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The 2011 Super Regional champions
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This Day In Tar Heel Baseball History: June 11
June 11, 2020 | Baseball
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 11
For today's version of 'This Day in Recent Carolina Baseball History' we go back to 2011 and 2013 for an Omaha clincher where the fans came back hyped up after a long rain delay and helped see the Heels through to victory and one where a win over the Gamecocks ensured the most dominant team in program history finished their season in the only appropriate city to finish it in.
On June 11, 2011 the Heels were coming off winning the first game of their Super at the Bosh thanks to a dominant performance by Patrick Johnson and hoping to wrap it up in two games.
Kent Emanuel was on the mound for the Heels and after giving up a run in the 1st he didn't let Stanford do much of anything the rest of the day. He threw a scoreless 2nd, allowing only a 1 out walk, and followed that up with a scoreless 3rd where the only base runner reached on an error.
The Heels got a hit in each of the first three innings but were unable to convert. That changed in the 4th. Tommy Coyle drew a 1 out walk, and Jacob Stallings singled to move him up to 2nd. Ben Bunting- playing his last game at the Bosh to end a great four years with the Heels- singled through the right side to score Tommy and tie up the game.
That brought up Brian Holberton with runners on 1st and 2nd. He only started 1 of the first 22 games of the season but when he started getting more opportunities halfway through the year he really made the most of them and by the postseason he was regularly in the lineup. It's hard to think of a bigger hit he had his freshman year than this one- he got ahead 3-1 and then doubled down the right field line, scoring both Jacob and Ben to give the Heels a 3-1 lead.
In the 4th Kent set down the side after a 1 out single. He got a 1-2-3 5th. And in the 6th he again retired the side after a 1 out single. He was really coasting, not even getting into any trouble.
The Heels blew the game open in the top of the 7th. Chaz Frank hit a leadoff single, Levi Michael walked, and Colin Moran reached on an error to load the bases with nobody out. Coach Jesse Wierzbicki brought in a run on a FC to make it 4-1 but the next hitter made an out, giving Stanford the opportunity to get out of the inning without much damage.
Jacob Stallings came up with runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 out and came up with a huge single, scoring both Levi and Colin to make it 6-1. The Cardinals were so shell shocked that Jacob, known for his great speed, then stole a base on them!
Kent came out after giving up a leadoff single in the 7th. He allowed just 1 run in 6 innings on 5 hits and a walk, striking out 5. It was quite a performance for his first time being on that stage. He got the win to go to 8-1 for his freshman year. Greg Holt came in and hit the first batter he faced. But then he got a double play and struck the next guy out to escape the inning unscathed.
Stanford scored 4 runs in the bottom of the 8th to get back within 7-5 and still had runners on 1st and 2nd with one out. But Michael Morin got a double play to avoid further damage and send the game on to the 9th.
In the 9th the Heels threatened to get some insurance. Levi Michael singled and then we had a great Carolina Way play. Colin Moran was National Freshman of the Year largely because of his power but we really just needed to try to get one extra run here given that Michael Morin was on the mound so he laid down a bunt to get Levi to 2nd and I'm sure he didn't mind because it was the right thing for the team.
A Jesse Wierzbicki grounder moved Levi up to 3rd and brought Tommy Coyle to the plate with 2 outs. He got ahead 2-1 in the count...and then the rains came and the game had to be stopped. And this wasn't a short rain delay either- it lasted over three and a half hours and the game didn't start back up again until almost 10.
There weren't many fans in the stands when the game resumed. But those who did come back were wild- the 500 or so people who returned made for a better home field advantage than the 4,000 people who were there the rest of the weekend. All the noise impacted the pitcher and when Tommy finally got back in the box he drew a walk to put runners on the corners.
Jacob Stallings was up next and he fell behind 0-2 but came up with a single to left that scored Levi and gave the Heels a 7-5 lead. Then he stole another base! There were only 2 stolen bases for the teams in the series combined- Stanford never even tried because the word had gotten out about Jacob behind the plate by then- and Jacob had both of them (which accounted for half of his stolen bases for the entire season.)
Even after the long layoff Michael came back out to pitch the 9th and with the rowdy crowd still behind him he struck out each of the first two Stanford hitters swinging. He completed the 1-2-3 inning by getting a groundout from Stephen Piscotty and the Heels returned to Omaha for the 5th time in 6 years after a one year absence. Michael got his 10th save of the season.
Jacob Stallings led the way for the Heels with 3 hits, driving in 3 runs, scoring one, and stealing a pair of bases. Colin Moran (including a double and a run), Ben Bunting (in his last career game at the Bosh, including an RBI and a run), and Chaz Frank (including a run) each had a pair of hits for the Heels.
Brian Holberton had a huge double and drove in a pair of runs, Jesse Wierzbicki singled and drove in and scored a run, Tommy Coyle and Levi Michael each singled and scored a run, and Greg Holt hit a single. The win made the Heels 50–14 for the season.
On June 11, 2013 the Heels faced South Carolina in a winner take all game to go to Omaha. The series was supposed to start Friday and end Sunday at the latest. Instead it started Saturday with a Heels win, the Gamecocks won on Sunday, Monday was the second rain out of the series, and the teams finally got to play Tuesday afternoon after the whole rest of the College World Series field was already set.
The Gamecocks got runners to 2nd and 3rd with 1 out in the 1st and had a good chance to get ahead early. But Benton Moss got a fly out and then struck out Grayson Greiner, who is now the catcher for the Detroit Tigers, to get out of the inning without any damage.
South Carolina got a run in the 2nd to go ahead 1-0. In the bottom of the inning Michael Russell got hit by a pitch with 2 outs to keep the inning going. 2 years to the day after Brian Holberton came up with a huge 2 run hit to take the early lead against Stanford in an Omaha clincher he did it again. This time he did it by hitting the first pitch he saw out of the park to right, putting the Heels ahead 2-1.
After a 1 out walk in the 3rd Trent Thornton came on and got the last 2 outs of the inning to retire the side. Then he threw a 1-2-3 4th. The Gamecocks retook the lead 3-2 in the 5th though thanks to a 2 out error that allowed two runs to come around and score.
South Carolina scored again in the 6th to grow its lead to 4-2 but Trent got a big out when they had runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 out and a chance to blow it open, getting a grounder to short to mitigate the damage.
The Heels responded in the bottom of the 6th. Landon Lassiter hit a leadoff single and on the next pitch Colin Moran flashed his speed with a triple to bring Landon home and make it 4-3. Skye Bolt got hit by a pitch to put runners on 1st and 2nd. Cody Stubbs hit a flyball to deep enough center that Colin tried to tag and go to 3rd. The Gamecocks tried to throw him out but instead they threw the ball away. That allowed Colin to come in and score to tie the game at 4, and allowed Skye to get all the way to 3rd.
The next hitter made an out and that brought up Brian Holberton with 2 down and Skye still on 3rd. The Gamecocks didn't want to mess with him and intentionally walked him to put runners on the corners. Unfortunately for South Carolina the free pass to Holbie seemed to get their pitcher into a ball throwing habit. Mike Zolk walked on four pitches to load the bases.
That brought up Parks Jordan. He fell behind 0-2, then took a ball. He fouled off a pitch to stay alive. He took a couple more balls to get a full count. He fouled another one off. Finally on the 8th pitch of the at bat he took ball 4 to bring in Skye from 3rd and give the Heels the lead back at 5-4. The biggest at bat of Parks' career might have been that walk.
Trent threw a scoreless 7th, allowing only a 2 out walk. He gave the Heels 4.2 solid innings when they needed them. Chris McCue came in for the 8th. He gave up a 1 out walk and then another walk with 2 outs, but he got a fly out to end the threat.
Chris got the first out of the 9th and then issued another walk. The Heels decided to go to Kent Emanuel, the ACC Pitcher of the Year, out of the bullpen. He only ended up throwing 2 pitches. He got a flyball to left on the first one. 2 out. And on the very next pitch he got a grounder to Michael Russell at short who threw to Mike Zolk at 2nd for the out to send the Heels back to Omaha. Kent got the only save of his Tar Heel career in his last time on the rubber at the Bosh. Trent got the win to go to 11-1 in his amazing freshman season.
Someone recently asked me if Carolina Baseball had ever made me cry. I used to cry every year when the season ended, especially if the team was in Omaha, because I wanted the players and coaches to get a national title so bad and they had come so close and for a lot of them it was their last chance. So that made me sad.
But by far the most memorable time for me crying over Carolina Baseball was the 10 minutes after we won this game to go to Omaha. They weren't tears of joy- they were tears of relief. I love all our teams and I hate to play favorites but I loved the 2013 UNC Baseball team more than I can ever imagine loving any sports team the rest of my life. I just don't know how the group of folks who were involved in that team- players, coaches, parents, support staff, fans, etc- could ever be topped. And I recognized that even in real time- that this was a special group of people and that I might not be part of something quite like that ever again the rest of my life. There was an incredible sense of community in the program that year.
We were by far and away the best team in the country all year but we had come awfully close in regionals against Florida Atlantic the week before and then falling behind to South Carolina in every game of the series to not even making it to Omaha. And the thought of that group of people not getting to Omaha after everything they'd done killed me. There were a lot of points when it seemed like it might not happen and when it did, all those pent up feelings just poured out of me.
It will always make me sad that we didn't win it all in 2013 and I feel that sadness about our teams in 2006, 2007, and 2008 especially as well because they came so close. But I am at peace with the 2013 season because they made it to Omaha and gave it their all in a way that I would not be if the season had come to an end in Chapel Hill.
Landon Lassiter had a pair of hits and scored a run for the Heels. Brian Holberton hit a 2 run homer and Colin Moran had a triple and drove in and scored a run. Michael Russell singled and scored a run and Mike Zolk had a single as well. The win sent the Heels to the College World Series with an insane 57-10 record.
June 11
For today's version of 'This Day in Recent Carolina Baseball History' we go back to 2011 and 2013 for an Omaha clincher where the fans came back hyped up after a long rain delay and helped see the Heels through to victory and one where a win over the Gamecocks ensured the most dominant team in program history finished their season in the only appropriate city to finish it in.
On June 11, 2011 the Heels were coming off winning the first game of their Super at the Bosh thanks to a dominant performance by Patrick Johnson and hoping to wrap it up in two games.
Kent Emanuel was on the mound for the Heels and after giving up a run in the 1st he didn't let Stanford do much of anything the rest of the day. He threw a scoreless 2nd, allowing only a 1 out walk, and followed that up with a scoreless 3rd where the only base runner reached on an error.
The Heels got a hit in each of the first three innings but were unable to convert. That changed in the 4th. Tommy Coyle drew a 1 out walk, and Jacob Stallings singled to move him up to 2nd. Ben Bunting- playing his last game at the Bosh to end a great four years with the Heels- singled through the right side to score Tommy and tie up the game.
That brought up Brian Holberton with runners on 1st and 2nd. He only started 1 of the first 22 games of the season but when he started getting more opportunities halfway through the year he really made the most of them and by the postseason he was regularly in the lineup. It's hard to think of a bigger hit he had his freshman year than this one- he got ahead 3-1 and then doubled down the right field line, scoring both Jacob and Ben to give the Heels a 3-1 lead.
In the 4th Kent set down the side after a 1 out single. He got a 1-2-3 5th. And in the 6th he again retired the side after a 1 out single. He was really coasting, not even getting into any trouble.
The Heels blew the game open in the top of the 7th. Chaz Frank hit a leadoff single, Levi Michael walked, and Colin Moran reached on an error to load the bases with nobody out. Coach Jesse Wierzbicki brought in a run on a FC to make it 4-1 but the next hitter made an out, giving Stanford the opportunity to get out of the inning without much damage.
Jacob Stallings came up with runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 out and came up with a huge single, scoring both Levi and Colin to make it 6-1. The Cardinals were so shell shocked that Jacob, known for his great speed, then stole a base on them!
Kent came out after giving up a leadoff single in the 7th. He allowed just 1 run in 6 innings on 5 hits and a walk, striking out 5. It was quite a performance for his first time being on that stage. He got the win to go to 8-1 for his freshman year. Greg Holt came in and hit the first batter he faced. But then he got a double play and struck the next guy out to escape the inning unscathed.
Stanford scored 4 runs in the bottom of the 8th to get back within 7-5 and still had runners on 1st and 2nd with one out. But Michael Morin got a double play to avoid further damage and send the game on to the 9th.
In the 9th the Heels threatened to get some insurance. Levi Michael singled and then we had a great Carolina Way play. Colin Moran was National Freshman of the Year largely because of his power but we really just needed to try to get one extra run here given that Michael Morin was on the mound so he laid down a bunt to get Levi to 2nd and I'm sure he didn't mind because it was the right thing for the team.
A Jesse Wierzbicki grounder moved Levi up to 3rd and brought Tommy Coyle to the plate with 2 outs. He got ahead 2-1 in the count...and then the rains came and the game had to be stopped. And this wasn't a short rain delay either- it lasted over three and a half hours and the game didn't start back up again until almost 10.
There weren't many fans in the stands when the game resumed. But those who did come back were wild- the 500 or so people who returned made for a better home field advantage than the 4,000 people who were there the rest of the weekend. All the noise impacted the pitcher and when Tommy finally got back in the box he drew a walk to put runners on the corners.
Jacob Stallings was up next and he fell behind 0-2 but came up with a single to left that scored Levi and gave the Heels a 7-5 lead. Then he stole another base! There were only 2 stolen bases for the teams in the series combined- Stanford never even tried because the word had gotten out about Jacob behind the plate by then- and Jacob had both of them (which accounted for half of his stolen bases for the entire season.)
Even after the long layoff Michael came back out to pitch the 9th and with the rowdy crowd still behind him he struck out each of the first two Stanford hitters swinging. He completed the 1-2-3 inning by getting a groundout from Stephen Piscotty and the Heels returned to Omaha for the 5th time in 6 years after a one year absence. Michael got his 10th save of the season.
Jacob Stallings led the way for the Heels with 3 hits, driving in 3 runs, scoring one, and stealing a pair of bases. Colin Moran (including a double and a run), Ben Bunting (in his last career game at the Bosh, including an RBI and a run), and Chaz Frank (including a run) each had a pair of hits for the Heels.
Brian Holberton had a huge double and drove in a pair of runs, Jesse Wierzbicki singled and drove in and scored a run, Tommy Coyle and Levi Michael each singled and scored a run, and Greg Holt hit a single. The win made the Heels 50–14 for the season.
On June 11, 2013 the Heels faced South Carolina in a winner take all game to go to Omaha. The series was supposed to start Friday and end Sunday at the latest. Instead it started Saturday with a Heels win, the Gamecocks won on Sunday, Monday was the second rain out of the series, and the teams finally got to play Tuesday afternoon after the whole rest of the College World Series field was already set.
The Gamecocks got runners to 2nd and 3rd with 1 out in the 1st and had a good chance to get ahead early. But Benton Moss got a fly out and then struck out Grayson Greiner, who is now the catcher for the Detroit Tigers, to get out of the inning without any damage.
South Carolina got a run in the 2nd to go ahead 1-0. In the bottom of the inning Michael Russell got hit by a pitch with 2 outs to keep the inning going. 2 years to the day after Brian Holberton came up with a huge 2 run hit to take the early lead against Stanford in an Omaha clincher he did it again. This time he did it by hitting the first pitch he saw out of the park to right, putting the Heels ahead 2-1.
After a 1 out walk in the 3rd Trent Thornton came on and got the last 2 outs of the inning to retire the side. Then he threw a 1-2-3 4th. The Gamecocks retook the lead 3-2 in the 5th though thanks to a 2 out error that allowed two runs to come around and score.
South Carolina scored again in the 6th to grow its lead to 4-2 but Trent got a big out when they had runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 out and a chance to blow it open, getting a grounder to short to mitigate the damage.
The Heels responded in the bottom of the 6th. Landon Lassiter hit a leadoff single and on the next pitch Colin Moran flashed his speed with a triple to bring Landon home and make it 4-3. Skye Bolt got hit by a pitch to put runners on 1st and 2nd. Cody Stubbs hit a flyball to deep enough center that Colin tried to tag and go to 3rd. The Gamecocks tried to throw him out but instead they threw the ball away. That allowed Colin to come in and score to tie the game at 4, and allowed Skye to get all the way to 3rd.
The next hitter made an out and that brought up Brian Holberton with 2 down and Skye still on 3rd. The Gamecocks didn't want to mess with him and intentionally walked him to put runners on the corners. Unfortunately for South Carolina the free pass to Holbie seemed to get their pitcher into a ball throwing habit. Mike Zolk walked on four pitches to load the bases.
That brought up Parks Jordan. He fell behind 0-2, then took a ball. He fouled off a pitch to stay alive. He took a couple more balls to get a full count. He fouled another one off. Finally on the 8th pitch of the at bat he took ball 4 to bring in Skye from 3rd and give the Heels the lead back at 5-4. The biggest at bat of Parks' career might have been that walk.
Trent threw a scoreless 7th, allowing only a 2 out walk. He gave the Heels 4.2 solid innings when they needed them. Chris McCue came in for the 8th. He gave up a 1 out walk and then another walk with 2 outs, but he got a fly out to end the threat.
Chris got the first out of the 9th and then issued another walk. The Heels decided to go to Kent Emanuel, the ACC Pitcher of the Year, out of the bullpen. He only ended up throwing 2 pitches. He got a flyball to left on the first one. 2 out. And on the very next pitch he got a grounder to Michael Russell at short who threw to Mike Zolk at 2nd for the out to send the Heels back to Omaha. Kent got the only save of his Tar Heel career in his last time on the rubber at the Bosh. Trent got the win to go to 11-1 in his amazing freshman season.
Someone recently asked me if Carolina Baseball had ever made me cry. I used to cry every year when the season ended, especially if the team was in Omaha, because I wanted the players and coaches to get a national title so bad and they had come so close and for a lot of them it was their last chance. So that made me sad.
But by far the most memorable time for me crying over Carolina Baseball was the 10 minutes after we won this game to go to Omaha. They weren't tears of joy- they were tears of relief. I love all our teams and I hate to play favorites but I loved the 2013 UNC Baseball team more than I can ever imagine loving any sports team the rest of my life. I just don't know how the group of folks who were involved in that team- players, coaches, parents, support staff, fans, etc- could ever be topped. And I recognized that even in real time- that this was a special group of people and that I might not be part of something quite like that ever again the rest of my life. There was an incredible sense of community in the program that year.
We were by far and away the best team in the country all year but we had come awfully close in regionals against Florida Atlantic the week before and then falling behind to South Carolina in every game of the series to not even making it to Omaha. And the thought of that group of people not getting to Omaha after everything they'd done killed me. There were a lot of points when it seemed like it might not happen and when it did, all those pent up feelings just poured out of me.
It will always make me sad that we didn't win it all in 2013 and I feel that sadness about our teams in 2006, 2007, and 2008 especially as well because they came so close. But I am at peace with the 2013 season because they made it to Omaha and gave it their all in a way that I would not be if the season had come to an end in Chapel Hill.
Landon Lassiter had a pair of hits and scored a run for the Heels. Brian Holberton hit a 2 run homer and Colin Moran had a triple and drove in and scored a run. Michael Russell singled and scored a run and Mike Zolk had a single as well. The win sent the Heels to the College World Series with an insane 57-10 record.
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