University of North Carolina Athletics
Luke Putkonen
Photo by: Joe Bray
This Day In Tar Heel Baseball History: June 19
June 19, 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 19
For today's version of 'This Day in Recent Carolina Baseball History' we go back to 2007 for an incredible performance by Luke Putkonen to keep the Heels alive in Omaha.
The Heels won their opener in the College World Series against Mississippi State in 2007 but then lost their winners bracket match up against Rice. On June 19th, 2007 they faced Louisville needing to win that game and to then beat Rice twice in order to return to the finals for a second consecutive year. It was a pretty tall order.
Some guys just have a game that when you think of their career at Carolina, that's the one that immediately pops into your head. That's certainly the case for Luke Putkonen and this start against Louisville.
The Cards actually hit a one out solo home run off Luke to take a 1-0 lead in the first. But that was the end of their offense for the day. Luke closed out the inning with a swinging strikeout.
Tim Fedroff drew a one out walk in the 2nd and a ground ball from Chad Flack moved him into scoring position with 2 out. Kyle Seager worked a full count and then singled to put runners on the corners. Seth Williams fell behind 0-2 and hit a big single of his own to score Tim and tie up the game.
That put runners on the corners for Garrett Gore. He hit the ball to third for what should have been the last out of the inning but the fielder threw it away- like really threw it away. Both Kyle and Seth were able to come around and score and Garrett made it all the way to 3rd. The Heels led 3-1. They only got one more hit the rest of the game but Luke was so good they didn't really need anymore.
Luke threw a scoreless 2nd, allowing only a 2 out single. Then he threw a scoreless 3rd, setting down the side in order after a leadoff single.
After that he got tired of giving up hits. He threw a 1-2-3 4th. In the 5th the Cardinals got a leadoff runner on a HBP and bunted him up to 2nd. He got to 3rd on a wild pitch, still with one out. But Luke got a pop out and a strikeout to leave him right there.
Luke closed out his day with a 1-2-3 6th and then a 1-2-3 7th. He went 7 innings, struck out 7, and allowed only 1 run on 3 hits and a walk. It was the best start of his Carolina career, at the time when it was needed the most.
Rob Wooten got the first 2 outs of the 8th. Louisville got a couple runners on base thanks to a HBP and a walk and the Heels went ahead and turned the ball over to Andrew Carignan. He quickly got a swinging strikeout to bring the inning to a close.
There wasn't much suspense in the bottom of the 9th. Andrew got the first guy to fly out. He struck out the next guy swinging. And he got the last out of the game on a strike out looking to send the Heels on to the title game for the bracket against Rice. Luke's dominant outing improved his record for the season to 8-1, Andrew got his 17th save of the year for retiring all 4 hitters he faced and striking out 3 of them, and the team improved to 55-14 overall.
Seth Williams singled, drove in, and scored a run. Kyle Seager singled and scored a run. Josh Horton hit a double. That was it for the Heels bats. But at least on that afternoon it was enough.
June 19
For today's version of 'This Day in Recent Carolina Baseball History' we go back to 2007 for an incredible performance by Luke Putkonen to keep the Heels alive in Omaha.
The Heels won their opener in the College World Series against Mississippi State in 2007 but then lost their winners bracket match up against Rice. On June 19th, 2007 they faced Louisville needing to win that game and to then beat Rice twice in order to return to the finals for a second consecutive year. It was a pretty tall order.
Some guys just have a game that when you think of their career at Carolina, that's the one that immediately pops into your head. That's certainly the case for Luke Putkonen and this start against Louisville.
The Cards actually hit a one out solo home run off Luke to take a 1-0 lead in the first. But that was the end of their offense for the day. Luke closed out the inning with a swinging strikeout.
Tim Fedroff drew a one out walk in the 2nd and a ground ball from Chad Flack moved him into scoring position with 2 out. Kyle Seager worked a full count and then singled to put runners on the corners. Seth Williams fell behind 0-2 and hit a big single of his own to score Tim and tie up the game.
That put runners on the corners for Garrett Gore. He hit the ball to third for what should have been the last out of the inning but the fielder threw it away- like really threw it away. Both Kyle and Seth were able to come around and score and Garrett made it all the way to 3rd. The Heels led 3-1. They only got one more hit the rest of the game but Luke was so good they didn't really need anymore.
Luke threw a scoreless 2nd, allowing only a 2 out single. Then he threw a scoreless 3rd, setting down the side in order after a leadoff single.
After that he got tired of giving up hits. He threw a 1-2-3 4th. In the 5th the Cardinals got a leadoff runner on a HBP and bunted him up to 2nd. He got to 3rd on a wild pitch, still with one out. But Luke got a pop out and a strikeout to leave him right there.
Luke closed out his day with a 1-2-3 6th and then a 1-2-3 7th. He went 7 innings, struck out 7, and allowed only 1 run on 3 hits and a walk. It was the best start of his Carolina career, at the time when it was needed the most.
Rob Wooten got the first 2 outs of the 8th. Louisville got a couple runners on base thanks to a HBP and a walk and the Heels went ahead and turned the ball over to Andrew Carignan. He quickly got a swinging strikeout to bring the inning to a close.
There wasn't much suspense in the bottom of the 9th. Andrew got the first guy to fly out. He struck out the next guy swinging. And he got the last out of the game on a strike out looking to send the Heels on to the title game for the bracket against Rice. Luke's dominant outing improved his record for the season to 8-1, Andrew got his 17th save of the year for retiring all 4 hitters he faced and striking out 3 of them, and the team improved to 55-14 overall.
Seth Williams singled, drove in, and scored a run. Kyle Seager singled and scored a run. Josh Horton hit a double. That was it for the Heels bats. But at least on that afternoon it was enough.
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