Monday Baseball Notebook
April 28, 2008
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Coming off the big series win over No. 2 Florida State, the Diamond Heels are off this week for final exams. Carolina (38-8) goes into the annual off week with an NCAA-best 38 wins and is in similar position as its last two teams, which ended the season in the championship series of the College World Series. The Tar Heels, who will return to action Tuesday, May 6 against North Florida, were 37-10 heading into the break in 2007 and 39-8 in 2006. Each Monday, TarHeelBlue.com will take a look back at the previous week on the diamond before moving on to another week of baseball action. NORTH CAROLINA WEEKLY RESULTS: NOTING THE WEEK OF APRIL 20-27: • The Tar Heels are in the midst of an eight-day break for final exams. Carolina is back in action Tuesday, May 6 for the start of a two-game series with North Florida. UNC plays three more regular season games in Cary - May 6-7 vs. North Florida and May 13 vs. Winthrop. • Carolina saw its longest winning streak since 2002 snapped at 12 games but bounced back with a 2-1, 10-inning win over No. 2 Florida State in the rubber match of its biggest series of the season. The Tar Heels have won their last four home series with the Seminoles and have not dropped an Atlantic Coast Conference weekend set in their last 10 chances dating to last season's series loss in Tallahassee.
• With two wins over the No. 2 Seminoles, Carolina claimed a series from a top-two opponent for the first time since winning two of three from a No. 1-ranked Florida State team in 2006 at Boshamer Stadium. • The Tar Heels drew a total of 10,972 fans to Cary's USA Baseball National Training Complex for the three-game series with the Seminoles. The crowd of 4,133 that took in Saturday's 13-5 loss is believed to be the largest home attendance total in Carolina baseball history. • Florida State entered the weekend with a .352 team average and did pound out 19 hits in Saturday's win, but Carolina's pitching staff held the Seminoles to a season-low four hits in wins Friday and Sunday. For the weekend, UNC held FSU to a .262 average, 90 points below their season mark entering the weekend. • Second baseman Kyle Seager hit .500 with a team-high six RBI to lead North Carolina to a 4-1 week and a series victory over No. 2 Florida State. Seager, who was 9-for-18 on the week, added two doubles and a triple, scored six runs and was flawless defensively against the Seminoles. In Sunday's series clincher against FSU, Seager was the only player with more than one hit, as the teams combined for just seven base hits on the afternoon. He tied the game with an RBI single in the seventh and had a key base hit in UNC's game-winning rally in the 10th. In Friday's win over FSU, Seager closed the Tar Heels 11-run eighth inning with a two-run double. Earlier in the week, Seager went 2-for-4 with three runs and two RBI in the 17-0 win at Charlotte. With the .500 week, Seager raised his average to .387 for the season. He continues to lead the ACC with 63 RBI and 22 doubles. • Spearheaded by Rob Wooten and Brian Moran, the Tar Heel bullpen again played a key role in the series victory. Wooten earned both UNC wins in the series and allowed just one run over 3 1/3 innings, while Moran twirled 5 2/3 shutout frames against the Seminoles. • Sophomore left-hander Brian Moran played a key role in the Tar Heels' series win over No. 2 Florida State with a pair of scoreless stints out of the bullpen. In Carolina's wins Friday and Sunday, the Rye, N.Y., native combined for 5 2/3 shutout innings and held the Seminoles to just four hits, while striking out four. He went 2 1/3 with three strikeouts in Friday's win and followed with a career-long 3 1/3 shutout innings in Sunday's clincher. The Tar Heels were held hitless until the seventh inning Sunday, but Moran was able to keep FSU off the board until UNC tied the game in the seventh and scored the game-winner in the 10th. Moran also worked an inning in the win over High Point Wednesday to finish with six strikeouts over 6 2/3 scoreless innings for the week. On the season, Moran owns a 1.08 ERA and 50 strikeouts to 10 walks in 33 1/3 innings. • Despite not earning a win in either victory, North Carolina starters Alex White and Matt Harvey both held Florida State to just one hit over their respective outings. White allowed three runs (two earned) on just one hit over 5 1/3 innings Friday, while Harvey allowed one unearned run on a single base hit over 4 2/3 innings Sunday. • The Tar Heels finished the week with a 2.74 earned run average and continue to lead the nation with a 2.21 ERA and 468 strikeouts through 46 games. • Dustin Ackley led Carolina last week with a .526 average (10-19) over five games. Against Florida State, he hit .583 (7-12) and had a pair of three-hit games. Ackley has hit safely in 14 of the last 15 games and is batting .435 (27-62) over this stretch. He is tied for fourth in the ACC with a .387 average to give the Tar Heels three of the league's top five hitters in Ackley, Tim Fedroff (.395) and Kyle Seager (.387). • With nine hits on the week, sophomore Tim Fedroff took over the ACC lead with 77 hits on the season. He moved past Florida State's Buster Posey, who went just 3-for-12 against the Tar Heels. Kyle Seager and Dustin Ackley are tied for third in the league with 72 hits. • With 22 doubles, Kyle Seager leads the ACC and is already fourth on the Tar Heels' single-season list. He is one of five Tar Heels with 14 or more two-baggers on the season. UNC leads the league with 119 doubles on the season. • Already Carolina's career leader with 305 hits and 967 at-bats, Chad Flack added another record to his resume Sunday by playing in is 245th career game. He moved past Chad Prosser, who played in 244 games between 2000-03. |
