Former Tar Heel Adam Greenberg will get his one more at bat as the Miami Marlins have offered Greenberg a one-day contract.

“A very sad story, very tragic story, but like many of those this is going to turn out to be just incredible,” UNC head coach Fox said. “You have to give the Miami Marlins a lot of credit, their president and their owner for doing what they’re doing and realizing that this young man needed an opportunity to get back in the batter’s box in the major leagues.”

Greenberg started his baseball journey at Guilford High School in Guilford, Conn., before attending the University of North Carolina.

Greenberg was a three-year letterman from 2000-02 for the Tar Heels and earned Freshman All-America honors from Baseball America. The Atlantic Coast Conference also tabbed Greenberg for freshman honors as he was named the 2000 ACC Freshman of the Year.

Baseball America again recognized Greenberg in 2002 as a third team All-America as he hit .337 with 80 runs scored, 17 doubles and 17 home runs.

The Chicago Cubs picked Greenberg in the ninth round of the 2002 MLB Draft to start his professional career.

After two and a half years in the minor leagues, the Cubs called Greenberg up for his MLB debut.

Greenberg’s debut came on July 9, 2005 as he faced Valerio de los Santos in what would be his only at bat in the major leagues. Greenberg was hit in the head with a de los Santos offering and was removed from the game.

Greenberg suffered a concussion as a result of the hit by pitch and dealt with post-concussion syndrome in addition to several other health issues throughout the rest of the 2005 season.

“If anybody has followed his story since he has been at Carolina, he was a great player while he was here, the ACC Freshman of the Year. He willed himself through the minor leagues and as everybody knows he got his chance to get up with the Cubs and the unimaginable situation happened. One pitch in the major leagues,” Fox added.

After recovering from his symptoms, Greenberg played two more years in minor league baseball before going to independent ball in search of another shot with a major league club. His last season in the independent leagues came in 2011 with the Bridgeport Bluefish.

Filmmaker Matt Liston then began the One More At Bat campaign, an online drive for an MLB team to give Greenberg one more at bat in the big leagues.

Greenberg returned to the diamond a few weeks ago in search of a spot on Team Israel for the World Baseball Classic. Greenberg earned a spot on the squad and played in two of the team’s three qualifiers.

The Miami Marlins made Greenberg’s dream come true on Tuesday as it announced on the Today Show that Greenberg would be offered a one-day contract with the club. Greenberg is expected to get his one at bat against the New York Mets on Tuesday, Oct. 2 in Miami.

“A great, great story and I’m happy that Adam is getting another chance,” Fox said.

– News release

The Idaho Vandals come in to Kenan Stadium at 0-4 after an overtime loss to Wyoming last Saturday. The 2-2 UNC Tar Heels look to climb above .500 for the first time since winning the opener against Elon.

UNC coach Larry Fedora says Idaho is a dangerous team and probably the best winless team in the country right now. “There is talent out there,” he said. “That quarterback can throw the football, big guy. They’ve got skill guys that can make plays. They’re sound in their special teams and defensively. They have unfortunate things happen to them. Yeah, I think you’re always worried about a team like that.”

He said the Tar Heels are looking forward to being in front of a home crowd for two weeks in a row. “Our players are focused on going out and playing as well as we possibly can,” Fedora said. “Again, the focus this week will be on ourselves and how we can get better as a football team. So looking forward to getting back out there.”

Even with all the offense the Tar Heels have generated over the past couple of games, Fedora still isn’t satisfied with the pace of his no-huddle offense. “Tempo-wise I’d say we’re around 60 percent of where we’d like to be,” he said. “I don’t know if there is a measuring stick that if you know from week to week. But we’re constantly harping on it, emphasizing, trying to get better with our tempo. Each rep (Bryn Renner) feels a little more comfortable. It’s important that he gets as many reps as possible.

“We continue to improve as an entire team, I think Bryn’s probably starting to understand that he doesn’t have to make everything happen. He just has to distribute the ball.”

Fedora said he’d like to see a consistently high energy level throughout the game. “I’d like to see us play a complete game,” he said. “Improvement made from last week in each of the three phases of the game. I think we’re slowly getting better each week, and overcoming some of the problems that we’ve had I’d like to see improvement. If we can keep building and put one brick on top of another, we’ll eventually have that wall built.”

Saturday is military appreciation day at Kenan Stadium and the Tar Heels will be wearing a special patriotic helmet.

University of North Carolina men’s basketball coach Roy Williams had a tumor surgically removed from his right kidney on Sept. 19. An analysis of the tumor has determined it to be benign. The tumor is an oncocytoma (pronounced ON-ko-sigh-TOE-muh), which is a benign tumor of the kidney that is often indistinguishable from kidney cancer on x-rays. These tumors do not spread, unlike cancerous tumors.

As previously announced, Williams also has a tumor on his left kidney. Doctors say that because the tumor on his right kidney was an oncocytoma, there is a good chance that the tumor on the left kidney is the same. Therefore, doctors will perform a biopsy of the left kidney tumor next week. If that tumor is also an oncocytoma, a second surgery would not be needed.

“We are pleased with how well Coach Williams is doing. If everything continues to progress as expected, he should be back to his normal activities soon,” says Dr. Eric Wallen, professor of urology at UNC, who led the surgical team.

“Number one, I want to express how overwhelmed I have been by the outpouring of support, concern and good wishes by everyone, especially members of the Carolina Basketball family,” says Williams. “I’ve just been blown away by the calls, cards, prayers and well-wishes from people all around the world in and out of the basketball community. My family and I are thankful to all that have expressed your concerns.

“I also want to thank the entire medical team and staff at UNC Health Care. The treatment and care were exceptional. My family and I also deeply appreciate the support shown to us. As someone who spends every day stressing the value and importance of a team, I can confidently say that UNC Health Care has an extraordinary team. I can’t thank them enough.

“There is still work to be done, but we will continue to deal with that over the next few weeks and get through it with the help of first-rate medical care and the continued support of my family and our extended family and friends through Carolina Basketball.”

– News release