No CWS for North Carolina teams – WRALSportsFan.com
No CWS for North Carolina teams WRALSportsFan.com
The baseball season in these parts ended abruptly Monday.
The baseball season in these parts ended abruptly Monday, although abruptly might not provide the most fitting description for Auburn’s first inning in Chapel Hill. The Tigers’ explosion lasted more than 50 minutes, creating aftershocks that rocked Boshamer Stadium the rest of the afternoon. Duke made noise in Nashville Friday night, and lots of it. But by Sunday evening powerful Vanderbilt had taken full control of that series, as Duke’s season ended in a Super Regional for the second straight year. East Carolina, the state’s highest rated team, could not summon the magic that propelled the Pirates to four wins in two days during the rain-plagued Greenville Regional. And so the equipment gets packed away for the off season without a trip to Omaha for UNC, Duke, and ECU. But all three schools had their chances. And moments.
Auburn ends another UNC season
With Carolina fans still smarting from the blowout basketball loss to Auburn that denied the Tar Heels a trip to the Final Four, the streak hitting Tiger baseball team erupted for 13 runs in the first inning of the penultimate game in the Super Regional, ending UNC’s hopes of a second straight College World Series. During most of 2019, Coach Mike Fox’s team put itself in position for a return to Omaha by waiting patiently at the plate for bases on balls, and throwing strikes from the pitcher’s mound. In game three of the Chapel Hill Super Regional, UNC pitchers couldn’t throw strikes. It was Auburn getting all the free passes and the Tigers didn’t even have to show a discerning eye at the plate before walking to first and then parading around the bases. Auburn pounded nine hits in the first, but also drew five walks. Without all the walks, most of the Tigers’ hits likely wouldn’t have happened.
Joey Lancellotti started for the Heels. Lancellotti had been Carolina’s closer and best pitcher out of the bullpen much of the year; but he suddenly lost his control in the Super Regional. Lancellotti was part of a bullpen trio in game one that failed to hold the 5-2 lead fashioned by starter Tyler Baum. If UNC gets its usual bullpen performance in game one (the Heels’ bullpen ERA was less than 2.00 during the past month) there is no game three. Alas, Lancellotti couldn’t find the plate Saturday, and was even wilder in his unusual starting role in game three Monday. In the battle for Omaha, Lancellotti missed the strike zone on 11 of his first 12 pitches. He threw a couple of strikes to clean up hitter Steven Williams, but Lancellotti walked him as well, giving Auburn its first run. Fox turned to freshman Conner Ollio. I really thought Ollio might get the start in this rubber match. UNC, having not established a consistent third starter behind Baum and Austin Bergner, started Ollio in the ACC Championship against Georgia Tech, and that day he gave the Tar Heels a couple of good innings before giving way to the normally air tight bullpen. But now suddenly Ollio was the guy coming on in relief.
He began his stint by striking out the dangerous Rankin Worley. Then Edouard Julien smashed one down the line in right, scoring two runs to make its 3-0 Auburn. The Tar Heels’ big mistake came on a bunt by Will Holland just inside the first base line. First baseman Michael Busch tore after the ball, but no one covered first. Busch might well have had a play had he been able to throw to first. And that would have made next batter Matt Scheffler’s fly to center the third out. Instead, Ollio had to face the red hot Kason Howell. His single made it 5-0. Mike Fox changed pitchers again.
Now redshirt senior Hansen Butler came on. Butler, along with Lancellotti and reliever Austin Love, played a major part in UNC’s success this season, especially in the seven game win streak during the ACC Championship and NCAA Regional. But in the penultimate game of the Super Regional, Hansen couldn’t get anyone out. Judd Ward smashed a three run homer. Ryan Bliss and Conor Davis both singled. Steven Williams reached base on an error. Woley, in his second at bat of the inning, cracked a two run single. Then Julien ripped a single; yes, this was his second run scoring hit of the inning. Fox eventually turned to freshman Will Sandy.
Sandy, who served as the third starter during part of the season, put out the fire. But by now Auburn had amassed 13 first inning runs, the second highest single inning total in NCAA Tournament history.
How do you come back from 13 runs down? You don’t. The Heels battled. Ashton McGee and Aaron Sabato hit resounding home runs. Sabato smashed a second home run in the final inning. But 14-7 was as close as the Tar Heels could get.
Had UNC limited Auburn to just four runs in the first, or even five, they would have had a chance to make one of their patented comebacks-the kind we saw against Miami in the ACC Championship when the Heels fell behind 5-0 in the third, but then rallied to win in extra innings. But the wildness-we’re talking about a full on barrage of balls outside the strike zone-coupled with two critical fielding miscues by the Tar Heels and lots of timely hitting by the Tigers put this one out of reach before the home team could even come to the plate.
Auburn is not the SEC’s best offensive team by any stretch-that would be Vandy-but the Tigers had won five of seven games coming into the Super Regional, thanks to some clutch hits against LSU, Tennessee, Coastal Carolina, and Georgia Tech. Still, UNC starters Tyler Baum and Austin Bergner put the clamps on Auburn. For seven innings in game one, and nine innings in game two, UNC pitched well enough to make a return trip to Omaha. For me, UNC’s downfall began when Baum left the mound in game one, ahead by three. Austin Love escaped from a jam in the seventh, but he needed 19 pitches to do it. Love is normally more accurate than that. In fact, he would throw 40 strikes out of 48 pitches in a brilliant game winning relief performance during the Tar Heels’ 2-0 triumph in game two. But he sure struggled to find the plate in game one. When Love left game one in the eighth with runners on first and second, his successors suffered from the same malady. Lancellotti, pitching from behind in the count, gave up a run scoring double and a walk. He also threw a wild pitch. Butler followed. He walked a batter, and then gave up a three run double to Worley, making it 7-5 Auburn. Even worse than the five run eighth, was the four run ninth. UNC scored two runs in the ninth and would have sent the game into extra innings. But the four runs allowed in the top half of the frame ended that possibility.
Auburn won the series by scoring 25 runs in three games. But consider this. 22 of those 25 runs came in three places: the eighth and ninth innings in game one and the first inning of game three. UNC held the upper hand during most of this series, but the big innings late in game one, and the really big inning early in game three were enough to send Auburn to its first College World Series since MLB star Tim Hudson played for the Tigers in 1997.
Missing out on a second straight try at college baseball’s national championship is obviously a huge disappointment for first round draft pick Michael Busch, and others who may now move on to professional baseball; plus four graduating seniors. But much of UNC’s talent returns, including Freshman of the Year Aaron Sabato and super shortstop Danny Serretti, to name a couple. UNC will return young pitching talent as well: Love, Lancellotti, Ollio, and Sandy for sure. Junior pitchers like Baum and Bergner-and there are several position players in this category as well-will weigh the options of turning pro versus returning to school. But it wouldn’t be surprising if this program again contends for the CWS in 2020.
Vandy finally solves Duke pitching
In game three of the Nashville Super Regional, we finally saw just how lethal Vanderbilt’s offense can be. Austin Martin hit one out of the park. A few moments later Pat DeMarco pasted a pitch from Duke’s Bill Chilari with two Commodores aboard-a three run blast with a capital B. And so, in just one third of one inning, the vaunted Vandy bat attack inflicted more damage on Duke pitching than in games one and two combined. The home team would ultimately hit three more home runs in game three before a lengthy storm delay cooled the Commodores a bit; Vandy would secure a berth in the CWS by the resounding score of 13-2.
The bats of Vanderbilt were anything but resounding in games one and two, largely because of outstanding pitching performances by Duke starters Ben Gross and Bryce Jarvis. Gross contained the Commodores with a four seam fastball as the Duke offense piled up runs against previously unbeaten Drake Fellows. While the Blue Devils torched Fellows and the Vandy bullpen for an unthinkable 18 runs, including ten in an eighth inning that saw three walks and three hit batsmen, the ‘Dores were forced to play small ball. Vandy scored two runs with the help of a double steal, and another run on a sacrifice fly. Only once during the first two games did the NCAA’s number two seed go deep, and that was a meaningless two run homer from Phillip Clarke. Meanwhile Jarvis’ performance might have been the best I have seen from a Duke pitcher in the post-season, though he didn’t get the win.
Jarvis was matched against 6’4 255 pound flame thrower Kumar Rocker. Rocker, of course, threw an historic no hitter, the program’s first in almost 50 years, striking out 19 Blue Devils. However, considering the potency of Vanderbilt’s batting order, Jarvis was nearly as effective, though in a radically different way. Mixing his pitches brilliantly, Jarvis kept the Commodores off balance all night with a great breaking ball and a lethal change up. Jarvis was especially good against Austin Martin and J. J. Bleday, two of the best hitters in the entire country. Bleday even tried bunting to get on base but to no avail. Jarvis made one mistake. After giving up a two out single to Ethan Paul, the Duke starter uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Paul to go to third. Clarke then drove him home with a single. When Jarvis left the game in the eighth, Duke trailed just 1-0. And it’s not like Vandy overpowered the Duke bullpen. The Commodores scored their second run on a sacrifice fly and their third run on a suicide squeeze. But with Rocker’s dominance, Vandy just needed the first run. The big freshman going the distance in an elimination game saved the season in Nashville.
So the Blue Devils return home disappointed. Yet their showing against a team that had won 25 of 26 games, mostly against opponents in the almighty SEC, is more than noteworthy. Coach Chris Pollard has taken a program that went 55 years without a single NCAA appearance, and taken teams to the Super Regionals in back to back seasons. And most of Duke’s best players in 2019 will return in 2020.
Sea change for the Pirates
East Carolina came into the Super Regionals on a tear, heaving scored 22 runs on one day during a pair of wins against in state rival Campbell. Louisville, meanwhile, suffered a stunning loss to Illinois State at home in its regional, forcing the Cardinals to play out of the loser’s bracket. Louisville did get off the deck and defeat the Redbirds twice to win the right to host the Super Regional with ECU. But the Cardinals were not exactly rolling. They had scored just two runs, one in each of two games, in unimpressive losses to Boston College and Clemson during the ACC Championship in Durham. How quickly fortunes can change in baseball’s post-season.
ECU boasted some of the best bats in the country. Bryant Packard hit .363. Alec Burleson .373. During the Greenville Regional Jake Washer swung the heaviest lumber of all. None of those three could ever get it going though at Jim Patterson Stadium. Spencer Brickhouse finally hit one out in the middle innings of game one. But by that time the Cardinals had chased Pirate ace Jake Agnos and piled up nine runs. U of L eventually won 14-1.
The Louisville onslaught continued in game two. The Cards scored three in the second, three in the third, and three in the fifth. Ironically, the long Louisville at bats created anxiety for U of L pitcher Bobby Miller. Miller, you see, did not allow any hits while his teammates were compiling that big lead. Miller would have been happy with some 1-2-3 innings, so he could get back out and pitch rather than spend long chunks of time in the dugout trying NOT to think about his no hitter. ECU did eventually get a hit in the ninth. But the Pirates couldn’t score, much less overcome a deficit that had reached 12 runs.
ECU Coach Cliff Godwin believes the Pirates earned the right to be a top eight seed (the Selection Committee made ECU a ten seed) and host a Super Regional. He may well be right. But for another summer, ECU’s dream of playing in a College World Series remains unfulfilled.
Louisville, playing early Friday and Saturday, became the first ACC team to qualify for the CWS. Florida State will join the Cards in Omaha. The Seminoles barely made the NCAA Tournament field, but their clutch hitting and pitching at LSU gave the ACC one much needed win in three Super Regional matchups with the SEC. And the Seminoles extended the remarkable coaching career of the retiring Mike Martin (40 wins or more in 40 straight seasons) by at least two more games.
This marks the 14th straight season the ACC has sent at least one team to the CWS. It’s the fifth time in that span at least two ACC teams have made the trip to Omaha. But the buzz around the Old North State will be quite different than it was during the run up to the Super Regionals. UNC, Duke, and ECU are all now sitting at home.