Adam Warren will be back for his senior season.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – North Carolina’s incoming crop of baseball newcomers was finalized at Friday’s midnight signing deadline when 2008 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft selections shortstop Matt Harrison and right-hander Jimmy Messer elected to join the Tar Heel program and did not sign professional contracts.
Carolina will welcome a seven-man class to campus Tuesday for the first day of classes. Joining Harrison (Henderson, Nev.), Messer (Hudson, N.C.) and original signees Seth Baldwin (Forest City, N.C.) and Jacob Stallings (Brentwood, Tenn.), are recent additions Landon Adams, Jeff May and Ryan Norton.
Adams is an outfielder out of Apex’s Middle Creek High School, who hit .477 last year en route to all-state honors, while May is a catcher from South Granville High School that hit .409 with 11 home runs as a junior.
Norton, a Laurinburg, N.C., native and a graduate of Scotland High School, joins the Tar Heels out of Lenoir Community College. He helped lead Lenoir to the 2008 NJCAA Division II World Series and earned a spot on the all-tournament team. Norton hit 13 home runs and swiped 69 bases in his career with the Lancers.
Messer was a 44th-round pick by Oakland, while Harrison went in the 46th-round to Atlanta. Six of UNC’s signees announced last November signed professional contracts.
Additionally, right-hander Adam Warren, a 36th-round pick by Cleveland, did not sign and will return to Carolina for his senior season. Warren is the Tar Heels’ career leader in winning percentage at .917 thanks to a 22-2 record over the last three years.
