This Day In Tar Heel Baseball History: May 28
May 28, 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 28
There are no games to write about for May 28th so today we review the 2015 and 2016 seasons, look at the high points of those years, review some of the final honors and statistics, and check in on the pro careers of guys from those teams.
The 2015 team ended the season 34-24. Some of the highlights of their year included:
-Winning 2 of 3 at the Bosh against both State and Duke.
-Beating Georgia Tech, in Atlanta, for the program's first series win against the Yellow Jackets in 6 years.
-Sweeping Boston College and allowing only 1 run the entire weekend.
-Winning ACC Tournament games against Virginia Tech and Clemson when the season was on the line.
-Winning both games against UNC-Wilmington, which ended up in the top 25 in the country in the RPI.
-Winning individual games against UCLA and Miami, who both ended up in the top 10 in the country.
Some of the individual highlights of the season included:
-Benton Moss finished out his career with a 3rd team All-ACC selection for going 7-1 with a 3.44 ERA. He also concluded his career with 318 strikeouts, the second most in program history. He finished with 26 wins and an .813 winning percentage, putting him in the top 10 all time for both of those categories. His 332.1 career innings rank 5th all the time.
-Trevor Kelley made 41 appearances, the 4th most in a season in program history. He had a 2.55 ERA over 77.2 innings and won 5 games and earned 5 saves. He won the team's MVP award for a pitcher.
-Tyler Ramirez was the team's best overall batter, hitting .285 with a .907 OPS thanks to 10 home runs. He also led the team with 18 stolen bases and tied for the team lead in hits with 61. He won the team's MVP award for a position player.
-Zac Gallen made second team All-ACC for putting up a 2.79 ERA over a team leading 84 innings in 12 starts.
-Korey Dunbar concluded his Tar Heel career with a good season, hitting .288 with an .846 OPS and leading the team with 23 extra base hits. He also led the team in doubles with 16. He won the team's Most Improved Player award.
-Landon Lassiter was the team's only .300 hitter and had an OBP over .400. He tied for the team lead in hits with 61. Landon is ranked 9th in program history for career walks with 122.
-Skye Bolt made second team All-ACC, making 10 home runs and leading the team with 45 RBI.
Several players moved on to the pros after the season:
-Trent Thornton was a 5th round pick of the Astros. After making it to AAA with them in 2017 and 2018, they traded him to Toronto. Last year he cracked the starting rotation for the Blue Jays, making 29 starts. He struck out 149 hitters in 154.1 innings.
-Trevor Kelley was drafted in the 36th round by the Red Sox. He was never a top prospect but he just pitched well at every level- a 1.83 ERA in 2016 in A ball, a 2.36 ERA in 2017 in A ball and AA, a 2.88 ERA in 2018 in AA and AAA, and a 1.79 ERA in 2019 in AAA. That got him the call to the majors where he pitched in 10 games for the Red Sox. He's now in the Phillies organization.
-Skye Bolt was drafted in the 5th round by the Oakland A's and repeatedly made All Star teams as he moved his way up their system- in the Midwest League in 2016 and in the California League in 2017 and 2018. He had a monstrous close to his season in AA in 2018, winning Texas League Player of the Month honors for August. He carried over that momentum when he started 2019 with AAA Las Vegas and got the call to the majors in May, where his first career hit was a double.
-Benton Moss was a 5th round pick of the Rays. He actually got better each year as he moved his way up through their minor league system. He had a 3.72 ERA in 2016 in A ball, a 3.21 ERA in 2017 between AA and A ball, a 2.86 ERA in 2018 between AA and A ball, and a 1.29 ERA in 2019 between AA and A ball. He had an especially strong finish to his 2018 season, winning Southern League Pitcher of the Week twice in the span of a month. Unfortunately he wasn't blessed with a healthy arm and he made the decision to retire in 2019. He finished his professional career with a 3.18 ERA in 405 innings.
-Korey Dunbar was a 20th round pick for the Marlins and had a great start in rookie ball, hitting .317 with an OPS of .806. He spent parts of 2 years playing just down the road for the Greensboro Grasshoppers but had bad luck with injuries and retired after a couple years.
-Reilly Hovis was a 9th round pick for the Marlins and made it up to AA for them, striking out 138 in 131 professional innings. He had an especially good season playing in Greensboro in 2017, earning a 3.38 ERA over 29.1 innings in 22 appearances while striking out 35.
-Landon Lassiter was a 21st round pick of the White Sox. He played most of his pro career in the state of North Carolina, with Kannapolis and Winston-Salem in 2016 and Winston-Salem again in 2017. He made the 2016 South Atlantic League All Star game and ended up hitting a solid .284 in 726 at bats in his three year professional career.
The 2016 team ended the season 34-21. Some of the highlights of their year included:
-A home opening sweep of Oklahoma State, featuring a walkoff every day. The Cowboys ended up going to the College World Series.
-A sweep on the road at Duke by a combined score of 32-6 over the course of the weekend.
-A home and away sweep of East Carolina, a team that won a regional, by a combined score of 26-5.
-Winning a series to open the season in Los Angeles against UCLA, including a 4-0 shutout to start the year and a 14-5 blowout to clinch the series.
-Home ACC series wins over Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, and Virginia Tech.
-Individual wins over Louisville and NC State, both of whom finished the season in the top 10 in the RPI.
Some of the individual highlights of the season included:
-Brian Miller won Team MVP honors for the position players, hitting .345 with an OPS of .909. He led the team in hits with 78 and stolen bases with 21.
-Zac Gallen won Team MVP honors for the pitchers and also earned All-ACC honors for the second year in a row, making the third team. He had a 2.68 ERA and struck out 95 in 90.2 innings across his 13 starts.
-JB Bukauskas was named to the All-ACC second team. He had a 3.10 ERA and led the team in wins with 7 and strikeouts with 111 in 78.1 innings.
-Tyler Ramirez was also named to the All-ACC second team. He hit .333 with an OPS of 1.022 and led the team in home runs with 8 and walks with 50, ending up with an OBP just under .500. Tyler is ranked 10th in program history for career walks with 121.
-Logan Warmoth won the team's award for Most Improved Player, hitting .337 with an OPS of .883. He led the team in RBI with 53.
-Brandon Riley had the best year of the team's freshmen. He hit .294 with a .778 OPS and led the team in doubles with 16.
-Spencer Trayner led the team in appearances with 34 and had a 2.50 ERA across 36 innings.
-AJ Bogucki got 5 wins out of the bullpen, tying for the second most wins on the team. He had a 2.86 ERA in 50.1 innings, striking out 53.
-Adam Pate hit .285 and finished second on the team with 17 stolen bases. He was second on the team in walks with 38, pushing his OBP over .400.
Several players moved on to the pros after the season:
-Zac Gallen was drafted in the 3rd round by the St. Louis Cardinals. He made the Florida State League All Star Game in A ball for the Cardinals in 2017, then was traded to the Miami Marlins in the offseason. He made the AAA All Star game in 2018 for them. In 2019 he had a 9-1 record in 14 starts with a 1.77 ERA and 112 strikeouts in 91.1 innings in AAA. That earned him a promotion to the big leagues. He had a 2.72 ERA in 7 starts with the Marlins, then went in a trade to the Arizona Diamondbacks for whom he had a 2.89 ERA in 8 starts. Overall in his first big league season he struck out 96 in 80 innings and seems like he has the potential to be a star.
-Tyler Ramirez was drafted in the 7th round by the Oakland A's. He made the 2017 California League All Star Game when he was in A ball and the 2018 Texas League All Star game when he was in AA. He hit .304 with an OPS of .829 between AA and A ball in 2017, and .287 with an OPS of .800 spending the full season in AA in 2018. Last year he made it to AAA Las Vegas.
-AJ Bogucki was drafted in the 8th round by the Washington Nationals. He had a 3.56 ERA in 55.2 innings with low A Hagerstown in 2017, and advanced to high A Potomac in 2018 where he had a 1.42 ERA and struck out 33 in 31.2 innings across 16 outings. He split last year between high A and indy ball.
-Spencer Trayner was drafted in the 25th round by the St. Louis Cardinals. He had an incredible year in rookie ball, allowing only 23 hits and 5 walks in 34.1 innings, ending up with a 0.52 ERA for his first summer in pro ball. He advanced to A ball in 2017 before retiring.
