It’s Crunch Time with a capital “CT” in the college baseball regular season, the time of the year when teams must concentrate on what lies ahead instead of resting on their laurels.
And with eight games on their schedule between last Friday (April 21) and this Sunday (April 30), the North Carolina Tar Heels haven’t had a lot of time this week to sit back and reflect on what they’ve accomplished over the first two-plus months of the 2017 college baseball season. Nor do they want to.
Led by junior right-handed pitcher J.B. Bukauskas and junior outfielder Logan Warmoth – both of whom are included on the Midseason Golden Spikes Award Watch List as national player of the year candidates – the Tar Heels have climbed to No. 3 in the Perfect Game College National Top 25 Rankings and enjoy a comfortable four-game lead in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Coastal Division standings.
This represents quite a turn-around from the previous two seasons when the storied program in Chapel Hill, N.C., didn’t win enough games to advance to the NCAA Division I postseason. The two-year absence came after 14 Regional Tournament appearances under 19-year head coach Mike Fox from 1999-2014, a run that also included six appearances in the College World Series (2006-09, 2011, 2013).
“I’ve felt like it’s gone really well so far,” Bukauskas told Perfect Game this week when asked about the season, and before UNC topped Elon University in a non-conference game Tuesday night to improve to 32-9 this season.
“We’ve been playing a lot better as a team, kind of getting some things going together and kind of getting hot at the right time there in the middle (of the season) and winning some games,” he said. “It’s getting to that point in the year when you can start to wear down a little bit … but I think that our team is more than capable of keeping it going (the rest of the season).”
One real feather in the Tar Heels’ caps is that they’ve proved they can win on the road, even in the ACC. They’ve compiled an 11-2 record on other team’s home fields, and won three-game ACC road series at Georgia Tech (2-1), at Florida State (3-0) and at Pittsburg (2-1).
In fact, they’ve only lost one series all year (2-1 to No. 13 Long Beach State during the non-conference portion of the schedule) and their eight series wins also includes a sweep of No. 8 Kentucky from the Southeastern Conference to open the season and a 2-1 series win over No. 9 Virginia, both in Chapel Hill.
With an at-large berth in the postseason assured, Fox won’t have to take his team into the ACC Championship Tournament in Louisville, Ky., May 23-28, knowing its win-out or miss the dance for a third straight year. This is a confident team for very good reason, although Fox never questioned his players’ will to win either of the last two seasons.
“I was pleased with their work ethic and their attitude – we just didn’t win enough games last year,” he told PG this week. “We got a lot of those kids back and they learned from the past and they’ve grown up, and the majority of our returning players have really, really improved.
“They want to win and they want to get into the postseason … and they have seemed to be on a mission since they returned this past fall.”
It could be stated without much hesitation that the 6-foot, 201-pound, 20-year-old Bukauskas is the force driving that mission. Heading into this weekend’s key three-game ACC series with No. 4 Clemson in Chapel Hill, Bukauskas sits 7-0 with a 1.53 ERA after 10 starts and 64 2/3 innings (he has struck out 89 and walked 19) and PG ranks the right-hander as the No. 6 overall prospect in the upcoming MLB June Amateur Draft.
Before arriving in Chapel Hill, he had to make an important decision – some might say a risky decision – but that risk-versus-reward scenario has worked out amazingly well in his favor. And now, after two frustrating seasons in which the Tar Heels found themselves uninvited to the NCAA Regional party, Bukauskas is looking forward to a deep playoff run that won’t end until he and his teammates step foot in Omaha, Neb., in mid-June for the 2017 CWS.
“Anytime you don’t get the chance to go to the postseason, it leaves a little bit of a bad taste in your mouth; a little chip on your shoulder,” he said. “We’re all really looking forward to seeing what the rest of this season holds for us, and hopefully we can … get the program back on the right track.”
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IN APRIL 2014, JACOB BUKAUSKAS SAT DOWN WITH HIS PARENTS AND MADE a life-changing decision regarding both his baseball and academic careers. A top prospect in the high school graduating class of 2015, Bukauskas, who now goes by the initials J.B., decided to accelerate his coursework and graduate from high school a year early, changing his grad class from 2015 to 2014 in the process.
The decision was made for a variety of reasons. Bukauskas had committed to UNC as a freshman but after a 2014 spring high school season which saw the velocity of his fastball jump to the mid- and upper-90s, there was a growing buzz within the national scouting community regarding the MLB Draft.
The line of thinking seemed to be that if Bukauskas could in fact gets his ducks in a row academically and graduate from high school in the spring of 2014 after what was technically his junior year, his baseball career would benefit by either getting to Chapel Hill or starting a professional career a year earlier than originally planned.
The Arizona Diamondbacks selected Bukuaskas in the 20th round of the 2014 Draft, which, as it turned out, was even earlier than Bukuaskas had expected.
“I was pretty set on coming to school. I had told all the (MLB) teams ahead of time that I wasn’t going to sign and that I was going to make my way down to Chapel Hill, so the fact that I got drafted didn’t mean my decision was going to change; I was pretty committed to coming here,” he said.
“I’m always concerned a little bit when kids do that and give up their senior year, but it was something that J.B. suggested first and it was something he really wanted to do,” Fox told PG this week. “When you’re 17 years old and just turning 18 and you’re pitching in a rotation in the ACC when you’re supposed to be a senior in high school, that can be pretty overwhelming.”
That could be very overwhelming, in fact. But by the time Bukauskas decided to wrap-up his high school career he had already shown his maturity – and beefed-up his resume – with numerous standout performances playing with and against other D-I commits and signees at 12 Perfect Game tournaments and showcases from June 2011 through August 2013.
He was named to six all-tournament teams playing with various EvoShield Canes teams at PG WWBA tournaments and was named to the Top Prospect List twice at both the PG Junior National Showcase and the PG Underclass All-American Games.
Bukauskas’ decision to change to his grad class cost him not only an invitation to the PG National Showcase, but very likely an invitation to the PG All-American Classic in the summer of 2014, but he cherishes the experiences he did get to enjoy to this day.
“Perfect Game, with the platform that they provide for kids is incredible; to be able to get that many eyes on you at one time (at a showcase) is pretty special,” Bukauskas said. “The tournaments were a lot of fun, too. I bonded with a lot of my buddies that are still around all over the country – I run into them playing South Carolina, Wake Forest, all over the place.
“It’s really cool to see them and kind of catch-up and say, ‘Hey, remember when we’d go down to (PG) World Wood Bat (events),’ and it brings back a lot of memories; it’s just a lot of fun.”
And, it turns out, Bukauskas also wasn’t overwhelmed once he did start playing the college game, finishing 5-3 with a 4.09 ERA and 67 strikeouts in 72 2/3 innings in 2015, the same spring he could have been a senior on his Ashburn (Va.) Stone Bridge High School team.
The following year in 2016, now comfortably settled-in as a collegiate student-athlete, he finished 7-2 with a 3.10 ERA and 111 strikeouts in 78 1/3 innings of work as the Tar Heels’ Saturday night starter.
Last summer, Bukauskas followed up his strong sophomore season at UNC by playing lights-out for the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team, allowing just one unearned run on seven hits while striking out 21 and walking three in 21 2/3 innings (0.00 ERA).
This 2017 season is taking form as the best of Bukauskas’ three-year career at UNC. When USA Baseball released its 40-player Midseason Golden Spikes Award Watch List earlier this month and Bukauskas saw his name on it for a second straight season, he couldn’t help but feel honored that his accomplishments to date have not gone unnoticed.
“That award is top-of-the-line in college baseball and just to be on the midseason list is pretty special,” he said. “I am proud of it, but at the same time you’ve got to remember there’s more work to be done and you have to keep pushing forward. …
“We put all the emphasis on our team and generally if the team’s doing well that means you’re doing well, and if you’re doing well those accolades will come along with it.”
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DURING HIS FIRST TWO YEARS IN CHAPEL HILL, BUKAUSKAS WORKED PRIMARILY with Tar Heels associate head coach Scott Forbes, who was named the 2008 Pitching Coach of the Year by Collegiate Baseball magazine. This season, Fox brought on board UNC career wins leader Robert Woodard as an assistant coach/pitching coach, so Bukauskas has been working more with Woodard.
He feels like he’s become a much better pitcher simply because he’s had the opportunity to work with both men, and things have really come together for him. Bukauskas’ arsenal of pitches is not necessarily deep – he throws a four-seam fastball, a slider and a changeup – but he is not afraid to throw any of the three in any count.
“For the most part, I think I’ve felt pretty comfortable out there,” he said. “You can kind of get into a little bit of a groove for a couple of games where you’re feeling good and you have some confidence. I did a lot of hard work during the offseason … and some of the things we’ve been working on this year have benefitted me; I think that’s where a lot of my success has come from.”
When Bukauskas was asked if he’s been pleased with how his game has progressed since arriving at college, he initially said “looking back at how I pitched in high school” before quickly changing the wording to “how I threw in high school.”
He was a hard-thrower as a prep – he still is as a collegian – and started to believe that he could simply walk out to the mound and throw his fastball by every batter. That approach worked on the high school fields around Ashburn, Va., but once Bukauskas started playing at the D-I level, his approach became much more “cerebral” to use his word.
“I’m thinking about what I’m going to do, having an idea going into a game as opposed to just kind of letting your stuff take over during the game,” he said. “All of those things have helped me progress – my slider has improved a lot since I’ve gotten here – and I’ve had a lot of help from older players when I was a freshman. I’ve definitely been really happy with how I’ve improved since I’ve gotten to (college).”
The impact that improvement has had on the Tar Heels’ program certainly isn’t lost on Fox. It gives him the luxury of being able to hand the ball to one of the country’s most outstanding amateur right-handers every Friday night, which most of the time translates into a 1-0 series lead.
And getting that Friday night victory is especially important when playing an unrelenting – it borders on ridiculous – 30-game ACC schedule. Five ACC teams are ranked in PG’s National Top 25 with four in the top-nine: No. 2 Louisville, No. 3 North Carolina, No. 4 Clemson, No. 9 Virginia and No. 23 Wake Forest.
“One of the main reasons I came here was to play that kind of competition all the time,” Bukauskas said. “If you want to be the best, you have to go out and beat the best, and that’s kind of the mentality that you’ve got to have; you have to embrace the schedule more than anything.
“The ACC isn’t going get any easier and the teams you play every weekend never back down,” he said. “It’s always tough but I think it’s a lot of fun.”
A prospect’s desire to not only want to compete at the highest level but to win at the highest level is what Fox and the other coaches at the country’s most successful programs specifically look for when they’re out on the recruiting trail. A lot of those guys will bypass college and sign a professional contract right out of his school, but often a gem like Bukauskas makes his way to campus.
“J.B. is very quiet, very humble. He doesn’t say a whole lot; you’ve got to pull words out of him,” Fox said. “He just comes down to the stadium every day and does his work, and he listens. He wants to be good and he’s very self-aware; that’s probably his best attribute.
“He knows when he’s doing certain things well, and when he’s not he knows what adjustments he needs to make. … He’s been everything and more than we thought he would be.”
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NORTH CAROLINA HAS AVERAGED NEARLY 45 WINS A SEASON during the 18 years Mike Fox has served as the head coach, and the Tar Heels are on pace to reach that number again this season. No team can win that often with just one standout pitcher on its roster, so it goes without saying that Bukauskas has plenty of talent surrounding him out on the field.
Freshman right-hander Luca Dalatri (10 games started, 5-2, 2.22 ERA) and freshman righty Tyler Baum (8 gs, 4-0, 2.36 ERA) have done a good job alongside Bukauskas in the starting rotation and redshirt freshman Josh Hiatt (23 app., 1-1, 12 saves, 1.39 ERA) has emerged as the top gun out of the bullpen.
Bukauskas’ ERA and Hiatt’s appearances both rank No. 20 nationally, and the team ERA is an outstanding 2.72, which ranks No. 6 nationally.
The junior Warmoth (.341-7-29, 40 runs, 15 SBs), junior Brian Miller (.326-5-34, 17 SBs), senior Tyler Lynn (.325-5-21), sophomore Brandon Riley (.313-4-34), freshman Ashton McGee (.311-5-28), sophomore Cody Roberts (.301-2-19) and sophomore Kyle Datres (.280-6-35) have paced the team at the plate through 41 games; the Heels hit .279 as a team, 110th nationally.
“We needed more than one or two guys to carry us offensively,” Fox said. “We didn’t score enough runs last year – we didn’t have enough extra-base hits, enough home runs – and we’ve been able to turn that around a little bit this year. … We’ve been able to win in a variety of ways which has been good to see.”
Fox noted he is especially proud of this year’s junior class, players that gutted-out two years without playing in an NCAA Regional and several of whom are also dealing with the draft. And that latter point can become a distraction if a player isn’t able to block out all the “white noise” – projections, mock drafts, rankings – that come with it.
“They see that draft day out there and they realize that it could potentially be a life-changing day for them,” Fox said. “I just try to keep them in the moment. I don’t want them to have any regrets that they let their college days fly by (too fast). I try to remind them that this is probably the most fun they’re going to have playing because it does become a business once you sign on that dotted line.
“So, enjoy being in college and try not to get too far ahead of yourself,” he continued. “That’s my only advice to them because I’ve seen it and I’ve seen how fast it goes by. I want them to enjoy it more than anything else and not have any regrets.”
J.B. Bukauskas is a top draft prospect playing college baseball without regret. It has been his life-long dream to one day play in the big leagues but he is not allowing himself to get caught-up in any pre-draft hoopla.
He recalled for PG something he heard a scout say somewhere along the way. The scout told him that when you start worrying about the draft you won’t have to worry about it anymore because you won’t be going where you think you’re going. “I think it’s best to kind of not focus on it and put more of the emphasis on the team and let the rest take care of itself,” Bukauskas said.
There’s that “team first” mentality again, an attitude that endears Bukauskas not only to his coaches, teammates and Tar Heels fans everywhere, but also to MLB scouts and front office people.
Fox wrapped up his conversation with PG by saying the team’s ultimate goal this season isn’t gaining a berth in an NCAA Regional for the first time since 2014 but to return to the Omaha for the CWS for the first time since 2013.
Bukauskas is ready to take the ball and lead the Tar Heels into postseason play, and that means the postseason beyond the ACC Championship Tournament. He’ll might start contemplating different draft scenarios as the event’s first day – June 12 – gets closer but until then it’s all-Tar Heels all the time.
“In my mind, I’ve worked really, really hard to get to the point where I’m at,” Bukauskas said. “It’s not that I expected to have all the success that have but I did expect to be putting myself in a position to succeed. (My time here) has gone by so fast but it’s been everything that I could have imagined.
“It’s been exactly what I wanted it to be,” he concluded. “Other than not making the postseason – hopefully we can make up for that this year – my experience at UNC has been everything that I hoped it would be.” And now, it’s Crunch Time.