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UNC Goes Down Fighting, but Ends Season With Tournament Losses
BY STEVE ROBBLEE
SENIOR WRITER
GREENVILLE, S.C. Apparently
Ted Williams was wrong. Hitting a base
ball isn’t the hardest thing in sports; it’s
stringing hits together.
Despite outhitting Georgia Tech May
18, North Carolina fell to the Yellow Jack
ets 7-4 in the first-round of the ACC Base-
ball Tourna
ment, all but
eliminating the
pitching-thin
Tar Heels in
the double
elimination
tournament.
The loss
sent UNC to
BASEBALL
UNC 4
Georgia Tech 7
Duke 12
UNC 13
N.C. State 11
UNC 6
the losers’ bracket where it managed a 13-
12 win against Duke Thursday before fall
ing to N.C. State 11-6 Friday.
Unlike the Tar Heels, the Jackets made
their hits count, stringing together three
straight singles and a Brandon Hensley
triple—all with two outs in the first inning
to go ahead 3-0.
UNC’s Shoddy Defense Hurls
Chance to Upset No. 2 Jackets
BY JAMES D. WHITFIELD
SPORTS EDITOR
GREENVILLE, S.C. All through
the season, North Carolina’s baseball team
struggled in the field. But UNC’s defense
has never played quite like it did last week
at the ACC Tournament.
In losing 7-4 tosecond-ranked Georgia
Tech at Greenville Municipal Stadium on
May 18, the Tar Heels took this shoddy
defense to anew level, costing themselves
several opportunities to pull off a major
upset.
Misjudged fly balls, booted ground balls
and a dropped throw across the infield
played a major part in UNC’s exit from the
winner’s bracket.
“We have struggled with the routine
ground balls and plays,” UNC head coach
Mike Roberts said. “I wish I could answer
why, but I can’t. It’s just got me baffled."
Yes, North Carolina only committed
two errors in the final box score, but the
consequences of those errors and other
misplayed balls certainly led to the loss.
The Tar Heel “comedy of errors” got
started right off the bat. In the first inning,
with one Yellow Jacket ran already home,
runners on first and second and two outs,
third baseman Brandon Hensley nailed a
fly ball to deep center.
However, what seemed to be a routine
fly ball turned into a UNC nightmare.
Centerfielder Dave Leisten lost the ball in
Numbers Don’t lie Tar Heels Depended on Massey
Just about two months ago, everyone
with any knowledge of ACC baseball
thought UNC designatedhitter Cookie
Massey was a lock to break the single
season ACC home ran record of 25.
He didn’t quite make it.
Thanks to an April 8 hand injury, North
Carolina’s “designated masher” sat out 10
games.
And the rest is history.
Massey finished the season by only belt
ing two home runs over the remainder of
the schedule.
He broke the hand while diving for a
ball during batting practice. I guess you
Calvin and Hobbes
WELL, AT LEAST WE 'NSSVI WE LOST A FEW OF OUR , *. -
HOME fWEH CUR UOOSE WAS NICE THINGS, BUT THINGS
BTOi INTO. NO ONE WPS DONE MATTER MUCH ROUI
HURT. WE'RE ALL TOGETHER L_—— ■ ITS HARD TO BELIEVE UOW 1
and ok. <often we forget that J
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DOWN
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ACROSS
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Sleepy Hollow"
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gimmickry
The two errors that the Tar Heels made
against Tech cost UNC, but other fielding
miscues hurt UNC even worse.
Hensley ’ s first-inning triple was a catch
able line drive that UNC center fielder
Dave Leisten lost in the Greenville night.
And in the sixth, right fielder David Boone
overran a pop fly that scored a run for the
Yellow Jackets, making the score 5-2.
“Basically, what we you saw today is
what we have done the entire year,” UNC
head coach Mike Roberts said. “We have
struggled with the routine ground ball and
the routine fly ball. I wish I could answer
why, but I can’t.”
Although the loss dropped UNC starter
Sean Murphy to 9-6 on the season, Roberts
said he was pleased with his performance.
“(Georgia Tech starter Andy) Rigby’s
an outstanding pitcher, but I thought
Murphy pitched as well as well as Rigby
did,” Roberts said. “Rigby just got a little
bit better defense behind him, without a
doubt.”
And Rigby didn’t give his teammates as
much of a chance to make errors, striking
out 12 batters to Murphy’s six. He fanned
UNC first baseman Crandel Coltrane in
the Greenville night and the inning’s third
out quickly turned into a two-run triple.
“Leisten definitely lost the ball in the
dark part of the evening in the first inning, ”
Roberts said.
Going into the second, the score should
have been 1-0, Georgia Tech. Instead the
No. 2 seed led 3-0.
In the sixth frame, the Greenville night
struck again.
GeorgiaTechrightfielderMichaelSmith
reached base via a double to right-center
field. Just like the first time, the Tar Heels
had two outs on the board and the inning
appeared to be over. But up stepped Jacket
shortstop Nomar Garciapara.
The Georgia Tech All-America candi
date looped a Texas-leaguer over the sec
ond baseman’s head. The ball appeared to
be high enough for a Tar Heel fielder to get
underneath, but it blended in with the
dark-gray sky and hindered rightfielder
David Boone and second baseman Robbie
Mclver’s attempt. When the ball touched
grass, Smith had scored from second to put
the Ramblin’ Wreck up 5-2.
“I’m not really sure what happened to
David Boone in the sixth inning, ” Roberts
said. “He came running in extremely quick,
and I guess he just misjudged the baseball,
which is a human error and does happen. ”
And if that wasn’t enough, North Caro
lina blew away any chance of a rally in the
eighth inning. Already trailing 64 with a
ranneronthirdand two outs, thirdbaseman
The Hot
Corner m”
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SPORTS UHTOB jgfl
just can’t take the competitive nature out of
some guys.
Massey returned to the lineup April 26
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statesman
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instruction
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elaborately
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Linden
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times
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the fourth to earn the Georgia Tech season
strike out record.
But when UNC did make contact against
Rigby, the ball often found the gap. UNC
roughed up Rigby for 11 hits two more
than he had given up ins 2 previous starts.
Catcher Manny DaSilva started an out
standing ACC Tournament performance
by going 3-for4 against the Yellow Jack
ets. He went 9-fcr-13 in the tournament
DTH/DAVID ALFORD
North Carolina starting pitcher Sean Murphy hurls a pitch toward the plate.
The 6-foot-1 junior struck out six batters over seven innings of work.
Casey Hoch fielded a ground ball cleanly
and threw to first. However, first baseman
Crandel Coltrane dropped a good throw to
allow the seventh ran to score.
If UNC had played the game mistake
free, it would have won by a ran.
“We’ve proven that we can play with
anybody over the course of the season, but
we are not winning the close ball games
because of our defense,” Roberts said.
But the errors shouldn’t be a surprise.
North Carolina booted the ball 113 times
during the regular season -an ACC high.
That translates out to 2.05 errors per game.
and played in UNC’s remaining games.
But it was quite obvious that the hand
wasn’t 100 percent.
His average dipped from the .360-range
to a season-end figure of .345, and he only
drove in six more runs on the season.
Even UNC head coach Mike Roberts
admitted that Massey was having trouble
getting the ball into the air for extra base
hits because of the hand.
But, Massey, much to his credit, played
on. Complaining little of the raw deal he
was dealt, the ex-UNC football player des
perately tried to position his team into
NCAA tournament contention.
©1993 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
46 Called forth
47 Sentence ender
48 Ogle
50 Race official
51 Son of Isaac
52 Yuletide
53 Ripped
54 Norse epic
55 Just average
56 Russian river
57 Behold
59 Macaw
60 or never
61 Team cheer
SPORTS
including three home runs.
“I’m seeing the ball now as well as I
have (all year),” DaSilva said. “I’m back in
the groove now like I finished last year off.
I was having trouble getting the ball in the
air, and coach and I corrected a few things.
And it’s really worked, I’m seeing the ball
real well.”
Several Tar Heels had bats as hot as
DaSilva’s in the Tar Heels’ second touma
Surely, two errors per game makes a vic
tory hard to come by.
The main culprits come from the middle
infield. The three players who manned the
middle rank one-two-three on the error
chart (Mitch Jones, Hanes Torbett and
Robbie Mclver respectively).
Yet that trio is comprised of two sopho
mores and a junior. More than likely those
players were learning to play the UNC
way.
For Roberts’ sake,let’shopethat’swhat
it was. If not, UNC could be in for a long
1995 campaign.
Yet North Carolina could not crawl out
of the slump.
The Tar Heels record was 25-9 overall
and 7-3 in the ACC at the time. But after
Massey’s injury, UNC racked up a 9-12
record and its ran total dropped from 8.32
runs per game to 4.47.
Granted, after Massey’s injury, the Tar
Heels didn’t host the likes of Davidson and
Marist (UNC scored more than 20 runs
against these teams), but a four-run drop?.
The 5-foot-11, 220-pounder simply
meant so much to this club, and it’s a
shame to see him go out with a whimper
instead of a bang.
Massey had the uncanny ability to
change the direction of a game with one
swing. One long fly ball and all of a sudden
the Tar Heels would be in the thick off it
once again.
Sure Massey changed the complexion
of many games, but one that comes to
mind was played last season in Raleigh.
The Tar Heels trailed No. 3 N.C. State
5-1 and the Wolfpack fans at Doak Field
were ragging Massey pretty good. One fan
even proclaimed after an early strikeout,
“If that was a Big Mac, you would have hit
it.”
But Massey had the last laugh by launch
ing a two-run homer in the sixth and a solo
shot in the eighth to give the Tar Heels a 7-
6 win. The comeback victory gave UNC
the momentum for a strong ACC and
NCAA tournament showing.
The gentle slugger will now look for
work in the pros, probably by trying to
latch on in the American League.
But he surely won’t be forgotten around
Boshamer Stadium anytime soon. All the
massive swings and even the drag bunt he
successfully completed earlier this season
will go down in Tar Heel baseball lore.
It’s just a shame he didn’t go out with
the flurry of home runs we all became so
accustomed to seeing.
Beverly Hills Cops 111
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mentgame, a 13-12 come-from-behind win
against second-seeded Duke.
Coltrane, who went 5-for-6 in the game,
scored on a wild pitch with two outs in the
ninth to give UNC the win.
The Tar Heels exacted some measure of
revenge against the Blue Devils, who swept
a three-game set from UNC May 8-10. The
victory bounced the Devils from the tour
nament without a win.
FINAL WEEK!
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Thursday, May 26,1994
In the season-ending loss to N.C. State,
the Tar Heels fell behind 9-0 through four
innings. Starter Josh Potter (0-7) gave up
six runs through 2 2/3 innings.
The Tar Heels scored three in the sixth
to close the gap, and trailed 114 going into
the bottom of the ninth. Manny DaSilva
managed a two-out, two-run homer for
UNC, but that was all it could muster in its
final at bat.
9