the bottom of the 7th the Eagles scored 4 runs to get within 10-8 and still had runners on 1st and 2nd with 2 down when Patrick Johnson- usually the midweek starter that year- came on in relief. He struck out the first guy he faced on 3 pitches to strand the runners and preserve the 2 run lead.
In the 8th the Heels got the 4 runs right back. Seth Baldwin walked and Mike Cavasinni reached on an error to bring Dustin Ackley up with a couple runners on. He parked one to center field to push the lead back up to 13-8.
After that Kyle Seager and Garrett Gore both singled and Mark Fleury got hit by a pitch to load the bases. A Ryan Graepel FC scored Kyle to make it 14-8.
Patrick threw a scoreless 8th and in the 9th the Heels had one last rally in them. Dustin Ackley walked, Kyle Seager singled to put runners on the corners, and Levi Michael doubled to bring them both home and build the lead to 16-8.
The Eagles got a couple runs in the 9th but Patrick finished it out for a 16-10 win. Brian Moran got his 3rd win in the last week and a half (to go with a save) for his 3 innings of work. The game gave the Heels their 8th season in a row with at least 40 wins.
Meanwhile in Durham, Duke upset Georgia Tech 6-4 so the Coastal Division was back into being tied. The Heels needed the same outcome again the next day- a win for themselves and a Georgia Tech loss- to win the division outright. It was one of those rare times you had to root for Duke.
Dustin Ackley (including a home run, a couple doubles, 4 RBI and 4 runs) and Kyle Seager (including 4 runs and 2 RBI) both had 4 hits. Garrett Gore (including a double and a couple RBI) had 3 hits. Levi Michael had a couple doubles and drove in a pair of runs and Ryan Graepel had a pair of singles and drove in 3 runs. Mike Cavasinni had a single, drove in a couple runs, and scored 2 runs and Mark Fleury had a single and scored twice to round out the hitting.
Coach Fox is a native of Asheville and on May 15, 2012 the Heels traveled there and played a homecoming game for him at McCormick Field, one of the most historic and beautiful settings for baseball anywhere in the country.
Things got off to a good note in the 1st. Michael Russell singled and Colin Moran doubled to put runners on 2nd and 3rd. A Jacob Stallings double brought them both home to make it 2-0.
Brian Holberton walked and then Cody Stubbs- also from western North Carolina- singled to load the bases. Tommy Coyle walked to bring Jacob home and Shell McCain singled to bring Holbie home and just like that the Heels led 4-0.
UNC-Asheville loaded the bases with nobody out in the 1st but Hobbs Johnson retired the side in order from there to keep them to 1 run that came in on a sac fly. He threw a scoreless 2nd with a pair of strikeouts and then a scoreless 3rd with another pair of strikeouts.
In the 4th Chaz Frank hit a leadoff double and a Michael Russell grounder moved him up to 3rd. Colin Moran singled to bring him home and get the Heels lead back up to 5-1.
Hobbs threw a scoreless 4th to finish his day with 4 innings where he struck out 5 and only allowed 1 run. He got the win to push his record for the season to 5-1.
In the 5th Tommy Coyle walked and moved to 2nd on a wild pitch and with 2 outs Chaz Frank singled to bring him around. Chaz moved into scoring position on a botched pickoff attempt and Michael Russell singled to score him and put the Heels up 7-1.
Luis Paula threw a scoreless 5th and in the 6th the Heels put together their last big rally of the day. Jacob Stallings hit a leadoff double and Brian Holberton moved him up to 3rd. Cody Stubbs singled to bring Jacob in and make it 8-1 and then Tommy Coyle followed up with a long ball that gave the Heels a 10-1 advantage.
The Heels got a 1-2-3 6th with Luis recording the first out and Chris O'Brien coming on to get the final 2 Bulldog hitters. Mason McCullough struck out the side in the 7th- another western North Carolina native with a strong showing in his homecoming game.
The Bulldogs got 3 in the 8th to cut their deficit to 10-4 but Chris McCue came on for the 9th and retired the side in order on just 6 pitches to close out the win. It was a great homecoming game for Coach Fox and the Heels headed home for their final ACC weekend on a 10 game winning streak.
Chaz Frank led the way for the Heels with 4 hits, including a pair of doubles, scoring twice and driving in a run. 6 other Heels had multi hit games- Tommy Coyle (including a home run, 3 RBI, and 2 runs), Jacob Stallings (including a double, 2 RBI, and 2 runs), Colin Moran (including a double, an RBI, and a run), Michael Russell (including an RBI and a run), Cody Stubbs (including an RBI and a run), and Shell McCain (including an RBI.)
And a quick hit from 2007:
-The Heels beat Winthrop 8-7 at the Bosh. Tim Fedroff was the star with 3 hits, including a triple, driving in 4 runs and scoring a pair. Dustin Ackley had a pair of hits and scored a run. The other hits came from Benji Johnson (including a pair of RBI) Reid Fronk (including an RBI), Chad Flack (including a run), Tim Federowicz (including a run), and Kyle Seager (including a run). Josh Horton also drove in and scored a run.
Adam Warren went the first 4.2 innings and got the win, pushing him to 10-0 on the season. Tim Federowicz came in with the bases loaded in the 9th and retired the side to earn his 3rd save of the season.
May 15
For today's version of 'This Day in Recent Carolina Baseball History' we go back to 2009 for a crucial win in Boston for the Heels' Coastal Division hopes and for a great homecoming game in Asheville for Coach Fox. Plus a quick hit from 2007.
On May 15, 2009 as the Heels prepared to play the second game of their ACC closing series at Boston College they found themselves a game behind Georgia Tech for the division lead. The teams had gone into the weekend tied but on Thursday UNC lost its opener to BC while Georgia Tech won its opener at Duke to move into the lead. The only path for the Diamond Heels to an outright division title at that point was winning their last 2 games and Georgia Tech losing its last 2 games, an unlikely set of 4 different outcomes going the right way.
The Heels came out swinging in Boston. Dustin Ackley singled and stole second, and Kyle Seager walked to put a couple of runners on in the 1st inning. With 2 outs Garrett Gore singled to score Dusty and then Mark Fleury drew a walk to load the bases.
That brought up Ryan Graepel. He fell behind 1-2, then singled. His hit was going to bring in both Kyle and Garrett anyway but the ball was misplayed on top of that, allowing Mark to come all the way around and give the Heels an early 4-0 lead.
The Eagles got a run back in the 1st and another one in the second to cut their deficit to 4-2. In the 3rd Kyle Seager singled and then came around on a Garrett Gore double to get the advantage for the Heels back up to 5-2.
Boston College got a run in the bottom of the 3rd to make it 5-3 and still had runners on the corners with 1 out when Brian Moran came in to pitch. Brian struck out the first guy he faced and got a line out to strand the Eagle runners where they were and keep the Heels up by a couple of runs.
Brian followed that up with a 1-2-3 4th with a couple of strikeouts and a 1-2-3 5th with another strikeout. At this point Brian had retired 18 opposing hitters in a row and 34 out of 35 over the course of his work in the previous week.
Our starting rotation in 2009 was the pretty remarkable trio of Alex White, Adam Warren, and Matt Harvey. But when it comes to who the best pitcher on the team was, that year? It was Brian Moran. 65.1 innings pitched, 90 strikeouts and only 8 walks, 45 hits allowed, a 2.20 ERA. As good as all those other guys were, none of them were in the ballpark of being that dominant that particular season.
In the 6th the Heels blew it open. Mark Fleury and Ryan Graepel singled to lead off the inning. Ben Bunting tried to bunt them over and did such a good job of it he reached himself to load the bases with nobody out.
After an out Mike Cavasinni fell behind 1-2 and then came up with a big hit, scoring Mark and Ryan to make 7-2. A Dustin Ackley double on the very next pitch scored Ben and made it 8-2. Kyle Seager got ahead 2-0 and then singled to bring in Cavi and Dusty to make it 10-2.
Boston College got one back in the 6th and still had the bases loaded with 1 out. Colin Bates came on and struck out Tony Sanchez, who was a first round pick of the Pirates the following month, and then got a force at the plate to end the inning with no further damage and the Heels still ahead 10-4.
In the bottom of the 7th the Eagles scored 4 runs to get within 10-8 and still had runners on 1st and 2nd with 2 down when Patrick Johnson- usually the midweek starter that year- came on in relief. He struck out the first guy he faced on 3 pitches to strand the runners and preserve the 2 run lead.
In the 8th the Heels got the 4 runs right back. Seth Baldwin walked and Mike Cavasinni reached on an error to bring Dustin Ackley up with a couple runners on. He parked one to center field to push the lead back up to 13-8.
After that Kyle Seager and Garrett Gore both singled and Mark Fleury got hit by a pitch to load the bases. A Ryan Graepel FC scored Kyle to make it 14-8.
Patrick threw a scoreless 8th and in the 9th the Heels had one last rally in them. Dustin Ackley walked, Kyle Seager singled to put runners on the corners, and Levi Michael doubled to bring them both home and build the lead to 16-8.
The Eagles got a couple runs in the 9th but Patrick finished it out for a 16-10 win. Brian Moran got his 3rd win in the last week and a half (to go with a save) for his 3 innings of work. The game gave the Heels their 8th season in a row with at least 40 wins.
Meanwhile in Durham, Duke upset Georgia Tech 6-4 so the Coastal Division was back into being tied. The Heels needed the same outcome again the next day- a win for themselves and a Georgia Tech loss- to win the division outright. It was one of those rare times you had to root for Duke.
Dustin Ackley (including a home run, a couple doubles, 4 RBI and 4 runs) and Kyle Seager (including 4 runs and 2 RBI) both had 4 hits. Garrett Gore (including a double and a couple RBI) had 3 hits. Levi Michael had a couple doubles and drove in a pair of runs and Ryan Graepel had a pair of singles and drove in 3 runs. Mike Cavasinni had a single, drove in a couple runs, and scored 2 runs and Mark Fleury had a single and scored twice to round out the hitting.
Coach Fox is a native of Asheville and on May 15, 2012 the Heels traveled there and played a homecoming game for him at McCormick Field, one of the most historic and beautiful settings for baseball anywhere in the country.
Things got off to a good note in the 1st. Michael Russell singled and Colin Moran doubled to put runners on 2nd and 3rd. A Jacob Stallings double brought them both home to make it 2-0.
Brian Holberton walked and then Cody Stubbs- also from western North Carolina- singled to load the bases. Tommy Coyle walked to bring Jacob home and Shell McCain singled to bring Holbie home and just like that the Heels led 4-0.
UNC-Asheville loaded the bases with nobody out in the 1st but Hobbs Johnson retired the side in order from there to keep them to 1 run that came in on a sac fly. He threw a scoreless 2nd with a pair of strikeouts and then a scoreless 3rd with another pair of strikeouts.
In the 4th Chaz Frank hit a leadoff double and a Michael Russell grounder moved him up to 3rd. Colin Moran singled to bring him home and get the Heels lead back up to 5-1.
Hobbs threw a scoreless 4th to finish his day with 4 innings where he struck out 5 and only allowed 1 run. He got the win to push his record for the season to 5-1.
In the 5th Tommy Coyle walked and moved to 2nd on a wild pitch and with 2 outs Chaz Frank singled to bring him around. Chaz moved into scoring position on a botched pickoff attempt and Michael Russell singled to score him and put the Heels up 7-1.
Luis Paula threw a scoreless 5th and in the 6th the Heels put together their last big rally of the day. Jacob Stallings hit a leadoff double and Brian Holberton moved him up to 3rd. Cody Stubbs singled to bring Jacob in and make it 8-1 and then Tommy Coyle followed up with a long ball that gave the Heels a 10-1 advantage.
The Heels got a 1-2-3 6th with Luis recording the first out and Chris O'Brien coming on to get the final 2 Bulldog hitters. Mason McCullough struck out the side in the 7th- another western North Carolina native with a strong showing in his homecoming game.
The Bulldogs got 3 in the 8th to cut their deficit to 10-4 but Chris McCue came on for the 9th and retired the side in order on just 6 pitches to close out the win. It was a great homecoming game for Coach Fox and the Heels headed home for their final ACC weekend on a 10 game winning streak.
Chaz Frank led the way for the Heels with 4 hits, including a pair of doubles, scoring twice and driving in a run. 6 other Heels had multi hit games- Tommy Coyle (including a home run, 3 RBI, and 2 runs), Jacob Stallings (including a double, 2 RBI, and 2 runs), Colin Moran (including a double, an RBI, and a run), Michael Russell (including an RBI and a run), Cody Stubbs (including an RBI and a run), and Shell McCain (including an RBI.)
And a quick hit from 2007:
-The Heels beat Winthrop 8-7 at the Bosh. Tim Fedroff was the star with 3 hits, including a triple, driving in 4 runs and scoring a pair. Dustin Ackley had a pair of hits and scored a run. The other hits came from Benji Johnson (including a pair of RBI) Reid Fronk (including an RBI), Chad Flack (including a run), Tim Federowicz (including a run), and Kyle Seager (including a run). Josh Horton also drove in and scored a run.
Adam Warren went the first 4.2 innings and got the win, pushing him to 10-0 on the season. Tim Federowicz came in with the bases loaded in the 9th and retired the side to earn his 3rd save of the season.
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