Game blog: Heels win 9-3
Jun 7, 2009
Heels win 9-3:
Whitehead makes the last out on a grounder to second just one at-bat after setting the school record for hits in a season.
Moran tossed his glove and jumped into the arms of Fleury when Ackley caught the final out.
That's four straight trips to Omaha for North Carolina - a record for a member of the ACC.
Miami twice had streaks longer than four, but the Hurricanes weren't yet a part of the conference.
Top 9 - Gore goes deep:
Garrett Gore caps off a 4-5 day with a shot to deep center - 9-3 Heels.
Bot 8 - ECU gets on the board:
Carolina will easily trade runs for outs at this point, so Roller's RBI groundout to second meant next to nothing - the big thing there was avoiding the extra base hit.
Henderson's single to right drove in two more, but all that did was hurt Warren's box score a bit.
It's 8-3 Heels after eight innings - a credit to the Pirates though for fighting until the end.
Warren's final line: 7.1 innings, three earned runs and eight K's with one walk.
Bot 8 - Warren out:
After loading the bases, Warren struck out Batts for the first out of the inning - Fox brings in the lefty Moran now to face Roller.
This is without question ECU's last stand - if Moran gets Roller to ground into a double play, this one is over.
Warren has 7.1 shutout innings going so far, but he's responsible for the runners on the basepaths.
Top 8 - Whitehead making plays in center:
At least you know that Trent Whitehead hasn't given up hope yet - the kid is down 8-0 with six outs left in his season and he's sacrificing his body to make the third out in the top of the eighth.
That's about the third really nice play he's made in center in the series - solid effort there by the sophomore.
Top 8 - Ackley, Seager get standing ovations:
Dustin Ackley just grounded out to first - normally not something to cheer about, but the crowd at the Bosh gave him a standing ovation on his way back to the dugout because it was likely his last at-bat of the year in Chapel Hill.
Ackley has been phenomenal for the team this year and for the program in general - he'll be a very rich man, very soon.
Seager got the same treatment after his fly out to center.
Bot 7 - Warren cruises through seven:
Three game series can be a problem at the college level because of the possibility of wearing out your bullpen, especially if, like Carolina, you don't have a tremendous number of arms that you can count on.
Of course, that becomes much less of a problem when you never have to bring in relievers.
After White went 8.1 innings yesterday, Warren is already through seven today.
8-0 Carolina after seven.
Top 7 - Baldwin extends lead to eight:
Not that they needed it, but Seth Baldwin's sac fly extended the Carolina lead to 8-0.
Coming into the series, the bottom of the Heels' order was a pretty big question mark, but for the second straight day the guys in the 6, 7, 8 and 9 spots have done some damage on the scoreboard.
Bot 6 - Warren keeps the train rolling:
Nice job there by Warren to challenge the ECU hitters - the last thing you want to do when you're up 7-0 is walk anybody. He was down 3-1 to Batts and threw him two fastball right down the pipe - I love it. What's the worst that happens? A solo home run?
Solo home runs don't hurt you right now - big innings do. And big innings often start with walks.
Yes, several Pirates got good wood, er...aluminum, on the ball, but that's why you have fielders behind you.
Two nice plays by Cavasinni in center and suddenly you're nine outs from the College World Series.
Top 6 - Carolina blows it open:
Well, it appears the Carolina fanbase can make hotel reservations in Omaha for next weekend.
Cavasinni drives in Fleury and then Baldwin runs his way out of a double play to bring home Gore.
Mincey got the ground ball he wanted with runners on first and third and none out, but the ball was hit too slowly to turn the DP.
Seth Simmons came on for Mincey with one out - he was 3-1 with a 3.32 ERA entering today.
By the way, not a great effort for Mincey - he faced four batters and allowed two hits and a walk.
Then Ackley showed why he's going to be one of the top picks in the MLB draft this year by taking one the other way over the fence in left center.
7-0 Heels with Warren dealing - not looking good for the boys in purple.
Top 6 - That's it for Brandt:
Five plus innings, six hits, two earned runs - not a bad outing for the lefty from Fuquay-Varina, but it wasn't enough on this day.
He's responsible for the runner on second (Fleury doubled to lead off the inning), and won't be able to get a win.
Brad Mincey on to pitch for the Pirates now - he's 10-5 with a 2.84 ERA on the season.
You can't blame Godwin for making a move here - there's no tomorrow for the Pirates, so you need to take your starter out at the first sign of trouble - and a leadoff double in the sixth when you're down two runs qualifies.
Bot 5 - Warren keeps rolling:
If it's possible, Warren has actually been better so far than Alex White was yesterday.
The senior from New Bern has held ECU scoreless through five innings, allowing only three hits and one walk while striking out five.
Carolina is 12 outs away from Omaha.
Top 5 - Michael nearly blows it open for Carolina:
Brandt flirted with danger there, but he gets out of the frame unscathed.
Levi Michael almost broke it open with a three-run homer with two outs, but his deep drive landed about five feet left of the third base foul pole - just a loud strike as they say.
Bot 4 - Carolina up 2-0 after four:
12 pitch inning there for Warren - he's working quickly pounding the strike zone.
The longer this goes with the score 2-0 Heels, the tighter the Pirates are going to grip the bats.
Now it's up to Brandt to keep the deficit at two.
Top 4 - Brandt keeps the Pirates within two:
Good inning for Brandt there - he got ahead of almost every hitter and kept his pitches to a minimum.
If you're the Pirates you have to believe your bats are going to wake up at some point - you've won more than 40 games this year and every hitter in the lineup bats better than .300.
All Brandt can do now is continue to put up zeroes and keep his team in it.
Bot 3 - Warren keeps the Carolina momentum going:
Nice job there for Warren - he weathers a leadoff single by Jared Avchen and keeps the Pirates off the board.
It doesn't do much good to get off to a 2-0 lead if you're going to give it up in the bottom of the inning - now the pressure is back on ECU.
Top 3 - Seager puts the Heels on top, 2-0
Brandt was one out away from getting out of trouble, but two walks and a single with two down will hurt you every time.
Seager continues his hot hitting in the Super Regional - he's now 5-6 with four RBIs in the two games so far.
Bot 2 - Warren keeping ECU off balance:
Leadoff walks are usually a sign of bad things to come, but it helps when you strike out the next two guys.
Meanwhile, Warren has his off-speed stuff working well - I swear half of the Pirate hitters that inning could have swung twice at some of the pitches they cut on and missed.
No score at the end of two.
Top 2 - 0-0 headed to the bottom of the second:
Fleury just got picked off first to end the inning for Carolina.
I've noticed that there are a lot more pickoffs at first base in college than in the pros - I think the rules for balking at the college level are different, and more in favor of the pitcher.
The bottom line is getting picked off is inexcusable and the two teams have combined to let it happen three times in less than 11 innings this weekend.
Bot 1 - Carolina, ECU tied at 0-0:
I think Warren threw more pitches to first than home in that half inning, but after the close play at second there wasn't much of a threat.
Apparently Ryan Wood and his 14 steals in 16 attempts this year were enough to frighten the Carolina pitcher and coaches. I get that you want to keep the guy close, but he's not exactly Ricky Henderson out there.
Bot 1 - Close play at second goes Carolina's way:
Close call at second has Trent Whitehead out by a hair at second on a sac bunt attempt - ECU Coach Billy Godwin out to argue, but for the four billionth time in a row, the umpire stands by his call - instead of a runner in scoring position, the Pirates are stick with a man on first and two outs.
I'm sitting in the auxiliary press tent along the first base line so I was looking at the player's back as he was running towards second - hard to see if he was safe or not.
Top 1 - Brandt looks good early:
Nice, quick inning there to start for Kevin Brandt - you know you've done something right when you catch Dustin Ackley, a potential top-5 pick in this year's MLB draft, and Kyle Seager, who went 4-5 yesterday, looking at strike three.
After yesterday's 10-1 drubbing, the Pirates needed a positive start to this one - they just got it from Brandt.
Now it's Adam Warren's turn to try and continue what Alex White started yesterday.
One small lineup change:
Carolina has tweaked its batting order a bit for Game 2.
Jacob Stallings is in for Seth Baldwin in the ninth spot, and instead of Mark Fleury, Ryan Graepel and Levi Michael batting 3, 4, 5, it'll be Graepel, Michael and Fleury in that order.
ECU's lineup looks exactly the same as it did in Game 1.
Getting ready for first pitch:
Game 2 set to get underway here in a few minutes.
It’s an elimination game for the Pirates, but it’s a position they’ve been in before.
ECU was staring the end of its season straight in the face before taking out South Carolina in consecutive games to keep the its College World Series alive.
For the Heels, Adam Warren will take the bump and try to direct North Carolina to its fourth straight trip to Omaha.
Beautiful day here at the Bosh – looking forward to a close game.
