Never have I been more excited for Opening Day at the Bosh, and a Tar Heel team laded with heavy expectations flashed their first glimpses of a season filled with promise today.
Let's comb through what opening day brought to the Bosh on Friday...
Defense: Cooper Nicholson appeared dynamite in several looks at the hot corner, really attacking the ball and putting his momentum toward Erik Paulsen, the Tar Heels' new first baseman. A dynamic third baseman will be huge to this North Carolina team, especially granted the potential revolving door in left field. Head coach Scott Forbes said earlier in the fall that his team needed to "sure-up" defensively, and Friday night offered the first glimpse of such.
The Little Things: A soft-tossing lefty has repeatedly been the thorn in the Tar Heels' side, and IU's Tony Neubeck fit that bill perfectly. Neubeck went four innings, allowing one hit, walking three, punching out two while yielding no runs. The UNC offense looked dead in the water trying to keep up with Neubeck's stuff.
When Reagan Rivera entered the game — a righty sitting in the low 90s — the offense came to life. The fifth inning was highlighted by a Gavin Gallaher bases-clearing triple on an 86 mile per hour offering. The following inning, UNC hung a six-spot that was built upon capitalizing on the little things — a calling card of last year's Tar Heel team. There were hits, yes: a Nicholson single, a Colin Hynek double and a Jake Schaffner triple — making Friday the first season-opening game with two triples since 2003 — but almost more promising, was UNC's ability to capitalize and squeeze runs out of IU's errors and miscues.
Pitching: Jason DeCaro made the start for UNC, working his pitch count up to 90 in five innings of work with two hits, seven strikeouts, and no runs with three walks. After last year's outing against Florida State where he also struck out seven, DeCaro described afterwards that the seven punchouts were nice, but his favorite parting of the outing was no free passes. As pitching coach Bryant Gaines said, the control is something DeCaro will work on early this season, learning to make use of his four-pitch arsenal on nights where he doesn't have control. The walks and the pitch count is something Jason will have to wrestle with, but seven strikeouts — most of them appearing via his fastball — is a great start for UNC's Friday arm.
Caden Glauber struggled in his first college outing, but did pump his fastball up to 96 miles per hour. There is no reason to worry for the youngster — Friday was Glauber's first college appearance, and while he did issue a four-pitch walk to his first batter, he showed the stuff to battle through tough at-bats (an eight-pitch bout with one of IU's best bats Cooper Malamazian comes to mind).
The other arm that stood out was Boston Flannery. Into the fall, the Flannery hype train was full of steam. However, last season he only pitched one inning against Stony Brook and even though the velocity is high, he struggled with his command. This off-season Flannery went into the pitching lab and made some tweaks to his delivery, and in a low stress situation against IU, it looked to pay off, as he reached his career high innings pitched (2.1), while tossing in two Ks. There is still work to be done but if he can become a dependable bullpen arm, it could be huge for the Tar Heels.
All in all, a positive opening day for UNC, who will play a double-header against the Hoosiers tomorrow. Folger Boaz will start the first game, while Ryan Lynch gets the ball for game two.
Let's comb through what opening day brought to the Bosh on Friday...
Defense: Cooper Nicholson appeared dynamite in several looks at the hot corner, really attacking the ball and putting his momentum toward Erik Paulsen, the Tar Heels' new first baseman. A dynamic third baseman will be huge to this North Carolina team, especially granted the potential revolving door in left field. Head coach Scott Forbes said earlier in the fall that his team needed to "sure-up" defensively, and Friday night offered the first glimpse of such.
The Little Things: A soft-tossing lefty has repeatedly been the thorn in the Tar Heels' side, and IU's Tony Neubeck fit that bill perfectly. Neubeck went four innings, allowing one hit, walking three, punching out two while yielding no runs. The UNC offense looked dead in the water trying to keep up with Neubeck's stuff.
When Reagan Rivera entered the game — a righty sitting in the low 90s — the offense came to life. The fifth inning was highlighted by a Gavin Gallaher bases-clearing triple on an 86 mile per hour offering. The following inning, UNC hung a six-spot that was built upon capitalizing on the little things — a calling card of last year's Tar Heel team. There were hits, yes: a Nicholson single, a Colin Hynek double and a Jake Schaffner triple — making Friday the first season-opening game with two triples since 2003 — but almost more promising, was UNC's ability to capitalize and squeeze runs out of IU's errors and miscues.
Pitching: Jason DeCaro made the start for UNC, working his pitch count up to 90 in five innings of work with two hits, seven strikeouts, and no runs with three walks. After last year's outing against Florida State where he also struck out seven, DeCaro described afterwards that the seven punchouts were nice, but his favorite parting of the outing was no free passes. As pitching coach Bryant Gaines said, the control is something DeCaro will work on early this season, learning to make use of his four-pitch arsenal on nights where he doesn't have control. The walks and the pitch count is something Jason will have to wrestle with, but seven strikeouts — most of them appearing via his fastball — is a great start for UNC's Friday arm.
Caden Glauber struggled in his first college outing, but did pump his fastball up to 96 miles per hour. There is no reason to worry for the youngster — Friday was Glauber's first college appearance, and while he did issue a four-pitch walk to his first batter, he showed the stuff to battle through tough at-bats (an eight-pitch bout with one of IU's best bats Cooper Malamazian comes to mind).
The other arm that stood out was Boston Flannery. Into the fall, the Flannery hype train was full of steam. However, last season he only pitched one inning against Stony Brook and even though the velocity is high, he struggled with his command. This off-season Flannery went into the pitching lab and made some tweaks to his delivery, and in a low stress situation against IU, it looked to pay off, as he reached his career high innings pitched (2.1), while tossing in two Ks. There is still work to be done but if he can become a dependable bullpen arm, it could be huge for the Tar Heels.
All in all, a positive opening day for UNC, who will play a double-header against the Hoosiers tomorrow. Folger Boaz will start the first game, while Ryan Lynch gets the ball for game two.
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