University of North Carolina Athletics
This Day In Tar Heel Baseball History: May 27
May 27, 2020 | Baseball
CHAPEL HILLÂ - North Carolina looks at "On This Day in Tar Heel History", as Tom Jensen shares his memories as an avid Tar Heel fan and regular at Boshamer Stadium.Â
May 27
For today's version of 'This Day in Recent Carolina Baseball History' we go back to 2017 and 2011 for the Heels' first ACC Tournament win in 17 years and what has to be the latest starting game the program has ever played. Plus a quick hit from 2017.
On May 27, 2017 the Heels took on Wake Forest in the ACC Championship game in Jacksonville. They had lost their first game of the tournament but then come back with a 14-5 thrashing of NC State and a 5-0 defeat of Virginia thanks to a dominant outing by Alex White to storm their way back.
The Deacs got a run in the 1st but Luke Putkonen settled in after that. He threw a scoreless 2nd and a scoreless 3rd without allowing any hits.
Garrett Gore reached on an error to start the 4th and with 1 out Tim Federowicz singled to move him up to 2nd. After another out Chad Flack fell behind 1-2 and it looked like the opportunity might be squandered but he came up with a big single to left to tie the game at 1.
Luke threw a 1-2-3 4th with a pair of strikeouts, a scoreless 5th and a scoreless 6th. He only allowed 1 hit over his first 6 innings, coming up with a huge start when the Heels needed it the most.
Kyle Seager hit a 1 out double in the 7th and Seth Williams followed it up with a single to put runners on the corners. A Reid Fronk grounder brought Kyle in and gave the Heels a 2–1 lead.
Luke got a couple strikeouts in the 7th but a single, a HBP, and another single allowed the Deacs to tie the game and still have runners on the corners. Wake star Allan Dykstra was issued an intentional pass and Matt Danford came on to replace Luke with the bases loaded and the game on the line.Â
Matt had been in our baseball program for a long time. He came in as a freshman in 2003 and made a contribution right away, throwing 46.2 innings in 24 appearances out of the bullpen with an ERA of 3.47. Then he had to sit out 2004 with an injury but came back in 2005 and worked himself into the closer's role, saving 9 games and putting up a 1.41 ERA in 44.2 innings over 26 games.Â
In 2006 Andrew Carignan was so good there was no choice but to make him the closer and Matt went back to middle relief. A lot of guys- especially after having already been in the program for 4 years- probably would have left for somewhere else to play their final season after being shifted into a less prestigious role. But Matt came back for year 5 in the program and had one of his best years yet, earning a 5-0 record with a 3.22 ERA in 50.1 innings over 31 appearances.
And he was getting back on the mound for situations like the game defining one he found himself in then- bases loaded, tie game, 7th inning in the ACC Championship game. He got ahead of the Wake hitter 0-1 and then got a harmless flyball to center to end the threat.
Pitching the end of the 7th made Matt the pitcher of record if the Heels could do anything in the 8th. Dustin Ackley drew a leadoff walk and after an out stole 2nd base. That brought up Josh Horton.
It's just a reality that the college baseball players who make it to MLB end up being the college baseball players who get remembered the most, regardless of what they did in college. That isn't fair to Josh Horton though. He was incredible as a Tar Heel. He finished his career hitting .360 with a .960 OPS. He drove in 147 runs, he had 46 doubles, he had 18 home runs, and he had 10 triples- and he hit that well as a middle infielder, somewhere you're often content just to get good defense and average hitting from. He should be remembered as one of the all time greats in program history.
I mentioned those 10 triples for a specific reason. Because with Dusty on 2nd and 1 out in a tie game that's what he did- he fell behind 1-2 and then tripled to right to bring him home and give the Heels a 3-2 lead.
Andrew Carignan came on in the 8th which meant the rest of the game was pretty much a formality. He struck out the first guy he faced, then gave up a single...and got a double play on the very next pitch to end the inning.
In the 9th the Deacs got a leadoff single and bunted him over to 2nd. 1 out. The next guy hit the ball to short and Josh Horton fielded it and went to 3rd for the lead runner. 2 out. The final Wake hitter just decided that instead of trying to hit Andrew for real he would bunt and try to get a hit that way. Andrew fielded it and threw to 1st for the final out to give the Heels their first ACC Tournament title since 1990.
Matt Danford, 5th year senior, got the win for retiring the Deacons with the bases loaded in the 7th. Andrew Carignan got his 13th save of the season. Josh Horton was named ACC Tournament MVP after his game winning triple and Alex White, Dustin Ackley, Reid Fronk, and Tim Fedroff each made the All Tournament Team as well. The win pushed the Heels record to 48-12 on the season.
Josh Horton (including a triple and a double and an RBI) and Tim Federowicz each had a pair of hits for the Heels. Kyle Seager doubled and scored a run, Chad Flack and Reid Fronk each singled and drove in a run, and Seth Williams had a hit as well.Â
On May 27, 2011 the Heels were scheduled to play Wake Forest in the ACC Tournament at 7 PM. The team traveled over there in plenty of time for the 7 PM game. The problem is because of rain delays the game didn't actually start until 12:09 AM.Â
And a related problem was that the team had brought over a quantity of food predicated on their being out by 10 PM or so when it turned out instead that they were going to be there all night. So as the night wore on and the guys sat around waiting to play with nothing much to do but eat, the food supplies were running low. And you can't just order a bunch of food at 10 PM on no notice and you also can't let a bunch of college athletes starve.Â
This is where I enter the story. I was sitting at home in Chapel Hill waiting to drive over when we had an actual start time when Tyson Lusk, our Clubhouse and Equipment Manager, called and said hey can you do me a favor? The favor was to drive over to the Bosh and get all the extra food supplies they had there and drive them over to the DBAP so the players had something to eat during the game.Â
I drove over there and for the first and probably only time ever found myself in the Bosh all by myself. I called Tyson and he walked me through all the various door combos and go this way and don't go that way etc etc to avoid setting off all the alarms and have the police come and arrest the team's loudest fan for trespassing in the stadium while the team was in Durham.Â
I got all the food loaded up in my car without incident and drove to Durham and handed it off and our guys were able to eat!
So we finally started playing after midnight, and were we ready to play. Levi Michael singled with 1 out in the 1st and Coach Jesse Wierzbicki doubled him in with 2 outs to give the Heels a 1-0 lead almost immediately.
Patrick Johnson that night was the best I ever saw him pitch. He threw a scoreless 1st- he walked the leadoff hitter and then he just proceeded to pick him off. He threw a 1-2-3 2nd. He threw a 1-2-3 3rd.Â
In the 4th he got some more support when Ben Bunting hit a 1 out single and Greg Holt followed that up by going deep over the Blue Monster to give the Heels a 3-0 lead.Â
Patrick threw a 1-2-3 4th and in the 5th Levi Michael knocked one out to left to make it 4-0 and then Wierz hit one out himself in the same direction to make it 5-0.
Patrick was getting more dominant as he went along. He threw a 1-2-3 5th with a pair of strikeouts, then followed that up with a 1-2-3 6th where he struck out the side. I am fully convinced Patrick was going to throw a no hitter that night.
But in the top of the 7th, at 1:55 AM, the rain came back again and the game had to be stopped and resumed the next afternoon.
When the game picked back up at 4:30 PM we just scored some more. Levi Michael doubled and went to 3rd on a Colin Moran ground out and Jesse Wierzbicki drew a walk. The speedy Jesse stole 2nd to put a pair of runners in scoring position and Tommy Coyle doubled to bring them both home and make it 7-0. Jacob Stallings followed with a single to score Tommy and make it 8-0.
Chris Munnelly came in for the 7th to replace Patrick. PJ's final line was 6 scoreless, no hit innings with 8 strikeouts. Chris got the first 2 outs in the 7th before a single for Wake ended the no hitter. Chris got the last out to complete the inning.
Coach Bryant Gaines came on and threw a 1-2-3 8th. The Heels got one final run in the 9th when Jesse Wierzbicki drew a leadoff walk and stole second AGAIN. Tommy Coyle singled to move him up to 3rd and Brian Holberton hit a sac fly to score him and make it 9-0.
Coach Gaines got the 1st out of the 9th, Tate Parrish got the 2nd one, and Cody Penny closed it out to give the Heels a 9-0 win. This game mattered too- the Heels had put themselves in good position for a national seed by sweeping #1 Virginia at the Bosh the previous weekend but they couldn't feel too comfortable about making that top 8 if they lost all their ACC Tournament games so this win solidified their case to host all the way to Omaha.
Patrick earned the win for his could have been no hitter to push his season record to 11-1. Levi Michael led the way for the Heels with 3 hits, including a home run and a double, and scored 3 runs and had an RBI. Jesse Wierzbicki reached all 5 times he came up, had a home run and a double, walked 3 times, scored 3 times, drove in a pair of runs, and stole a couple of bases. Tommy Coyle's pair of hits included a double and he drove in 2 runs and scored one. Greg Holt had a 2 run home run and singles for Jacob Stallings (including an RBI) and Ben Bunting (including a run) rounded out the hits for the Heels.
And a quick hit from 2017:
-The Heels made it to the final of the ACC Tournament with a 12-4 win over Miami. They fell behind 3-0 in the 1st but then scored 12 of the last 13 runs in the game. The win made the Heels 47-11 for the season.
Logan Warmoth led the way for the Heels with 3 hits, including a triple, and drove in 3 runs and scored twice. Ashton McGee (including a home run and a double, 3 RBI, and 2 runs) and Kyle Datres (including a double, 2 RBI, and a run) each had a pair of hits. Brendan Illies had a double and drove in a run, Brian Miller singled, scored twice, and drove in a run, Cody Roberts singled, drove in, and scored a run, and Michael Busch singled and scored twice.
Rodney Hutchison got the win for 3 innings of scoreless relief, his 7th of the season. After a tough first inning Luca Dalatri retired 9 of the last 10 batters he faced between the 2nd and 4th innings before giving way to Rodney. Austin Bergner threw a 1-2-3 9th, striking out the side, to close out the win and send the Heels on to the title game against Florida State.Â
May 27
For today's version of 'This Day in Recent Carolina Baseball History' we go back to 2017 and 2011 for the Heels' first ACC Tournament win in 17 years and what has to be the latest starting game the program has ever played. Plus a quick hit from 2017.
On May 27, 2017 the Heels took on Wake Forest in the ACC Championship game in Jacksonville. They had lost their first game of the tournament but then come back with a 14-5 thrashing of NC State and a 5-0 defeat of Virginia thanks to a dominant outing by Alex White to storm their way back.
The Deacs got a run in the 1st but Luke Putkonen settled in after that. He threw a scoreless 2nd and a scoreless 3rd without allowing any hits.
Garrett Gore reached on an error to start the 4th and with 1 out Tim Federowicz singled to move him up to 2nd. After another out Chad Flack fell behind 1-2 and it looked like the opportunity might be squandered but he came up with a big single to left to tie the game at 1.
Luke threw a 1-2-3 4th with a pair of strikeouts, a scoreless 5th and a scoreless 6th. He only allowed 1 hit over his first 6 innings, coming up with a huge start when the Heels needed it the most.
Kyle Seager hit a 1 out double in the 7th and Seth Williams followed it up with a single to put runners on the corners. A Reid Fronk grounder brought Kyle in and gave the Heels a 2–1 lead.
Luke got a couple strikeouts in the 7th but a single, a HBP, and another single allowed the Deacs to tie the game and still have runners on the corners. Wake star Allan Dykstra was issued an intentional pass and Matt Danford came on to replace Luke with the bases loaded and the game on the line.Â
Matt had been in our baseball program for a long time. He came in as a freshman in 2003 and made a contribution right away, throwing 46.2 innings in 24 appearances out of the bullpen with an ERA of 3.47. Then he had to sit out 2004 with an injury but came back in 2005 and worked himself into the closer's role, saving 9 games and putting up a 1.41 ERA in 44.2 innings over 26 games.Â
In 2006 Andrew Carignan was so good there was no choice but to make him the closer and Matt went back to middle relief. A lot of guys- especially after having already been in the program for 4 years- probably would have left for somewhere else to play their final season after being shifted into a less prestigious role. But Matt came back for year 5 in the program and had one of his best years yet, earning a 5-0 record with a 3.22 ERA in 50.1 innings over 31 appearances.
And he was getting back on the mound for situations like the game defining one he found himself in then- bases loaded, tie game, 7th inning in the ACC Championship game. He got ahead of the Wake hitter 0-1 and then got a harmless flyball to center to end the threat.
Pitching the end of the 7th made Matt the pitcher of record if the Heels could do anything in the 8th. Dustin Ackley drew a leadoff walk and after an out stole 2nd base. That brought up Josh Horton.
It's just a reality that the college baseball players who make it to MLB end up being the college baseball players who get remembered the most, regardless of what they did in college. That isn't fair to Josh Horton though. He was incredible as a Tar Heel. He finished his career hitting .360 with a .960 OPS. He drove in 147 runs, he had 46 doubles, he had 18 home runs, and he had 10 triples- and he hit that well as a middle infielder, somewhere you're often content just to get good defense and average hitting from. He should be remembered as one of the all time greats in program history.
I mentioned those 10 triples for a specific reason. Because with Dusty on 2nd and 1 out in a tie game that's what he did- he fell behind 1-2 and then tripled to right to bring him home and give the Heels a 3-2 lead.
Andrew Carignan came on in the 8th which meant the rest of the game was pretty much a formality. He struck out the first guy he faced, then gave up a single...and got a double play on the very next pitch to end the inning.
In the 9th the Deacs got a leadoff single and bunted him over to 2nd. 1 out. The next guy hit the ball to short and Josh Horton fielded it and went to 3rd for the lead runner. 2 out. The final Wake hitter just decided that instead of trying to hit Andrew for real he would bunt and try to get a hit that way. Andrew fielded it and threw to 1st for the final out to give the Heels their first ACC Tournament title since 1990.
Matt Danford, 5th year senior, got the win for retiring the Deacons with the bases loaded in the 7th. Andrew Carignan got his 13th save of the season. Josh Horton was named ACC Tournament MVP after his game winning triple and Alex White, Dustin Ackley, Reid Fronk, and Tim Fedroff each made the All Tournament Team as well. The win pushed the Heels record to 48-12 on the season.
Josh Horton (including a triple and a double and an RBI) and Tim Federowicz each had a pair of hits for the Heels. Kyle Seager doubled and scored a run, Chad Flack and Reid Fronk each singled and drove in a run, and Seth Williams had a hit as well.Â
On May 27, 2011 the Heels were scheduled to play Wake Forest in the ACC Tournament at 7 PM. The team traveled over there in plenty of time for the 7 PM game. The problem is because of rain delays the game didn't actually start until 12:09 AM.Â
And a related problem was that the team had brought over a quantity of food predicated on their being out by 10 PM or so when it turned out instead that they were going to be there all night. So as the night wore on and the guys sat around waiting to play with nothing much to do but eat, the food supplies were running low. And you can't just order a bunch of food at 10 PM on no notice and you also can't let a bunch of college athletes starve.Â
This is where I enter the story. I was sitting at home in Chapel Hill waiting to drive over when we had an actual start time when Tyson Lusk, our Clubhouse and Equipment Manager, called and said hey can you do me a favor? The favor was to drive over to the Bosh and get all the extra food supplies they had there and drive them over to the DBAP so the players had something to eat during the game.Â
I drove over there and for the first and probably only time ever found myself in the Bosh all by myself. I called Tyson and he walked me through all the various door combos and go this way and don't go that way etc etc to avoid setting off all the alarms and have the police come and arrest the team's loudest fan for trespassing in the stadium while the team was in Durham.Â
I got all the food loaded up in my car without incident and drove to Durham and handed it off and our guys were able to eat!
So we finally started playing after midnight, and were we ready to play. Levi Michael singled with 1 out in the 1st and Coach Jesse Wierzbicki doubled him in with 2 outs to give the Heels a 1-0 lead almost immediately.
Patrick Johnson that night was the best I ever saw him pitch. He threw a scoreless 1st- he walked the leadoff hitter and then he just proceeded to pick him off. He threw a 1-2-3 2nd. He threw a 1-2-3 3rd.Â
In the 4th he got some more support when Ben Bunting hit a 1 out single and Greg Holt followed that up by going deep over the Blue Monster to give the Heels a 3-0 lead.Â
Patrick threw a 1-2-3 4th and in the 5th Levi Michael knocked one out to left to make it 4-0 and then Wierz hit one out himself in the same direction to make it 5-0.
Patrick was getting more dominant as he went along. He threw a 1-2-3 5th with a pair of strikeouts, then followed that up with a 1-2-3 6th where he struck out the side. I am fully convinced Patrick was going to throw a no hitter that night.
But in the top of the 7th, at 1:55 AM, the rain came back again and the game had to be stopped and resumed the next afternoon.
When the game picked back up at 4:30 PM we just scored some more. Levi Michael doubled and went to 3rd on a Colin Moran ground out and Jesse Wierzbicki drew a walk. The speedy Jesse stole 2nd to put a pair of runners in scoring position and Tommy Coyle doubled to bring them both home and make it 7-0. Jacob Stallings followed with a single to score Tommy and make it 8-0.
Chris Munnelly came in for the 7th to replace Patrick. PJ's final line was 6 scoreless, no hit innings with 8 strikeouts. Chris got the first 2 outs in the 7th before a single for Wake ended the no hitter. Chris got the last out to complete the inning.
Coach Bryant Gaines came on and threw a 1-2-3 8th. The Heels got one final run in the 9th when Jesse Wierzbicki drew a leadoff walk and stole second AGAIN. Tommy Coyle singled to move him up to 3rd and Brian Holberton hit a sac fly to score him and make it 9-0.
Coach Gaines got the 1st out of the 9th, Tate Parrish got the 2nd one, and Cody Penny closed it out to give the Heels a 9-0 win. This game mattered too- the Heels had put themselves in good position for a national seed by sweeping #1 Virginia at the Bosh the previous weekend but they couldn't feel too comfortable about making that top 8 if they lost all their ACC Tournament games so this win solidified their case to host all the way to Omaha.
Patrick earned the win for his could have been no hitter to push his season record to 11-1. Levi Michael led the way for the Heels with 3 hits, including a home run and a double, and scored 3 runs and had an RBI. Jesse Wierzbicki reached all 5 times he came up, had a home run and a double, walked 3 times, scored 3 times, drove in a pair of runs, and stole a couple of bases. Tommy Coyle's pair of hits included a double and he drove in 2 runs and scored one. Greg Holt had a 2 run home run and singles for Jacob Stallings (including an RBI) and Ben Bunting (including a run) rounded out the hits for the Heels.
And a quick hit from 2017:
-The Heels made it to the final of the ACC Tournament with a 12-4 win over Miami. They fell behind 3-0 in the 1st but then scored 12 of the last 13 runs in the game. The win made the Heels 47-11 for the season.
Logan Warmoth led the way for the Heels with 3 hits, including a triple, and drove in 3 runs and scored twice. Ashton McGee (including a home run and a double, 3 RBI, and 2 runs) and Kyle Datres (including a double, 2 RBI, and a run) each had a pair of hits. Brendan Illies had a double and drove in a run, Brian Miller singled, scored twice, and drove in a run, Cody Roberts singled, drove in, and scored a run, and Michael Busch singled and scored twice.
Rodney Hutchison got the win for 3 innings of scoreless relief, his 7th of the season. After a tough first inning Luca Dalatri retired 9 of the last 10 batters he faced between the 2nd and 4th innings before giving way to Rodney. Austin Bergner threw a 1-2-3 9th, striking out the side, to close out the win and send the Heels on to the title game against Florida State.Â
Players Mentioned
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