The Tar HeelThursday, July 13, 1978121
Chick makes a big hit in summer league
By R.L. Bynum
Sports Editor
In Detroit, they have their 'Bird', a
skinny, crowd pleasing right-handed
pitcher named Mark Fidrych. At
Carolina, though, they have made an
aquisition this summer that has
delighted Tar Heel baseball fans, and
perhaps has helped attract new
college baseball fans.
His name is Rich Yonakor, better
known to his friends as 'Chickie'.
The enthusiastic junior from Euclid,
Ohio has been playing baseball since
he was nine years old. In high school
one year, he led his school's team to
the Ohio state regionals, and was
named to the all-state team.
Having played so well before, it
would naturally follow that he would
play ball in college. However, runover
of basketball's season usually doesn't
permit him to participate in baseball.
In his freshman year, he played on
the nationally ranked second place
basketball team and didn't finish his
cage season until late March. By that
time, the college baseball season was
halfway over, so he played a half year
of Junior Varsity baseball.
This year, Rich had to sit out the
regular baseball seasone while he
recovered from a basketball injury.
The summer, however has turned
out to be a different story. "I wanted
to play during the summer, so I
figured as long as I'm stayin' around
here, I might as well see if they would
let me play," he said. He had to drop
two courses after he had surgery in
the spring and is attending summer
school to make them up.
Yonakor has been playing mostly at
first base and has made three
appearances on the mound. When the
southpaw is pitching, he is a towering
figure. The likes of which have not
been seen here since another two
sport man, N.C. State'sTim Stoddard
(now with the Baltimore Orioles) was
playing in the area.
Rich said that he's able to use his
height to his advantage.
"I can use a big wind-up and a lot of
motion. The batters have not seen
that and aren't used to it. I'm not
striking a lot of guys out, but the guys
out on the field are making some good
plays to help me out," he said.
Last Saturday, Yonakor won his
first game of the season, without a
loss. He went the distance while
scattering nine hits to win over
Campbell 4-3. "I had 4 strike-outs. So
you can tell that the defense was
really good because it really helped
me out. There were a couple of gap
shots that the outfielders ran down.
And some hard-hit balls in the infield
that the guys just knocked down and
hung with and got over to first in
Sweep her
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time. I think the defense was so above
par that day that that's the reason we
won," he said.
Rich says that he depends basically
on two types of pitches. "I mostly rely
on submarine pitch that's kind of hard
he quickly pointed out there is less
pressure playing baseball in the
summer league than in the rigorous
ACC basketball schedule. "Right now
there's not as much pressure in the
summer league. We are out there to
win, but also to have a good time. It's
the same way in basketball, but here,
it's a national thing, and there's more
pressure. In the summer league we
are just playing teams inside the
state," he said.
' ' ' xm --f S - , I
Rich Yonakor
Staff photo by Allen Jernlgan
to see right away. When I can get my
curve over, sometimes it's effective.
But the other night, I had trouble. So
when the curve isn't working, I rely
on the sub," he said.
J In the 14 innings that he has
pitched, Rich has given up only a pair
of earned runs and has thrown nine
strike-outs.
When he is playing at first base, his
height helps him. "Being tall is really
the best advantage I have over there,
because nobody can out-stretch me
out there," he said. Many line drives
that are too high for most first
sackers, can sometimes be grabbed by
Yonakor also.
At the plate this summer. Rich
leads the team in the home run
department. He has smacked three
round-trippers and is ahead of Kevin
Caddell and J.D. Henderson who have
both knocked two out of the park.
Although he has only a .217
average, he has struck out just once
this season
"I open up a whole lot," Rich said,
"and choke up on the bat so I can just
punch at the ball and hit it
somewhere. If you have men on base
and you strike out, you're not going
to move them. If you make the other
team play with the ball, sometimes
they can make errors.
"I make better contact when I do
that. My lack of strike-outs shows
that it really helps me. If I took a full
cut, I might strike out and end the
inning. I've just always done it."
In comparing baseball to basketball.
Heels battle Campbell tonight
Carolina's baseball team had an up and
down week as they split a pair of games
with league leader Louisburg and
defeated Campbell, setting their record at
11-7, 34 games behind Louisburg.
Friday night, the Tar Heels ran into a
"Hurncaine" as Len Bradley handcuffed
Carolina batters, giving up only one run
which raised his record to 6-1. Otis
Nixon's two run home run in the ninth
was the clincher as the Heels fell, 8-6.
The Tar Heels bounced back Saturday
night though, as they nipped Campbell 4
3. J.D. Henderson and Larry Gates led the
hitting attack, with two hits a piece. Rich
Yonakor took the win to put his record at
1-0 (see related story).
Carolina finally got their revenge on
Louisburg Sunday night when they
whipped the Hurricanes 11-4. David Kirk
hurled the win to trim his ERA to a
microscopic 1.00 and put his record at a
perfect 5-0.
Rich Yonakor, J.D. Henderson, and Phil
Griffith led the 12 hit attack. Griffith
went 2 for 4 with four RBI's in the game,
while Henderson was 2 for 5 and knocked
in three RBI's.
Carolina will be in action again at
Boshamer Stadium tonight when they
will tangle with Campbell at 7:30. Mike
Brewer is scheduled to be the starting
pitcher for Heels.
R.L. Bynum
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