University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Open CWS Play Sunday With Sun Devils
June 13, 2009 | Baseball
June 13, 2009
OMAHA, Neb. - No. 4 national seed North Carolina continues an unprecedented run of postseason success with its fourth straight trip to the College World Series at Omaha's storied Rosenblatt Stadium.
Unbeaten in the 2009 NCAA Tournament, the Tar Heels (47-16) will open the eighth CWS in school history Sunday against Arizona State (49-12) at 2 p.m. ET on ESPN.
The Tar Heels and Sun Devils will be joined on their half of the Omaha bracket by No. 1 national seed Texas and Southern Miss. Each CWS game will be nationally televised by ESPN or ESPN2.
In addition to ESPN's coverage, each game will be carried by the Tar Heel Sports Network with Jones Angell and Adam Lucas on the call on AM-1360 WCHL in Chapel Hill, Raleigh's 850 The Buzz, AM-1150 WBAG in Burlington and TarHeelBlue.com.
Right-hander Alex White will take the mound for the Tar Heels opposite a to-be-determined starter for Arizona State.
NOTING THE COLLEGE WORLD SERIES
Tournament History
• The Tar Heels are making their 24th appearance in NCAA Tournament play and their eighth straight, which marks a school record.
• Mike Fox has guided Carolina to the postseason in 10 of his 11 seasons in Chapel Hill and sports a 43-20 (.683) record after four consecutive runs to Omaha.
• The Tar Heels have reached the regional final in eight of their last nine trips to the postseason and made their fifth Super Regional appearance in the last seven seasons.
• In its 24 appearances, Carolina sports a 78-52 (.600) all-time NCAA record and has made eight trips to the College World Series (1960, 1966, 1978, 1989, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009).
• The Tar Heels have placed among the final three teams in Omaha in each of the past three seasons.
• With a 31-8 NCAA Tournament record over the last four seasons, Carolina has recorded nearly 40 percent of the postseason wins in program history from 2006-09.
Carolina's CWS History
• The Tar Heels are making their eighth College World Series appearance - and their fourth straight - and have compiled a 13-15 record in their first seven trips to Omaha.
• Carolina has placed among the top three teams in Omaha in each of the past three seasons and has recorded 11 of its 13 CWS wins since 2006.
• UNC is 11-7 in CWS play over the last three years.
Noting Four Straight Trips
• North Carolina is the first Atlantic Coast Conference team to reach the College World Series four straight years and the 10th different program to make four consecutive trips to Omaha. Miami made four straight trips on two occasions before joining the ACC.
• The Tar Heels' four straight appearances are the longest active streak in the nation.
• The other nine teams to make at least four appearances in a row are: Oklahoma State, Northern Colorado, Miami (two times), Southern California, Oklahoma, Texas (three times), Stanford, Arizona State and Maine.
• Oklahoma State holds the record with seven straight appearances from 1981-97, and Texas (2002-05) is the most recent team to make four in a row.
Tar Heels Joining Nation's Baseball Elite
• With eight College World Series trips, North Carolina is tied for 14th nationally in all-time appearances.
• Only Miami (23), Florida State (19) and Clemson (11) have made more appearances out of the ACC.
• The Tar Heels have made eight of the 14 appearances by a school from the state of North Carolina.
Banner Year In Chapel Hill
• UNC has made history in 2008-09, as this academic year marks the first time in Atlantic Coast Conference history that a member school played in a football bowl game (Meineke Car Care Bowl), the men's basketball Final Four and the baseball College World Series in the same season.
• Carolina joins Kansas (1992-93, Aloha Bowl), LSU (1985-86, Liberty Bowl) and Texas (2002-03, Cotton Bowl), as the only other schools to reach these three prestigious events in the same academic year.
• This year, the Tar Heels also won the national title in women's soccer and advanced to the national championship game in men's soccer and women's lacrosse.
• North Carolina was second behind Stanford in the May 27 release of the 2008-09 Learfield Sports Directors' Cup standings.
Fox In Rare Company
• Head coach Mike Fox has joined an exclusive group over the last four years, becoming just the 10th head coach to both play and coach in the College World Series.
• Fox, who has been a part of all 13 wins by UNC in the CWS, is also one of just six men to reach Omaha as a player and then guide his alma mater back to the CWS as a head coach. • Joining Fox in this group are: Mike Gillespie (Southern California), George Horton (Cal State Fullerton), Jack Kaiser (St. John's), Mark Marquess (Stanford) and Joe Russo (St. John's). • Fox was a member of the 1978 All-CWS team after batting .250 (4-16) with a home run, triple and three RBI.
History Versus Tar Heels' Bracket
• The Tar Heels are 1-3 all-time against Arizona State with their lone victory coming in 1984. The Sun Devils scored a 4-3, 11-inning win in the team's last meeting in Greenville, N.C., at the Keith LeClair Classic, March 4, 2005.
• In the teams' only other meetings, there was some serious star power on the field, as the Sun Devils and Tar Heels combined to put 11 future Major Leaguers on the field in a three-game set at Tempe Diablo Stadium in 1984. The Sun Devils featured seven future MLBers, including Barry Bonds, Oddibe McDowell and Mike Deveraux, while the Tar Heels had four on their roster - B.J. Surhoff, Scott Bankhead, Walt Weiss and Matt Merullo.
• North Carolina has never faced Texas or Southern Mississippi on the diamond.
Omaha Experience
• Despite losing five starters off last year's squad, North Carolina features five regulars with at least five career starts in the College World Series: Garrett Gore (17), Dustin Ackley (12), Kyle Seager (10), Mike Cavasinni (6) and Ryan Graepel (5).
• All three projected starting pitchers have made at least two starts in Omaha: Alex White (3), Adam Warren (3) and Matt Harvey (2).
Gore Expected To Tie CWS Mark
• With two expected starts in Omaha this season, senior Garrett Gore will tie the College World Series record with 20 games played at Rosenblatt Stadium.
• Daryl Arenstein of Southern California holds the record, playing in 20 games from 1970-73.
• Gore is currently tied for second at 18 with former teammates Tim Federowicz, Chad Flack and Seth Williams.
Stepping It Up In The Postseason
• The Tar Heels have stepped up their game in all phases and have put together their third unbeaten run in the last four seasons en route to Omaha.
• Offensively, Carolina is batting .400 as a team in the NCAA Tournament, 99 points above its regular season mark of .301. Seven regular starters are batting .348 or better in the postseason, compared to just two in the regular season.
• On the mound, the Tar Heels have logged a 2.40 ERA in the NCAA Tournament, which is 1.31 runs better than their season mark of 3.71.
• Defensively, UNC is fielding .973 in the tourney, slightly better than its .970 mark for the year.
• Carolina has outscored the opposition by a 50-12 margin in the postseason for an average margin of victory of nearly eight runs (10-2.4).
