June 24, 2006

College World Series Capsules

College World Series Schedule and Recaps

By Sean Ryan

CollegeBaseballInsider.com Co-Founder

OMAHA, Neb. – Despite the way it looks, North Carolina sophomore Chad Flack is not slow.

He leads the Tar Heels with four triples and has stolen 15 of 17 bases, one short of Mike Cavasinni’s team-leading 16.

Yet, that was a large topic of conversation Saturday night after North Carolina took a 1-0 series lead on Oregon State in the College World Series’ best-of-three championship series.

“Very fast,” Flack joked when asked about how quick he sees himself before settling for “Fast for my size.”

At 6-3, 215, it sometimes looks like you’re a bit slower than you really are. Or when you lumber around second for a triple in the eighth inning. Or when you get a late break from third before barely sliding in for the game-winning run on a passed ball a few pitches later.

“It was a 6.8, 6.9,” Flack confided of his 60-time after the press conferfence. “It’s decent for my size, I guess. I ran that up in the Cape. I think it might have been around a 6.9…Once I get moving, I can go a little bit [laughs].”

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Sunday’s expected starters are Robert Woodard for North Carolina and Mike Stutes for Oregon State. UNC coach Mike Fox did not rule out the chance of ace Andrew Miller coming back in relief if the series goes to a third game Monday. It took a while to get to the answer, as Fox talked about making sure to take care of Miller because he was a special pitcher as well as the rest of the players.

Ultimately, Fox said: “More than likely yes.”

As for Miller…

“Tomorrow’s definitely out,” Miller said. “If the situation comes Monday, I’ll certainly be available.”

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Home cooking? Before the Tar Heels came to bat in the eighth inning, Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” was played between innings. Carolina broke a 3-3 tie when Chad Flack tripled and scored on a passed ball.

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Amazing stat of the game: North Carolina’s first fly-ball out came with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.

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After a rain delay of a little more than an hour, Matt Danford came on to relieve Andrew Miller, who had thrown 77 pitches – his second-to-last being a 1-2 slider he’d like to have back. Cole Gillespie deposited the thigh-high, outer-half offering into the seats for a two-run homer to right-center to give the Beavers a 3-2 lead.

Miller, the sixth pick of the June Major League Baseball draft, was hittable at times, as OSU tallied multiple hits in the second, third and sixth innings. He also was dominant at times, striking out five of six batters from the third to the fifth inning. Miller threw first-pitch strikes to 15 of 20 batters. 

Oregon State’s Dallas Buck, however, remained in the game after throwing 65 pitches through the first five innings. His first two pitches of the sixth inning were roped by Chad Flack and Jay Cox for singles to center and right, respectively. He got a 6-4-3 double play before Seth Williams laced a single to center to tie the game at 3. Buck left with one out in the seventh, allowing nine hits and three runs – including hits to four of the seven batters he faced after the rain delay.

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Carolina’s bunting – or lack thereof – left something to be desired. In the sixth, catcher Tim Federowicz was asked to bunt after swinging through the first pitch with men on first and second. He squared but took a 2-1 fastball for a strike. The next pitch, he grounded into a double play. Seth Williams picked him up with a two-strike single to drive in Flack. In the seventh inning, Garrett Gore led off with a double. Leadoff man Mike Cavasinni was asked to bunt him over. He squared late, punched at the ball and failed to get the ball down twice before swinging through a third strike from Buck. Gore was nabbed at third on a ground ball to Darwin Barney at short – a ground ball that could have meant a run with a successful sacrifice – and reliever Joe Paterson got out of the inning without further damage.

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When Reid Fronk singled to left with one out in the fifth inning, it marked the first ball to the outfield off Dallas Buck since Tim Federowicz’s jam-sandwich single to center in the first. Starting with Seth Williams’ grounder to short to end the first, the Buck induced eight ground-ball outs, struck out two and allowed an infield hit – Chad Flack’s chopper off the plate to third. After Fronk’s single, Buck got Josh Horton to ground out to second, retiring 13 of 15 Tar Heels.

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OSU’s Chris Kunda led off the third with a shot that left the park but was ruled a double because of fan interference. Kunda came around to score later in the inning after a bunt and sacrifice fly.

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Rosenblatt Stadium was packed for Saturday’s first game. Packed to the tune of 26,808 – a new CWS championship record.

New to the stadium this year is a giant scoreboard down the left-field line. First class. It’s as wide as a whole section of bleacher seats (56 feet, 6 inches – only 4 feet shy of the distance from pitcher to catcher) and not too big to be gaudy. Love the arching “Rosenblatt” on top of the 27-foot-high board.

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After some rain overnight and some sprinkles early Saturday, it was warm at 84 degrees under partly cloudy skies for first pitch Saturday. Clouds started rolling in from the West in the third inning. By the fifth, lightning and hail were reported 15-20 minutes West of Omaha. With no outs in the sixth – right after Cole Gillespie’s two-run homer gave the Beavers a 3-2 lead – umpires called for a lightning delay at 7:44 local time. Shortly after 8 p.m., a double rainbow – a new CWS championship series record! – formed in right-center field and arched over the gorgeous dome beyond the right-field bleachers.

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UNC entered the championship series with a CWS record of 5-8 all-time. OSU was 0-4 all-time before going 4-1 to improve to 4-5.

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This is the fourth year of the best-of-three championship series. The team that has won the first game of the series has won the previous three titles (Rice, Cal State Fullerton and Texas).

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The Beavers and Tar Heels had never met on the baseball diamond until Saturday night. Their only common opponent was Miami, with UNC taking two of three at the Hurricanes, and the Beavers splitting with the Canes here in Omaha.

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Carolina coach Mike Fox is one of 10 coaches who have reached Omaha as a coach and a player. Fox was a member of the 1978 team, which went 2-2 at the CWS.

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North Carolina is trying to become the first ACC team since Wake Forest in 1955 to win the college baseball national title. Miami’s national titles came before the Hurricanes joined the ACC.