NCAA Baseball Super Regionals 2011, North Carolina Vs. Stanford Score, Game 1: UNC Leads, Patrick Johnson Throwing Fire

North Carolina Tar Heels starting pitcher Patrick Johnson has started extremely strong in Game 1 of his team’s Super Regional against the Stanford Cardinal, and it’s looking like the visitors are going to have a tough time scoring any runs in Chapel Hill this afternoon. Johnson has four strikeouts, one hit allowed, and no runs allowed in 41 pitches through three innings. He’s been great, but he’s going to have to continue to be - Mark Appel is nearly as good. However, UNC have a 1-0 lead through three innings, thanks to a bit of luck.

Some poor defense is what has allowed UNC to take the lead, and their one run was not charged to Appel as a result. In the second inning, Jesse Wierzbicki reached on a single, then advanced to third when Tommy Coyle reached base on a throwing error. Jacob Stallings lined out to shallow center, keeping Wierzbicki from tagging, but he would score on the next at bat. Ben Bunting hit a ground ball between first and second that Lonnie Kauppila almost reached, but he bobbled the ball, allowing Bunting to reach first safely and Wierzbicki to score from third.

Much to the frustration of the fans in Chapel Hill, which they have vocalized on numerous occasions, umpire Gus Rodriguez is calling a large strike zone, and he has been generous with balls on the outside corner. However, Rodriguez has been entirely consistent with his strike zone, giving Johnson the benefit of the doubt as well as Appel, so they have little room to complain.