| Dustin Ackley |
|
|
SOPHOMORE (2008)
Continued to establish his position as one of the top hitters in college baseball • Earned All-America honors for the second straight season, claiming second-team accolades from Rivals.com and third-team honors from Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball • Added second-team ABCA All-Atlantic Region honors and second-team All-ACC honors • Also a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award and on watch lists for Dick Howser Trophy and Brooks Wallace Award • Won the S.H. Basnight Award as Carolina's most valuable position player for the second straight season • Started all 68 games - 60 at first base and eight in left field • Hit .417 (116-278) on the season with a school-record 82 runs scored, seven home runs, 51 RBI and 19 stolen bases • Added 21 doubles and four triples • .417 average ranked as the third-best mark in UNC history and was the top showing by a Tar Heel since Brian Roberts hit .427 in 1997 • Ranks as the only player in Carolina history to hit over .400 twice in a career • Also posted Carolina top-10 single-season totals in hits (2nd with 116), walks (4th with 53), total bases (7th with 166) and at-bats (9th with 278) • Ranked among the ACC's top 10 in 13 offensive categories • Finished second in the league in both average and hits • Also slugged .597 and reached base at a .503 clip • Led team with 38 multi-hit games, including 15 games with three or more hits • Posted seven multi-hit games in the NCAA Tournament and four at the College World Series • Added 15 games with multiple RBI • Batted .369 (41-111) with 20 RBI in ACC play • Ended the season on a 13-game hitting streak • Batted .511 (23-45) in the NCAA Tournament, including a .522 mark (12-23) at the College World Series • Earned a spot on the all-tournament teams at both the CWS and the NCAA Cary Regional • Hit .500 (7-14) in regional play and .500 (4-8) in the Super Regional win over No. 9 Coastal Carolina • Also went 6-for-13 at the ACC Tournament • Matched a career high with four hits on four occasions, including twice in the NCAA Tournament • Went 4-for-5 with a career-high tying four runs and three RBI against Mount St. Mary's May 30 and was 4-for-4 with two runs against No. 2 LSU in Omaha June 19 • Also added four hits against Gardner-Webb March 26 and in the opener at Florida Atlantic Feb. 22 • Two of four hits against the Owls were home runs for second career multi-homer game • Hit .714 with three homers and seven RBI in sweep at FAU en route to ACC Player of the Week and NCBWA Pro-Line Athletic National Hitter of the Week awards of the week for his efforts • Hit safely in the first 18 games of the season for a 22-game hitting streak dating to the 2007 campaign • Streak ended against Princeton March 19 • Hit safely in 59 of 68 games on the season • Went 5-for-8 in the first two games at No. 1 Miami and was 3-for-4 in the May 16 • Went 5-for-9 at No. 24 Virginia May 9-11 and was 2-for-3 with three RBI in the May 9 win, earning ACC Player of the Week honors for the second time on the season • Went 7-for-12 in the series win over No. 2 Florida State April 25-27 with a pair of three-hit games • Went 3-for-3 with three runs and a two-run homer at Charlotte April 22 • Hit .462 (6-13) in the sweep at Clemson April 11-13, hitting the go-ahead three-run home run in the April 11 win • Went 2-for-3 with a homer and two RBI against No. 14 Georgia Tech April 4 • Was 2-for-3 with three runs scored, a home run and four RBI at Maryland March 23. Summer 2008: Played in 12 games for the Cape League champion Harwich Mariners • Batted .415 (17-41) with two home runs, four doubles and a triple • Drove in 12 runs and drew 16 walks • Rated as the league's No. 2 prospect by Baseball America • Underwent elbow surgery in July.
FRESHMAN (2007)
Consensus national freshman of the year, earning top rookie billing from Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball and Rivals.com • Claimed second-team All-America honors from Rivals.com and third-team accolades from the American Baseball Coaches Association, Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association • Named to Freshman All-America teams by Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball and Rivals.com • Chosen District IV Player of the Year by the NCBWA and earned first-team All-Atlantic Region honors from the ABCA • Also named ACC Freshman of the Year and claimed first-team all-conference honors • Semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy and on the watch list for the Brooks Wallace Award • Claimed the S.H. Basnight Award as Carolina's most valuable position player • Enjoyed one of the finest offensive seasons in program history • Set Carolina single-season records and led the nation with 119 hits, 296 at-bats and 73 games played • Started all 73 games, including 65 at first base • Hit .402 to become just the fifth Tar Heel to bat over .400 in a single season • Drove in a UNC rookie record 74 runs, which shared the ACC lead, rated eighth nationally and ranked as the fourth most in school history • Tallied 10 home runs, 20 doubles, three triples and 70 runs scored • Led Carolina with a .591 slugging percentage, a .448 on-base percentage and 11 stolen bases • Also recorded Carolina top-10 single-season totals in average (4th at .402), runs (7th with 70), total bases (4th with 175) and doubles (8th with 20) • Ranked among the ACC's top 10 in 10 different offensive categories • Hit safely in 58 of 73 games on the season • Recorded a 28-game hitting streak from Feb. 28-April 13 • Hit .504 (57-for-113) over the streak with 18 multi-hit games • Streak ranked as the longest by a freshman at UNC and the third-longest in school history • Drove in a run in 49 of 73 games, including 15 straight from Feb. 18 to March 13 • Led the Tar Heels with 39 multi-hit games, including 13 games of three of more hits • Shared team lead with 17 multi-RBI games • Batted .474 with runners in scoring position • Hit .431 (56-for-130) in ACC play to lead the league • Captured ACC Player of the Week honors for back-to-back weeks March 19 and 26 • Named league POW March 19 after batting .667 (14-21) and .769 in the Virginia series • Had 11 hits in 12 trips to the plate over a three-game span • Hit .500 (11-for-22) with nine RBI in five games to earn ACC POW honors for the second straight week March 26 • Had a career-best four hits on five occasions - Virginia March 17, Virginia March 18, Virginia Tech March 23, Boston College April 7 and Campbell April 17 • Earned ACC All-Tournament honors with a .353 average (6-17) with four runs and three RBI • Also named to the College World Series All-Tournament team after leading the Tar Heels with three home runs and eight RBI in Omaha • Hit first career grand slam and drove in a career-high five runs versus UNC Wilmington April 3 • Went 4-for-6 with two home runs, four RBI and a career-high four runs at Virginia Tech March 23 • Went 7-for-15 in a three-game sweep at Maryland May 18-19 • Had seven hits, three home runs, six RBI five runs scored over the final four games of the CWS against Rice and Oregon State.
NORTH FORSYTH HIGH SCHOOL
Played one year at North Forsyth High School for coach Jamie Lowe and also played three years at South Stokes High School • Earned preseason and postseason Louisville Slugger All-America honors as a senior • Conference player of the year as a junior • Helped South Stokes to North Carolina 1A state titles in 2003 and 2004 • Member of the A Honor Roll • AAU team won the 2003 national title.
PERSONAL
Dustin Michael Ackley is the son of John and Joy Ackley • Born Feb. 26, 1988, in Winston-Salem • Has an older brother and a younger sister • Has not declared a major • Father played in the Boston Red Sox organization • Favorite pro teams are the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Jets • Lists "Rambo" as his favorite movie and "The DaVinci Code" as his favorite book • Modeled his game after Pete Rose.
DUSTIN ACKLEY'S CAREER STATS
Year Avg GP-GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB SLG% BB HBP SO GDP OB% SF SH SB-ATT PO A E FLD%
2007.... .402 73-73 296 70 119 20 3 10 74 175 .591 30 1 21 2 .448 8 1 11-14 538 37 6 .990
2008.... .417 68-68 278 82 116 21 4 7 51 166 .597 53 1 27 1 .503 6 1 19-25 488 22 1 .998
TOTAL... .409 141-141 574 152 235 41 7 17 125 341 .594 83 2 48 3 .475 14 2 30-39 1026 59 7 .994
CAREER HIGHS:
Hits: 4 on nine occasions
Runs: 4 at Virginia Tech (3/23/07), vs. Mount St. Mary's (5/30/08)
RBI: 5 vs. UNC Wilmington (4/3/07)
Hit Streak: 28 games (2/28/07-4/13/07)
