State sweeps Tar Heels, WRAL takes role of Inside Carolina

NC State swept three straight games from #5 ranked UNC this weekend. Great stuff. Big wins. We’ll take it. Especially in light of the heat starting to get applied to Elliot Avent.

But, check out the ‘journalism’ we get in the coverage from WRAL in this link. Interesting to say the least.

First, the title of the article – that mentions the LOSER of the game – is ‘UNC-centric’.

No. 5 Tar Heels drop series finale at NC State

I actually don’t have a huge problem with listing the LOSER of the game first…but, UNC didn’t just lose Sunday’s game — the Tar Heels lost all three games of the weekend in a sweep to the Wolfpack. Isn’t that kinda big news? Wouldn’t that be something that would be pretty relevant and easy to summarize in a headline? Instead, it appears UNC lost on Sunday to State instead of State beating Carolina. Moreso, choosing to ignore what State did the two previous days is [insert your opinion here].

Next…check out the actual narrative of the article. The entire thing is written from the Carolina view point as if it were designed for an exclusive UNC audience. Almost every sentence in the piece starts with “Carolina” or “UNC” or something defining a perspective that is exclusively Chapel Hill. Heck, NC State is so ignored that the Wolfpack’s season record is not even included!??

WTF is going on here?

The big inning killed the Tar Heels Sunday afternoon at Dail Park as NC State put up 10 runs in two innings to claim the series finale 10-2. Carolina suffered its worst loss since a 10-2 setback against Wake Forest on March 12, while the Wolfpack swept the season series from the Tar Heels for the first time since 1997. UNC will look to rebound Tuesday when it hosts Coastal Carolina at 6 p.m.

Carolina fell to 12-6 in conference play with all six losses coming on the road with a pair at Wake Forest (March 12-13), one at Florida State and the three at NC State this weekend.

The Tar Heels allowed back-to-back big innings to the Wolfpack as NC State posted a four-spot in the bottom of the fifth followed by a six-spot in the bottom half of the sixth inning.

Carolina did not have a lead off batter reach base in any inning and managed to break up the shutout with a pair of runs in the top of the ninth to provide the final margin of 10-2.

Starter Chris Munnelly [SFN: who plays for which team?] fared well after a shaky start at Florida State as he threw four innings allowing two runs on four hits, while striking out four batters.

Munnelly [SFN: who plays for which team?] departed in the bottom of the fifth after allowing a lead off single and a walk. Michael Morin [SFN: who plays for which team?] allowed a bunt single to load the bases before picking up a strikeout for the first out of the inning.

The Wolfpack would pick up back-to-back two-run hits to make the score 4-0 but it could have been more had right fielder Seth Baldwin cut down a fifth run at the plate.

NC State would go for six runs on six hits, including three doubles, in the bottom of the sixth to blow the game open and take a 10-0 lead after six complete.

The Tar Heels moved one runner to third base through the first eight inning when Levi Michael doubled with two outs in the sixth and moved to third on a ground out but was stranded there.

Carolina managed to break up the shutout in the top of the ninth as Chaz Frank drew a one out walk and stole second base before Matt Roberts doubled down the left field line to make it a 10-1 ball game.

An infield single by Tom Zengel put runners on the corners for Brian Holberton who reached for the third time in the game with a RBI single to center field.

A hit by pitch would load the bases but a liner to short and a strikeout would end any threat the Tar Heels would mount as the Wolfpack took the game, 10-2.

The series sweep was the first for the Wolfpack since 1997 when the Tar Heels were also swept in Raleigh.

Carolina will not have much time to think about the loss, however, as the Tar Heels will welcome in Coast Carolina on Tuesday for a 6 p.m. midweek tilt before Miami comes to Chapel Hill for a three-game set beginning Friday night.

Who does NC State play next? What is NC State’s record? Does NC State even friggin exist?

——11:15pm Update——-
After posting the comments above^ we received some guidance on Twitter that the story posted on WRAL’s website is from UNC’s Sports Information Department.

(Hell…NO WONDER they don’t get called out for lying about so much stuff — they literally write the articles for our local media!?)

I’m perplexed how that is supposed to be a good thing? or an acceptable thing? How is the reader supposed to know the source of the article when WRAL does not make a single reference to a source or author on their website? In fact, WRAL places their copyright on the bottom of the story. IMHO, this arrangement to use a school’s press release as an article as well as the omission to source the article just add a couple of additional layers to my original point highlighting some pretty shoddy work.

Friday Night 5-4 win
NC State’s 2011 baseball season appears to be going nowhere fast…but, that didn’t stop the Pack from taking game one of a three game series from #5 ranked, North Carolina.

Link to WRAL:

No. 5 North Carolina scored four runs in the top of the second but it was the only offensive output for the Tar Heels on a night that saw NC State (19-16, 6-10 ACC) claim a 5-4 win at Dail Park Friday night. Patrick Johnson suffered his first loss in more than a year in the contest as Ben Bunting drove in three runs for the Tar Heels. Game two is slated to begin at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.

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34 Responses to State sweeps Tar Heels, WRAL takes role of Inside Carolina

  1. ruffles31 04/16/2011 at 2:13 PM #

    Good victory last night. Baseball team needed a spark. Maybe this is the start of a good run.

    Go PACK!

    Beat the Tar Holes tonight.

  2. sbas2 04/16/2011 at 2:20 PM #

    well, State baseball was going somewhere until State got swept at Miami and crushed 9-1 at home by UNC Wilmington. State was competative at Miami but could not get a win. first for State is to make the ACC tournament. right now State is the last team in for the conference tournament which only takes eight teams. as to the NCAA’s-we can hope. from Boyd’s World updated at 6:30 this morning, State’s RPI is 48 and thier SoS is 34. there is work to be done, and time to do it. hopefully State gets a win tonight, or at the least goes 2 and 1 against UNC.

  3. thekind 04/16/2011 at 8:10 PM #

    Wake-up SFN
    Avent is aweful!
    The Heels probably let us win just so we can keep Avent another year.

  4. MickQ 04/16/2011 at 8:14 PM #

    I’ll take this win. Tar Holes suck. But State Baseball needs a facelift. Debbie??

  5. RabidWolf 04/16/2011 at 10:15 PM #

    Ball game! Pack holds off Tarhole rally in the 9th to win 8-7!

  6. wolfonthehill 04/16/2011 at 10:32 PM #

    Wow. Two straight one-run wins. Clutch.

  7. StateFans 04/17/2011 at 8:48 AM #

    TWO STRAIGHT!

  8. SMD 04/17/2011 at 4:37 PM #

    I was at the game last night. Let me give the caveat that I’m certainly no baseball expert.

    From what I saw, we won largely because the Holes kept on committing unforced errors. Let’s say there was a grounder to shallow right and the fielder only had a short throw to first for the out – he overthrew TWICE. I haven’t seen the boxscore, but the Holes left a bunch of runners stranded whereas nearly every Pack runner was driven in (some by these errors).

    We were up 8 to 5 in the top of the 9th and walked the first two before Avent brought in the closer. And then the closer walked the first one and we had bases loaded, go ahead run at the plate and no outs.

    The Holes got the first two runners in and somehow we got those three outs before they tied. But I was certainly left with the impression that we caught them looking past us than us having a truly good team.

    I agree, Avent needs to go.

  9. EdMar 04/17/2011 at 5:06 PM #

    Get the broom! We alss won the third game 10-2

    Go Pack

  10. TOBtime 04/17/2011 at 9:39 PM #

    I do believe the dust from the sweeping is causing a tear in my eye.

    I don’t care how we beat them or in what. Just beat them.

  11. ruffles31 04/17/2011 at 11:04 PM #

    Inside Carolina does have a relationship with WRAL. I am embarrassed that PackPride doesn’t. Maybe SFN should. My personal feelings are that it leads to a biased perspective. If they had a relationship with a State and a Duke fan site as well, then everything would be OK. But only having a relationship with one of the 3 schools can lead to perceptions of biasedness, even if there isn’t one.

    If you go to this URL, you can see that the WRAL article is completely copied from IC:

    http://tarheelblue.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/recaps/041711aaa.html

    However, WRAL doesn’t tell you that.

  12. MrPlywood 04/17/2011 at 11:46 PM #

    The byline of the WRAL post is “UNC Sports Information”. Lazy and biased “reporting”. Doesn’t the RAL in WRAL stand for “Raleigh”?

  13. kool k 04/18/2011 at 3:09 AM #

    UNC-Chapel Hill is UNC-Greensboro in a smaller little hick town.

  14. Wufpacker 04/18/2011 at 3:38 AM #

    Congrats to the Pack nine for the sweep.

    Now, as for WRAL having an exclusive “relationship” with IC (and apparently even going so far as thinking that this is OK)….I can’t help but wonder if the notoriously difficult to deal with NCSU SID office bears some of the blame?

  15. 87stategrad 04/18/2011 at 6:56 AM #

    I was at all three games this weekend, and it was a blast. We were clearly the better team this weekend, especially Sunday. Loved it when the students started chanting “Over-rated” on Sunday. I was surprised to hear the Carolina Baseball broadcast on 99.9 on the way home from the games. But I did enjoy hearing their recap on the Sunday game. They talked about choosing a “Player of the Game”, but decided that they really didn’t have anybody that qualified. The Coach then proceeded to agree with our students that his team was overrated, and had a lot of work to do. I also noticed that the WRAL write-up on Friday was also written by the UNC.

  16. coach13 04/18/2011 at 7:22 AM #

    Two things…

    1-This should not take pressure off Avent unless he starts really picking it up here end of the season.

    2-I’m impressed how media folks pick up and run with or respond to what SFN posts on it’s site.

  17. Wufpacker 04/18/2011 at 7:28 AM #

    While I don’t normally read the N&O as a general rule, curiosity got the better of me and I wanted to see their write up of the sweep. It has a decidedly different tone. While I still think the N&O is generally good for nothing but a fishwrap, I do have to give credit where it’s due.

    http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/04/18/1137089/wolfpack-sweeps-heels-for-first.html

  18. PackInsider 04/18/2011 at 8:01 AM #

    Looks like headline is updated as of this morning. I too noticed the one from last night and thought it curious. Make no mistake about it, that school is a MASTER of spin and semantics. There aren’t many better than them.

    The bigger problem I have is, why in the hell is the UNC sports information providing stories to WRAL? The losing team gets to provide the print article? WTF? That makes no sense at all to me.

  19. Wufpacker 04/18/2011 at 8:02 AM #

    Forgot to mention that I’m glad you guys captured the above image from the original WRAL write up. The byline has since been changed to reflect the origin of the write up and give credit to the UNC SID. Nice little sleight of hand there.

  20. IMFletcherWolf 04/18/2011 at 9:07 AM #

    The Sports Info Dept’s at the local colleges often provide game write-ups and information for non-revenue sports to the TV/newspapers. The schools know that the media will not send reporters to each and every sport, so they (colleges) give out the information to promote the sports.

    Obviously WRAL chose not to send a reporter to the State-UNC game & instead relied on UNC. It seemed like a reporter-worthy game to me.

  21. packgrad2000 04/18/2011 at 10:48 AM #

    Good point IMFletcher. While I agree with SFN that WRAL should at the very least write a more neutral headline and provide the source of the article (which they eventually did, albeit late), it seems plausible that WRAL is simply relying on the schools to provide an article. So, instead of blaming WRAL for a Carolina-centric article, maybe NC State (SID, gopack.com, or whoever) should take the blame for not even providing one (who knows..maybe they did?). That’s a journalism school for you: even when they lose big they know how to get the info out to spin it their way!

    And I agree – seemed like a reporter worthy game(s).

  22. PackManSJP 04/18/2011 at 10:53 AM #

    To be fair, WRAL probably didn’t have the camera resources to send to the game in lieu of the tornado coverage.

  23. wolfman1959 04/18/2011 at 12:19 PM #

    UNC is a known Public Relations juggernaut….well versed at putting a Tarhole spin on ANY story and making themselves look like the glorious,arrogant,superior university that they THINK they are(read delusional)

    On the other hand we have Annabelle Vaughn Myers….nuff said !! 🙁

  24. JSRy2k 04/18/2011 at 1:31 PM #

    The headline has changed… http://www.wralsportsfan.com/baseball/story/9457124/ …but the article remains the same. It’s like a TV broadcast spending 3/4 of the postgame interview in the losing team locker room – utterly absurd!

    For comparison, here is a neutral-source article rightly focused on the winners – huge difference:
    http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/04/18/1137089/wolfpack-sweeps-heels-for-first.html

    Shame on WRAL 🙁

  25. anti-smurf 04/18/2011 at 3:24 PM #

    I’ll give the local media a pass on coverage of sports this weekend. There are for more important things happening than a baseball game.

    Granted – very proud of the Pack for sweeping the holes. Hope the fans that made it brought their brooms!

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