UNC Baseball: As classes begin, summer leagues end

Well, we made it. We think.

Students are moving back onto campus, the sounds of pads popping over by mid campus are a daily occurrence, and sounds we all haven’t heard since March of 2020 are filling campus:

All of the fall events ramping up mean that summer events are coming to an end, and that includes the summer leagues that various members of the UNC Baseball team participated in. Every league that had a summer season is done except the Northwoods league as they’ll continue on through the end of the month, but the one Tar Heel on a team in that league has already come back to Chapel Hill for the start of classes.

Overall, as the stats have shown, a ton of players gained valuable experience they’ll use as fall practice will soon descend at the Bosh. Without an offseason in 2020, the continuity to build off the rough end to 2021 will be key as the Tar Heels look to establish themselves under second year manager Scott Forbes. All these players now have video to study for improvement, something they didn’t have as much of last season. Hopefully, it means a few will be taking a leap.

As far as winning titles go, no Tar Heels got to experience winning a title this summer, though one, Nick James in the Ohio Valley was at least on a team that made it to their championship series, but James last pitched on July 7th, and he wasn’t part of the team that lost their best 2 out of 3 series to Dubois County.

Also, you may recall that Mac Horvath was going to participate in the Northwoods League All-Star Game, as he already had taken part in their homer run derby. Horvath got one plate appearance where...he was hit by a pitch. At least it gave him a 1.000 OBP. He also got to take part in an annual Major League Dreams Showcase, an event similar to one the Cape Cod League does in Fenway that brings prospects in front of MLB scouts at one time. He had one plate appearance during this, but went 0-1.

So how did the rest of the Tar Heels do this summer? Let’s check out the final stats:

Cape Cod League

Johnny Castagnozzi-Chatam Anglers

14G, 39 AB, 9 H, .231 Avg, 2 HR, 1 3B, 6 RBI, 3 BB, 18K

Shawn Rapp-Cotuit Kettleers

3G, 8 IP, 0-1, 4.50 ERA, 1 SV, 13K, 2 BB, 8H

Coastal Plain League

Patrick Alvarez-Asheboro Copperheads

36G, 128 AB, 40 H, .313 Avg, 3 HR, 21 RBI, 29 BB, 18 K, 10 2B, 1 3B, 4 SB

Cannon Pickell-Asheboro Copperheads

3G, 1 GS, 3 1⁄3 IP, 0-1, 29.70 ERA, 3 K, 10 BB, 2 H

Will Stewart-Asheboro Copperheads

34G, 118 AB, 28 H, .237 Avg, 9 HR, 29 RBI, 15 BB, 2 SB, 33 K, 4 2B

Hunter Stokely-Asheboro Copperheads

24G, 86 AB, 23 H, .267 Avg, 3 HR, 17 RBI, 12 BB, 1 SB, 21 K

Max Riemer-High Point-Thomasville HiToms

25G, 70 AB, 18 H, .257 Avg, 4 HR, 14 RBI, 7 BB, 7 K, 3 2B

Colby Wilkerson-High Point-Thomasville HiToms

9G, 28 AB, 6 H, .214 Avg, 1 RBI, 7 BB, 1 K

Davis Palermo-Holly Springs Salamanders

8G, 15 IP, 3-1, 3.60 ERA, 25K, 9 BB, 15 H

Will Sanday-Holly Springs Salamanders

7G, 6 GS, 32 ¹⁄₃ IP, 1-2, 2.22 ERA, 30K, 15 BB, 23 H

Mikey Madej-Holly Springs Salamanders

11G, 30 AB, 4 H, .133 Avg, 2 RBI, 7 BB, 10 K

Brandon Eike-Tri-City Chili Peppers

1 G, 0 AB, 1 BB, 1 SB

Max Alba-Wilmington Sharks

7 G, 4 GS, 29 ²⁄₃ IP, 2-1, 1.82 ERA, 31 K, 6 BB, 23 H

Northwoods League

Mac Horvath-Rochester Honkers

35 G, 122 AB, 35 H, .287 Avg, 4 HR, 25 RBI, 33 BB, 6 2B, 30K, 5 SB

Appalachian League

Eric Grintz-Bluefield Ridge Runners

26 G, 79 AB, 25 H, .316 Avg, 14 RBI, 3 2B, 17 BB, 19K

Ohio Valley League

Nick James-Full Count Rhythm

6 G, 3 GS, 20 2⁄3 IP, 3-0, 3.05 ERA, 28 K, 8 BB, 17 H

Valley League

Will Schroeder-Front Royal Cardinals

10 G, 33 AB, 10 H, .303 Avg, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 4 2B, 5 BB, 8 K

Next time we see these guys will be in the Fall World Series on campus, and after missing most of 2020 and an abnormal 2021, it’ll be nice to get back into a regular rhythm. See you at Boshamer Stadium soon!