Unfortunately for North Davidson's baseball team, it will have to do without Levi Michael, one of the state's top players.
But Michael has a very unusual reason for not playing his senior season. Michael is on course to graduate next month, and he will compete for playing time as a middle infielder at North Carolina in the spring.
Michael was one of four baseball players from area schools that recently signed scholarships to attend North Carolina, joining outfielder Chaz Frank of Central Davidson and pitchers Chris Munnelly of Forsyth Country Day and Parker Thomas of Mount Tabor, according to John Martin of the UNC sports information office.
It's not unusual for athletes to graduate early and get a jump on college. However, it's extremely unusual for a player to make the jump and start playing right away.
"Coach (Mike) Fox (of UNC) said it had never been done at Carolina," Coach Mike Meadows of North Davidson said. "He brought this opportunity up and Levi was extremely excited about it. I can't blame him. That's a fantastic thing to think they want to bring him in and let him compete for a starting position this coming spring.
"There is no way Mike would drag him out of his senior year unless he thinks he can play every day, or a lot. The major-league draft decimated their recruiting class and Coach Fox was left with only four or five infielders."
Michael, a 5-10, 155-pounder, has started as North's shortstop the last three seasons, and he batted over .500 and hit 11 home runs last spring. Meadows said he thinks Michael is mature enough, both athletically and academically, to make a smooth transition.
He will enroll at UNC in January.
"He's a straight-A student," Meadows said. "There is the social aspect of it, and it takes him out of (next summer's) major-league draft . But he never talked about being drafted. This whole thing has just happened way quicker than we thought.
"The positives more than outweigh the negatives for our program. If he wants to go and play we are excited as we can be for him."
Frank is a 5-8, 150-pounder who is a natural leadoff hitter, but he batted fourth last spring and finished with a .480 batting average with 36 hits, 18 walks and only four strikeouts in 75 at-bats. He also hit five home runs and had 15 doubles and a slugging percentage of .880.
Coach Jonathan Brown of Central said that there is a reason that UNC signed four players from this area.
"In the last couple of years, and I have been here my whole life, the talent level around here isn't even close right now to where it used to be," Brown said. "It's gotten so much better, and it's that way no matter where you go."
Munnelly, who committed to UNC in February, is a 6-2, 165-pound right-hander. He had a 2.39 earned-run average and 60 strikeouts last spring at FCD, and he also batted .534 with 32 RBI.
Thomas, a 6-5, 240-pound right-handed pitcher who was also a standout defensive end in football, is a hard thrower who went 4-4 last spring who struck out 80 batters in 46 innings. In Central Piedmont 4-A Conference play, Thomas was 3-1 with 47 strikeouts in 30 innings pitched.
■ Mason Linker can be reached at 727-7324 or at mlinker@wsjournal.com.
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