June 24, 2007
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TEAM NOTES
North Carolina finished its season with a school-record and NCAA-best 57
wins, its second straight national runner-up finish and its sixth trip to
the College World Series. The Tar Heels also captured their first Atlantic
Coast Conference title since 1990 this season.
North Carolina, Oregon State and Texas are the only three teams to make
two appearances in the CWS Finals since the NCAA went to its current
championship format in 2003.
UNC is the fifth team to post consecutive runner-up finishes in the
College World Series joining Yale (1947-48), Arizona State (1972-73), Texas
(1984-85) and Stanford (2000-01).
The Tar Heels' 111 wins over the last two seasons are the second most in
the nation behind Rice's 113.
Ninth-year head coach Mike Fox is 29-18 in eight NCAA Tournament
appearances. The Tar Heels are 65-50 in 115 all-time postseason games.
After winning just two times in their first four trips to Omaha, the Tar
Heels are 8-5 in the College World Series over the last two seasons.
Carolina is 10-13 in six all-time CWS appearances.
PLAYER NOTES
First baseman Dustin Ackley, outfielder Tim Fedroff and reliever Andrew
Carignan were each named to the CWS All-Tournament Team.
First baseman Dustin Ackley extended his single-season hit record to 119
with an RBI single in the first and a solo home run in the fifth. He also
broke the single-season at-bat mark with 296. His .402 average is the
fourth-best in school history. Ackley tallied 74 RBI, which is the
fourth-best total in school history, and 70 runs, which is seventh on the
single-season list.
Ackley's solo home run was his 10th of the season and third in the last
four games in the College World Series.
Left fielder Reid Fronk scored twice and tallied 73 runs scored to rank
sixth on the Tar Heels' single-season list. He was also hit by a pitch for
the fourth time in the CWS and the 21st time this season. Fronk was hit 21
times in each of the last two seasons.
Shortstop Josh Horton, who was 2-for-4 Sunday, hit safely for the eighth
straight game and the 12th time in 13 NCAA Tournament contests. His 263
career hits are sixth all-time at Carolina.
Carolina's all-time winningest pitcher Robert Woodard made his first
relief appearance since March 15, 2006, against George Mason. He went the
final 1 2/3 innings Sunday.
Reliever Andrew Carignan, who allowed two runs over 3 2/3 innings, made
the earliest entrance of his career in the second inning Sunday. It was his
fifth appearance in the 2007 CWS, which equaled a series record before Rob
Wooten came on for him in the sixth.
Wooten's appearance was his record-setting sixth of the CWS and his 12th
in 13 NCAA Tournament games. He struck out 22 batters in 17 1/3 postseason
innings and pitched in a school-record 47 games this season.
Carignan joined Wooten (47) and Derrick DePriest (44) as the only pitchers
with 40-plus appearances in a single season in UNC history. He allowed an
earned run for just the sixth time in his 40 games this season. Carignan's
67 pitches were two shy of a career high set against South Carolina in the
Super Regional.
Right-hander Luke Putkonen went 1 2/3 innings Sunday to match the shortest
start of his career (Georgia Tech, May 13, 2007). It was the Tar Heels'
third start of less than two innings in Omaha.
