This Day In Tar Heel Baseball History: June 20

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 20
For today's version of 'This Day in Recent Carolina Baseball History we go back to 2007, 2008, 2011, and 2013 for an incredible outing by Robert Woodard in his final college start to keep the Heels alive, a game winning grand slam by Tim Federowicz to end a game that lasted two days, a 4 hit complete game shutout by Kent Emanuel, and a blowout win that ended NC State's season thanks to a gem by Hobbs Johnson.

On June 20, 2007 the situation for the Diamond Heels was pretty straight forward. They needed to beat Rice that day and then beat them again the next day to make it to the finals of the College World Series. The Owls just needed to win one of the two games since they'd defeated the Heels 14-4 the first time they faced off in Omaha. On top of that they'd only played 2 games while the Heels had played 3, so their pitching was fresher too. It was going to be a tall order to advance.

The Heels asserted themselves right out of the gate though. Reid Fronk got hit by a pitch to lead off the game. Tim Fedroff singled on the next pitch to put runners on the corners. And Josh Horton followed with a single to bring Reid home and give the Heels a 1-0 lead before an out had even been recorded in the game.

Robert Woodard had the ball for the Heels in what turned out to be his last career start and he was masterful. The Owls got a leadoff single but Robert picked the guy off and retired the other hitters in the inning.

In the 2nd the Heels went ahead and added to their lead. Chad Flack and Dustin Ackley reached on back to back errors to lead off the inning. After an out Garrett Gore singled to load the bases. Reid Fronk walked to bring in Chad and make it 2-0 and Tim Fedroff hit a sac fly on the next pitch to score Dusty and push the lead to 3-0.

In the 2nd all Rice could muster was a 2 out single and Robert followed that up with a 1-2-3 3rd featuring a pair of strikeouts. In the 4th the only Owl runner reached on a HBP and quickly got erased on a double play and they were set down 1-2-3 in both the 5th and 6th innings. Over the first 6 innings Rice never got a runner past 1st base and Robert only faced one batter over the minimum because 2 of the 3 guys the Owls did get on were quickly erased.

In the 7th the Heels put the game away for good. Kyle Seager walked with 2 outs to keep the inning going and Chad Flack singled to put runners on the corners. Dustin Ackley followed up by going deep to right to extend the Heels lead to 6-0.

Rice finally did string something together in the 7th to score a run and the Heels went to Rob Wooten. But in his last college start Robert went 6.2 innings and allowed just the one run, improving his record to 11-2 for the season and building on his all time program record for wins.

The Owls still had runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs and the chance to get back into the game but Rob got a groundout to 1st to send the game to the 8th with the Heels still ahead 6-1.

Rob got the first out in the 8th and with runners on the corners Andrew Carignan came on. He got a pair of fly outs to keep any runs from coming in. In the 9th Rice got the first two hitters on base to lead off the inning. But Andrew came right back to get a line out, a ground out, and another ground out to give the Heels a 6-1 win and set up a winner take all showdown with the Owls the next day to determine who would move on to the finals.

Dustin Ackley (including a home run, 3 RBI, and 2 runs) and Tim Fedroff (including an RBI) each had a pair of hits for the Heels. Chad Flack singled and scored twice, Josh Horton singled and drove in a run, Kyle Seager singled and scored a run, and Garrett Gore singled to round out the hits for the Heels. Reid Fronk also drove in and scored a run. The win pushed the overall record to 56–14 for the season.

On June 20, 2008 the Heels faced off against LSU for the right to take on Fresno State in the finals of their bracket. The game ended up taking 2 days to complete. Things started off well for the Heels Thursday night. Dustin Ackley singled to lead off the game and with one out Tim Fedroff doubled to bring him in and put the Heels up 1-0. Tim Federowicz got hit by a pitch and then the Heels' tandem of Tim F's pulled off a double steal, I imagine the only time that ever happened!

Kyle Seager got hit by a pitch to load the bases and Chad Flack drew a 4 pitch walk to make it 2-0. The Heels still had the bases loaded with only 1 out and a chance to put the game away before it even really started.

But then one of those patented Omaha thunderstorms came and the game went into a delay. Everyone waited around for 3 hours before the decision was finally made to just finish the game the next evening.

LSU Coach Paul Mainieri told the media he hoped the Heels would hit into a double play to end the inning as soon as it restarted...and that's exactly what happened. The Heels couldn't build on their good start.

Matt Harvey set down the Tigers 1-2-3 in the 1st but 2 walks and a single by DJ LeMahieu to lead off the 2nd brought in a run to cut the lead to 2-1 and still left LSU with 2 runners on and nobody out. But Matt got a foul out and then a double play ball to escape the inning without any further damage.

With 1 out in the top of the 3rd Omaha's nightly summer thunderstorm arrived at almost the exact same time that it had the previous night, delaying the game again for an hour and a half. That meant the Heels had to pull Matt when the game restarted because he had been sitting around for too long.

Colin Bates came in and the Tigers got 2 runners on with one out thanks to a walk and an error. But Colin got a double play to end the threat and then followed that up with a 1-2-3 4th.

In the 5th Ryan Graepel worked a leadoff walk and Dustin Ackley followed with a single to move him up to 2nd. Kyle Shelton bunted them both into scoring position and LSU decided it didn't want to mess around with Tim Fedroff and gave him an intentional pass to load the bases. Tim Federowicz hit a grounder to score Ryan and extend the Heels lead to 3-1.

In the bottom of the 5th Colin struck out 2 guys and issued 2 walks and Brian Moran came on with runners on 1st and 2nd to replace him. Colin's outing ended up being the longest of the day for any Heels pitcher- he went 2.2 scoreless and struck out 3 without allowing any hits. It was a big time performance.

Brian got a strikeout to end the inning without the Tigers scoring. But LSU did get a couple runs in the 6th to tie the game up at 3 before Brian retired the last two hitters of the inning, including a strikeout of DJ LeMahieu.

Rob Wooten came on for the 7th and threw a 1-2-3 inning with a pair of strikeouts. After a leadoff error in the 8th he gave way to Alex White. Alex had been the Heels' dominant Friday night starter all season long. Now with the season on the line he quickly adapted to a new role- late inning super reliever.

He struck out the first hitter he faced, then issued a pair of walks to load the bases with one out. It looked like the Heels were in a lot of trouble. But he got DJ LeMahieu to pop out and then got a grounder to 3rd on the next pitch and he was quickly out of the inning without allowing the Tigers to take the lead.

Ryan Graepel got everything started for the Heels in the 9th with a one out double. The Tigers wanted no part of Dustin Ackley and intentionally walked him. The runners both moved into scoring position on a wild pitch but LSU got a strikeout for the second out of the inning. They didn't want to deal with Tim Fedroff either and gave out their second intentional pass of the inning.

I guess they thought they'd rather deal with Tim Federowicz. This was the second time in the game they intentionally walked Tim Fedroff to get to him. But that turned out to be a very, very bad decision for them. Tim blasted the third pitch of the at bat out of the park to left for a grand slam that blew the game open, taking it from a tie to a 7-3 Heels lead.

Alex got a groundout to start the bottom of the 9th. He allowed a one out single. But he got the next Tiger to hit into a 6-4-3 double play to end the game more than a day after it started and send the Heels on to the bracket championship against Fresno State. Alex got his second win of Omaha to go to 12-3 on the season, and he wasn't done.

Dustin Ackley led the way for the Heels with 4 hits, scoring two runs. Garrett Gore had a pair of hits. Tim Federowicz hit his grand slam and drove in a total of 5 runs. Tim Fedroff doubled, scored twice, and drove in a run. And Ryan Graepel doubled and scored twice to round out the hitting for the Heels.

On June 20, 2011 the Heels faced Texas in an elimination game and sent freshman Kent Emanuel to the mound with the season on the line. Suffice it to say, he was up to the challenge. He set the Longhorns down 1-2-3 in the 1st, capping the inning with a strikeout. And after a 1 out single in the 2nd, he immediately got a double play to end the inning.

The Heels struck in the 3rd. Chaz Frank and Ben Bunting singled to lead off the frame, putting runners on the corners. It looked like a golden opportunity but then Texas managed to strike the next two hitters out and keep the runners where they were.

Tommy Coyle drew a two out walk to keep the inning going and load the bases. And Jacob Stallings came up with the big hit the Heels needed, singling to right center to bring Chaz and Ben home and take a 2-0 lead.

The Longhorns got a leadoff single in the 3rd. But Kent threw out the lead runner on a bunt attempt that came back to him, then got a pop out and a fly out to end the inning. A leadoff walk for Texas in the 4th was erased on a double play on the way to another scoreless inning.

Kent set the Longhorns down 1-2-3 in the 5th. In the 6th all they could get was a 2 out single, quickly followed by a fly out to left. That pattern repeated itself in the 7th, a 2 out single followed up by a quick pop out. Kent went back to setting them down 1-2-3 in the 8th.

Greg Holt pinch hit and drew a leadoff walk in the 9th. Jeff Bouton came in to pinch run for him. Seth Baldwin bunted him up to 2nd, but the next hitter made an out. With two down Ben Bunting, who already had 3 hits on the day, made the final hit of his incredible Tar Heel career a big one- he doubled to bring in Jeff and give the Heels a little cushion at 3-0.

Not that Kent needed it. He set the Longhorns down 1-2-3 in the 9th to close out his 4 hit, 1 walk masterpiece. Only one Texas player even reached 2nd all day. After the 4th inning they never got a runner on base with less than 2 outs. It really was a game pretty devoid of stress even though the Heels didn't score a lot of runs because Kent never even got in trouble. Given the stage it was one of the best starts in program history and it pushed Kent's record for the season to 9-1.

In some ways dinner that night was more memorable than the game though. Everyone associated with the program went to a picnic hosted by one of the local groups in Omaha when all the sudden a tornado broke out. So the entire Tar Heel baseball community- players, coaches, families, fans, administrators, etc all piled into a bathroom together that was determined to be the safest place to wait out the storm. Fortunately the program was not taken out in one fell swoop and we can all laugh about the time 100 of us had to huddle together in a bathroom at a picnic.

Ben Bunting led the way for the Heels with 4 hits on the day, including a double, driving in and scoring a run. Jacob Stallings singled and drove in a pair of runs, and Chaz Frank singled and scored a run. Colin Moran, Coach Jesse Wierzbicki, and Levi Michael had singles as well. The win took the Heels to 51-15 for the year.

On June 20, 2013 the Heels and Wolfpack faced off in the highest stakes game ever between the two teams. Whoever won would go to the bracket championship against UCLA and whoever lost would go home. The game would also settle the season series- the Heels had 2 wins for the year and State had 2 wins for the year.

Hobbs Johnson started for the Heels. He'd had quite a career path. His freshman year he only threw 3.2 innings the whole season. But he worked his way into the starting rotation midway through his sophomore year and became a pillar of the rotation his junior year. He'd had several memorable outings- notably a near perfect game against Virginia Tech in 2012. But he saved the best for his last appearance as a Heel.

Hobbs struck out Pack star Trea Turner to lead off the game and set the tone. State got back to back runners on base after that thanks to a walk and an error. And Hobbs promptly struck out the next two hitters swinging to end the inning. He followed that up with a 1-2-3 2nd.

Trea reached on a 1 out walk in the 3rd and stole both 2nd and 3rd. For the many people who overlap as Diamond Heels and Braves fans, Trea in 2013 was a little bit like Kenny Lofton for the Indians in the 1995 World Series- you really didn't want him to get on base, because if he did there would be trouble. But Hobbs got a ground out and a fly out to strand him, I guess he needed to try to steal home too.

Colin Moran singled off Carlos Rodon to lead off the 4th. Brian Holberton attempted to bunt him over and Carlos made an error on the play, putting runners on 1st and 2nd. Cody Stubbs walked to load the bases with nobody out.

The next hitter grounded it to 3rd and State was able to get the lead runner at home. Michael Russell was up next and hit a medium depth fly ball to right. Brian Holberton tagged and made a magnificent slide to beat the tag and score to put the Heels up 1-0. State catcher Brett Austin slammed his mask into the ground and Carlos slammed his glove into the ground in frustration over the (unambiguously correct) call.

This was the same school year as the Gio game winning punt return on the gridiron and some great memes were made of Austin and Rodon slamming their equipment into the ground juxtaposed against Gio's accomplishment. That year was the peak of the Pack's 'Our State' marketing campaign but all the results on the field told a far different story.

State got a couple hits in the 4th but Hobbs ended the threat with a strike out looking. In the 5th Parks Jordan got hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and Chaz Frank bunted him over to 2nd. A Landon Lassiter grounder moved him to 3rd and Colin Moran came up with a big two out single to score Parks and make it 2-0.

Carlos came out after that, and eventually got the loss for the game. He pitched great in his career against the Heels...but his team still lost 4 of the 6 games he started in the rivalry. And on this particular day he got completely out pitched by Hobbs Johnson.

In the first 4 innings Hobbs pitched his way around a decent number of base runners for the Pack. They should have scored when they had the chance. Hobbs threw a 1-2-3 5th. And a 1-2-3 6th. And a 1-2-3 7th. By the end of that inning he'd retired 10 State hitters in a row.

In the 8th the Heels blew it open. Colin Moran drew a one out walk. After the second out of the inning Cody Stubbs worked a walk as well to keep the inning going, and Skye Bolt got hit by a pitch to load the bases. Michael Russell fell behind 1-2, fouled off a couple of pitches to stay alive, and then singled back up the middle to bring Colin and Cody around and give the Heels a 4-0 lead.

That brought up Mike Zolk. I'd had to go back to Chapel Hill the day before and this was the first game of any substance I wasn't present for the entire season. I wanted to make sure our crowd was ably led in my absence so I asked two people to take care of making sure our fans were well engaged. One of them was a very little guy, Coach Jackson's son Ryan, who was only six at the time. The other one was a very big guy, Mike Zolk's dad 'Big Zoom.' I could hear even from Chapel Hill that they were doing an awesome job keeping our crowd going. And here Big Zoom's cheerleading helped spur his son to a double down the right field line on the first pitch he saw, bringing in 2 more runs to give the Heels a 6-0 lead and basically put the game out of reach for the Pack.

State hit a leadoff single in the 8th but was never able to get the runner past 1st and Hobbs ended the inning with a strikeout. In the 9th the Heels struck one last time. Parks Jordan hit a leadoff single and moved to 2nd on a grounder by Chaz Frank and to 3rd on a grounder by Landon Lassiter. Colin Moran knocked a 2 out single to left for his third hit of the day to push the lead to 7-0.

Hobbs came out for the 9th and got the first out before leaving after allowing a pair of singles that pushed his pitch count over 130. He pitched 8.1 scoreless innings and allowed only 5 hits and a pair of walks, striking out 6. It was the final appearance of his career, it was the most important appearance of his career, and given the circumstances- out dueling Carlos Rodon in Omaha to end State's season- it was one of the best pitching outings in the history of the program.

Chris McCue came on and it only took him 3 pitches to bring the game to a conclusion. He got a double play to finish the shut out, give the Heels the season series win against State in the most intense year in the history of the rivalry, and send the Heels on to the regional final against UCLA. Hobbs got the win to go to 5-1 on the year and the Heels record improved to 59-11.

Colin Moran led the way for the Heels with 3 hits, driving in a pair and scoring one. Mike Zolk had a pair of hits, including a double, and drove in 2 runs. Michael Russell had a hit, drove in 3 runs, and scored one. Parks Jordan singled and scored 2 runs and Chaz Frank had a single to round out the hits for the Heels.

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