This Day In Tar Heel Baseball History: May 5

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 4
For today's version of 'This Day in Recent Carolina Baseball History' we go back to 2009 and 2012 for a midweek game where 3 future big leaguers pitched in relief for the Heels and a come from behind ACC series clincher thanks to good relief pitching and a big hit from Brian Holberton. Plus a quick hit from 2015.

On May 5, 2009 the Heels hosted Elon in their first game in 9 days after final exams. They were ready to go. Patrick Johnson threw a scoreless 1st. In the bottom half Ben Bunting hit a leadoff single and Levi Michael parked one and in the span of 5 pitches the Heels led 2-0.

Dustin Ackley and Kyle Seager walked and Mark Fleury hit a double to bring them both home and make it 4-0, still before a single out had been recorded. Garrett Gore bunted Mark over to 3rd and he came in on an error to make it 5-0.

Elon hit 3 solo home runs in the 2nd and 3rd innings and Brian Moran came on with a runner on 1st and 1 out to face his wonderful sister Megan's alma mater. Brian struck out the first batter he faced and then picked off the runner on 1st to get out of the inning with the 5-3 lead preserved

In the bottom half of the inning Mike Cavasinni drew a leadoff HBP and Ryan Graepel worked a walk. With 1 out Ben Bunting hit an infield single to load the bases. After a strikeout Dustin Ackley came to the plate, and he singled to center to score a pair of runs and get the lead back up to 7-3.

Brian threw a scoreless 4th, striking out a pair of batters. In the bottom of the inning the bats really exploded. Mark Fleury drew a walk, Garrett Gore bunted so well he got a single and reached, and Mike Cavasinni singled too to load the bases with nobody out

Mark scored on an error and Garrett scored on a balk. That left runners on 2nd and 3rd for Tarron Robinson and he singled to bring them both home and make it 11-3. With 2 outs Dustin Ackley doubled to bring in Tarron and then Kyle Seager doubled to bring in Dusty to cap a 6 run inning and make it 13-3.

Brian threw a scoreless 5th to finish his day with 2.2 scoreless innings where he allowed only a single hit and struck out 3. He ended up getting the win, pushing his record for the season to 5-1. The Phoenix still had 2 more future big league pitchers to contend with for the evening.

Logan Munson threw a scoreless 6th. In the bottom of the inning the Heels finished up their scoring for the day when Levi Michael got hit by a pitch, moved to 2nd on a Kyle Seager groundout, to 3rd on a wild pitch, and came home on a single by Mark Fleury.

Since he hadn't pitched in a long time because of the exam break Adam Warren came in and threw a scoreless 7th and 8th. And when he came out the Heels went to Matt Harvey to close out the 15-6 victory. Not too often 3 future big leaguers throw in relief in a midweek game. Elon had a very good team that year- 33–13 heading into the game- but the Heels were clearly very ready to get back out on the field after the layoff.

Dustin Ackley led the way with 3 hits, including a double, and 3 RBI and 2 runs scored. Mark Fleury (including a double, 3 RBI, and 2 runs scored) and Ben Bunting each had a pair of hits as well. Levi Michael's home run and doubles by Kyle Seager and Ryan Graepel rounded out the extra base hits.

On May 5, 2012 the Heels were coming off a 15-1 shellacking of Boston College in the series opener the night before and trying to clinch the series.

It would be a lot harder than the first game. The Eagles took a 3-0 lead in the 2nd inning. In the bottom the Heels clawed back a little- Cody Stubbs hit a leadoff double, he moved to 3rd on a grounder by Tommy Coyle, and he came in on an Adam Griffin sac fly to cut the deficit to 3-1.

Boston College scored another pair of runs in the 4th to stretch the lead out to 5-1. In the bottom of the inning the Heels got one of them back when Tommy Coyle singled and moved to 2nd on a wild pitch, Adam Griffin got hit by a pitch, Brian Holberton hit a grounder that moved them both up a base, and Parks Jordan walked to load the bases. A productive out from Chaz Frank brought Tommy home and cut the deficit to 5-2.

The biggest star for the day from this point forward was perhaps the Heels bullpen. Chris Munnelly and Tate Parrish combined for a scoreless 5th.

In the bottom of the inning Colin Moran reached 2nd on an error and Jacob Stallings singled him in to make it 5-3. It's been really striking going through this project to see how many times Jacob brought in Colin or Kyle Seager brought in Dustin Ackley during their college careers, and then those combos just kept on working in the starting lineups of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Seattle Mariners respectively well after they left Chapel Hill.

Cody Stubbs singled to put runners on the corners. After an out an Adam Griffin grounder to short brought in Jacob, cutting the deficit to 5-4 and leaving a runner on 2nd with 2 out. Brian Holberton singled to keep the inning going and move Adam to 2nd and then Parks Jordan came up with a big single to left to score him and tie the game up at 5.

Chris McCue came in in the 6th with a couple runners on base and nobody out. After a bunt moved the runners to 2nd and 3rd with 1 out he got a strikeout and a groundout to extinguish the threat. That was a pretty typical appearance for Chris in 2012 and 2013- his reliably strong work out of the bullpen was a big part of those teams having so much success.

Chris got the first out of the 7th and Chris O'Brien came into the game with a runner on 1st and coaxed a double play ball from the first guy he faced to get out of the inning.

In the bottom half Tommy Coyle drew a leadoff walk and Adam Griffin bunted him over to 2nd. That brought Brian Holberton up to the plate and he launched a double down the right field line, bringing Tommy home to give the Heels a 6-5 lead.

Chris O'Brien came back out for the 8th and retired the first 2 Eagle hitters, finishing his 1.1 innings of scoreless work where he didn't allow any base runners with a strikeout.

Then the Heels went to Michael Morin. And when the Heels went to Michael Morin that season it generally meant the game was over. He struck out the last batter of the 8th. Then he got the first 2 outs of the 9th on a total of 3 pitches thanks to a couple of quick grounders. The next Eagle worked a walk, but Michael struck out the last hitter of the game swinging on 3 pitches to earn his 12th save of the season and clinch the series for the Heels.

The bullpen combined for 5 scoreless innings to close out the game after the tough start. Chris O'Brien earned the only win of his Tar Heel career. Brian Holberton (including the game winning double) and Cody Stubbs (also with a double) each had a pair of hits for the Heels. The win pushed UNC's record against Boston College at home since the Eagles joined the conference to 8-0.

And a quick hit from 2015:

-The Heels got back on the field and beat UNC-Asheville 11-2. Korey Dunbar (including a double and a couple of runs) and Adam Pate(including a couple runs and an RBI) each had a pair of hits for the Heels. Skye Bolt had a double and scored a run, Joe Dudek had a single and drove in 3 runs, Logan Warmoth had a single and drove in a pair of runs, Alex Raburn had a single and drove in a pair of runs, and Elijah Sutherland and Landon Lassiter each had hits and drove in runs as well.

Benton Moss started and threw 5 strong innings, allowing only 1 run on 3 hits. The win pushed his record for the season to 7-0. AJ Bogucki struck out 5 in 2.2 innings of relief, Trevor Kelley got a strikeout to close out the 8th against the only batter he faced, and Brett Daniels threw a scoreless 9th to finish the victory.

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