In the summer of 2009, the North Carolina baseball program bid goodbye to two of its three weekend starters, the winningest senior class in UNC history and the program’s greatest hitter.
The exodus of talent was one thing, but it was the dearth of experience that wound up snapping UNC’s string of four straight College World Series appearances in 2010.
Though the 17 newcomers to the team got better as the season wore on, it wasn’t quite enough to bring the program to the peaks it had seen the previous four years. Coach Mike Fox’s Tar Heels missed the ACC Tournament for the first time since the conference switched to its current format in 2006 and fell to Oklahoma in the NCAA Tournament’s regional finals.
“I think we all knew that talent-wise we obviously weren’t going to be as stacked as we were the year before,” UNC catcher and first baseman Jacob Stallings said. “I think we all knew that the guys that were coming back were going to have to step up and expand our roles to fill in for those guys.”
UNC’s losses were most noticeable at the plate, where the Tar Heels struggled to create runs without the bats of All-ACC selections and current Seattle Mariner farmhands Kyle Seager and Dustin Ackley.
Paced by sophomore infielder Levi Michael’s .480 on-base percentage, the Tar Heels didn’t have too much trouble putting ducks on the pond. Getting those runners home was the problem. UNC finished 145th in the nation in slugging percentage.
The Tar Heels were kept in games by a starting pitching staff that helped UNC finish fourth in the ACC in earned run average. The rotation was highlighted by junior right-hander Matt Harvey, who earned All-ACC honors with a robust 3.09 ERA. Harvey, reliever Nate Striz and starter/reliever Colin Bates were selected in the first, 22nd and 23rd rounds of the 2010 Major League Draft, respectively.
But the Tar Heels’ lack of experience in pressure situations plagued them late in games. UNC blew a pair of late leads at home against Florida State and suffered a sweep against Georgia Tech.
Eventually, members of the bullpen got used to their roles and the rest of the team developed the composure to close out games. UNC won a series at Clemson by claiming the rubber game with a go-ahead run in the ninth and rattled off seven straight wins afterward.
