The University of North Carolina at Wilmington baseball program started in 1957 and Billy Harris was their first player to make it to the Major League level.
When Jason Roach was called up by New York for a game on June 14, 2003, he said, "There are five other people they could have looked at calling up, so I'm very excited. I'll go up there and pitch the way I pitch. I don't have an overpowering fastball. I'm a guy who mixes his pitches. So I'll need to be relaxed." A fifteen hour cross-country trek, a sprinkler wetting while waiting for a cab, then a six-hit seven-runs allowed major league debut made it a rocky start for the pitcher who was optioned to Class AAA Norfolk on July 30, 2003.
Did you know that there are five (5) former UNC-Wilmington players who made it to "the show"? Send corrections or updates to Baseball Almanac.
