This Day In Tar Heel Baseball History: June 1

MIchael Busch and Dallas Tessar

Photo by: Joe Bray

June 1, 2020 | Baseball

By: Tom Jensen

CHAPEL HILL - 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.

June 1
For today's version of 'This Day in Recent Carolina Baseball History' we go back to 2008 and 2013 for a regional championship win starring Mark Fleury and a memorable rain delay, and a winner's bracket win starring Michael Russell over Towson. Plus quick hits from 2007, 2012, 2018, and 2019.

On June 1, 2008 it looked like the Heels were going to be playing Elon in the regional championship game in Cary. The Phoenix went into the 9th with an 11-4 lead...but in the 9th the Seahawks put up 11 runs for a 15-11 comeback win, giving them a ton of momentum heading into their game with the Heels.

Adam Warren threw a scoreless 1st but the Seahawks got a run in the 2nd to take an early 1-0 lead. Adam came back with a scoreless 3rd and 4th. The Heels got plenty of runners on base during the first 4 innings but they couldn't get any of them home- there were 6 runners left on base over that period of time.

In the 5th the Seahawks threatened to put the Heels at a significant deficit, loading the bases with 2 outs. Brian Moran came on to pitch and fell behind 2-0. But then he got the Seahawk batter to hit three foul balls in a row, and finally got a grounder to short who threw to 2nd for the force to end the threat.

In the bottom of the 5th the Heels bats finally blew up. Dustin Ackley doubled and at first the Heels played just to try to tie the game, with Kyle Shelton bunting Dusty over to 3rd. Tim Fedroff immediately singled to bring him in and tie the game. Chad Flack moved Tim over to 2nd and with 2 outs the Seahawks intentionally walked Kyle Seager to get to Tim Federowicz.

I guess when you're facing a lineup full of future big leaguers you have to pick your poison but intentionally walking someone to get to Tim Federowicz is not a choice I would make. He singled through the left side to bring home the other Tim and give the Heels a 2-1 lead.

That brought up Mark Fleury. Mark's one of those guys who maybe doesn't get the recognition he deserves because he was one of so many stars on the teams he played on but he really had a remarkable career. He went from having 7 at bats his entire freshman year to hitting .309 with a .964 OPS his junior year, hitting 19 doubles and 12 home runs. It's pretty rare to get that kind of offensive production out of the catcher spot.

2008 was his sophomore year and his season was somewhere in between what he did his freshman year and his junior year. He hit for a solid average but he didn't flash a ton of power, with 2 home runs on the season at this point.

Make that three. After falling behind 0-2 Mark took a ball and then knocked one out of the park to right center to give the Heels a 5-1 lead. He might not have hit a ton of home runs in 2008 but this was one of the most important blasts the Heels got all year.

Brian came right back with a 1-2-3 6th and in the bottom of the inning Ryan Graepel drew a leadoff walk and then moved to 2nd on a balk. The next two Heels made outs but Tim Fedroff came up with a big single to bring Ryan in and make it 6-1.

In the 7th the rains came and the game had to be stopped but the delay actually led to one of my favorite moments of the 2008 season. I wrote a few weeks ago about how I felt that Jones Angell and Adam Lucas' fun radio broadcasts really helped to build popularity and enthusiasm for the program during the original stretch of Omaha runs. They provided a sound track with the exact right tone for those teams.

It felt back then like everyone listened to Jones and Adam and that was never reinforced more than during this rain delay. They asked everyone at the game who was listening in their cars to honk their horns to show they were tuning in and all the sudden there was a cacophony of just about every single horn in the USA Baseball parking lot. Everyone really *was* listening to Jones and Adam. They even made rain delays fun.

After a little over an hour the game picked back up. Wilmington got a run back to cut their deficit to 6-2 but Colin Bates came in and got the final run of the inning to avoid any further damage, then followed that up by throwing a 1-2-3 8th.

In the 8th the Heels got one last run, again driven by Mark Fleury. He hit a leadoff double, got to 3rd on a wild pitch, and came home on a Ryan Graepel sac fly to make it 7-2.

The Seahawks got a run back in the 9th to make it 7-3 and still had runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out. They'd already come back from a 7 run 9th inning deficit in one game that day so they definitely had the ability not to give up and to string some hits together.

Rob Wooten came on though and that was that. He struck out the first guy he faced swinging and the second guy he faced looking, only throwing one ball between the two at bats, to earn his 4th save of the season and officially make the Heels the 2008 Cary Regional champions and set them up for a date with Coastal Carolina in supers the following weekend.

Brian Moran got the win for 2 innings of good relief work, and the win made the Heels 49-12 for the season. Mark Fleury (including a home run, a double, 3 RBI, and 2 runs) and Tim Fedroff (including 2 RBI and a run) each had 3 hits for the Heels. Dustin Ackley had a pair of hits, including a double, and scored a run. Tim Federowicz had a single and drove in and scored a run, Seth Williams had a single, and Ryan Graepel drove in and scored a run.

On June 1, 2013 the Heels played Towson in the winner's bracket game Saturday in the Chapel Hill regional. Just a few months earlier Towson had announced it was eliminating the baseball program and that year's version of the Tigers ended up making an inspiring run to the NCAA Tournament that helped save their program from the chopping block. They upset Florida Atlantic 7-2 in the opening game of the regional to move on to the winners bracket.

The Heels were the 'road team' for this game at the Bosh per NCAA rules. Kent Emanuel threw a 1-2-3 1st. In the 2nd Cody Stubbs connected for a solo shot to right to give the Heels a 1-0 lead.

Kent threw a 1-2-3 2nd. The Tigers got a 1 out single in the 3rd...but then Kent picked him off. The next hitter made an out and it was 9 up, 9 down for Kent's first time through the Towson lineup.

In the top of the 4th Landon Lassiter drew a leadoff walk and with one out Skye Bolt made a walk too. Cody Stubbs hit a grounder to move them both into scoring position.

That brought up Michael Russell with runners on 2nd and 3rd and 2 out. He fell behind 0-1, took a couple balls, and then singled to left to score Landon and Skye and give the Heels a 3-0 advantage.

In the 4th Kent allowed a leadoff single...and then once again picked the guy off and retired the rest of the side in order to continue facing the minimum number of hitters. In the 5th Mike Zolk hit a leadoff double, Parks Jordan bunted him over to 3rd and did such a good job he got a single out of it, and Chaz Frank hit a sac fly to bring Zoom home and give the Heels a 4-0 lead.

Kent threw a 1-2-3 5th. In the 6th Michael Russell came up with 2 outs and put together a lengthy at bat, finally singling on the 7th pitch of it to keep the inning going. Brian Holberton followed that up with a double to right to bring him around and get the Heels a 5-0 lead.

Towson got a run back in the 6th but with runners still on 1st and 2nd and the opportunity to get a lot more, Kent came back after falling behind 3-1 with a strikeout looking to end the inning. In the 7th Towson got another run but with a runner on 1st and one down Kent got a double play to avoid further trouble in that frame. The Heels led 5-2.

In the 8th they got some insurance. Cody Stubbs singled and Michael Russell continued his monster day with a double down the left field line on the first pitch he saw to score Cody and get it back to 6-2. A Brian Holberton grounder moved Michael up to 3rd and a Mike Zolk grounder brought him home and made it 7-2.

The Heels needed the extra runs because the Tigers were tenacious and did not fold easily. They got three runs in the 8th to get back to within 7-5 and still had runners on 1st and 2nd and the go ahead run at the plate with 2 outs. The Heels went to Trent Thornton and he got a fly out to center to end the threat and send the game on to the 9th.

With 1 out Landon Lassiter and Colin Moran hit back to back singles to put runners on the corners. Skye Bolt made a sac fly to center to score Landon and push the lead back up to 8-5.

Trent got the first out of the 9th on a fly out. The next guy singled but even though his run really meant nothing with a 3 run deficit he tried to stretch his hit into a double and Parks Jordan made a good throw to Mike Zolk at 2nd to punch him out trying to take the extra base.

A fly out to center ended the game, giving Trent his 8th save of the season, and sending the Heels on to the regional championship game. It was nevertheless a very gritty performance by a Towson team whose late run that year probably helped save their program.

Kent Emanuel got the win to go to 11-3 on the year and it made the Heels' record an absurd 54-8. Michael Russell led the way for the Heels with 3 hits, including a double, driving in 3 runs and scoring 2. Cody Stubbs (including a home run and 2 runs scored), Brian Holberton (including a double and an RBI), and Landon Lassiter (including 2 runs) each had a pair of hits for the Heels.

Mike Zolk doubled and drove in and scored a run, Chaz Frank singled and drove in a run, and Colin Moran and Parks Jordan each singled to round out the hits for the Heels. Skye Bolt also made an RBI and scored a run.

And quick hits from 2007, 2012, 2018, and 2019:

-In 2007 the Heels kicked off the Chapel Hill regional with a 6-0 win over Jacksonville. There was a weird backstory with that- the Heels were supposed to have Wofford, one of the weakest teams in the field, as their 4 seed. But the committee goofed up and also put Western Carolina in the Chapel Hill regional, which meant there were two teams from the Southern Conference, and you can't do that. So instead they changed the bracket after it was released and gave us Jacksonville instead, which was one of the *best* 4 seeds in the field.

Some years there isn't that much difference between the ability of our different starting pitchers. But this was not one of those years- Robert Woodard was clearly the best pitcher on staff. If we'd been facing Wofford we probably could have gotten away with using one of the other starters and saving Woody for the winners bracket game. But against Jacksonville we had to go ahead and start him in the first game and not take any risks.

He certainly was up to the occasion. He threw 8 shutout innings to push his record for the season to 10-2. Rob Wooten struck out the side in a scoreless 9th to close it out.

Tim Federowicz led the way for the Heels with 3 hits, including a pair of doubles, and drove in a couple runs and scored one. Josh Horton (including a double, an RBI, and a run) also had a pair of hits.

Chad Flack doubled and drove in and scored a run, Kyle Seager doubled and drove in a run, Seth Williams doubled and scored a run, Garrett Gore singled and drove in a run, and Tim Fedroff singled and scored a run. The win made the Heels 49–12 on the season.

-In 2012 the Heels kicked off the Chapel Hill regional with a 7-4 win over Cornell. Colin Moran had a big day with 4 hits, driving in and scoring a run. Jacob Stallings had a pair of hits and drove in 2 runs.

Parks Jordan had a triple and drove in and scored a run. Adam Griffin singled and drove in a pair of runs, Michael Russell and Chaz Frank each singled and scored a run, and Cody Stubbs also singled. Tommy Coyle scored a pair of runs and Brian Holberton scored one as well.

Hobbs Johnson had a solid start, giving up 2 runs in 5 innings with 5 strikeouts to get the win and improve his record for the season to 7-1. Michael Morin closed out the game with 1.1 scoreless innings that included a couple strikeouts to earn his 18th save of the season, breaking the program's all time single year record. The win made the Heels 45–14 for the season

-In 2018 the Heels kicked off the Chapel Hill regional with an 11-0 win over North Carolina A&T. Cooper Criswell had an excellent start, going 6 scoreless innings while allowing only 3 hits and striking out 6. Caden O'Brien, Rodney Hutchison, and Tyler Baum each threw a scoreless inning for a combined 5 hit shutout with 10 K's.

Michael Busch (including a home run and a double, 5 RBI, and a run), Kyle Datres (including a triple, 2 RBI, and a run), and Ashton McGee (including 2 runs) each had a pair of hits for the Heels. Jackson Hesterlee singled, drove in 2 runs, and scored a pair, Zack Gahagan singled and scored twice, Cody Roberts singled and scored twice, and Clemente Inclan singled and drove in a run. The win set the Heels up for a winners bracket match with Houston the next day.

-In 2019 the Heels beat Liberty 16–1 in the winners bracket game to move on to the championship game in the Chapel Hill regional. Dylan Harris led the way for the Heels with 3 hits, including a home run, and drove in 3 runs and scored a pair. Ashton McGee (including a home run, 4 RBI, and 2 runs), Michael Busch (including a home run, 2 RBI, and 2 runs), and Caleb Roberts (including a double) each had a pair of hits.

11 Heels got hits in all. Brandon Martorano hit a home run and drove in 3 runs. Aaron Sabato had a solo shot. Ike Freeman doubled, scored 3 runs, and drove in one. Jackson Hesterlee doubled and scored a run. Danny Serretti singled and scored 2 runs, Dylan Enwiller singled and drove in a run, and Dallas Tessar singled and scored a run. Every starter had a hit and a couple guys off the bench got in on the action too.

It was a staff day on the mound. Will Sandy threw 2.1 scoreless innings to get it started. Hansen Butler got a strikeout with the bases loaded in the 3rd when the game was still competitive and picked up yet another win, continuing a remarkable run for him and getting him to 5-0 on the year.

Austin Love followed with 3 scoreless innings, Connor Ollio threw a scoreless 7th, Josh Dotson threw a scoreless 8th, and Kyle Blendinger came on with the bases loaded and 1 out in the 9th and got the last two hitters to close out the game.