University of North Carolina Athletics
Omaha Reading List June 18
June 18, 2009 | Baseball
June 18, 2009
By Adam Lucas
Today's elimination game between Carolina and Arizona State isn't very complicated: it's about pitching. This is the time of year when rotations are juggled, but the Tar Heels will stay on the normal cycle and pitch Sunday starter Matt Harvey, who has plenty of experience in CWS elimination games. Much like real estate, the key for the sophomore righty is location, location, location. The previous link also contains some speculation on what the Sun Devils might do on the mound. Their third starter is righthander Seth Blair, who is the expected starter for tonight, but you can't rule anything out. Might Josh Spence be available, even if just for a few innings to try and build a lead? We'll see. Tuesday starter Mike Leake has already said he would be available for a Friday game, which would give him one less day of rest than Spence would have tonight (of course, Leake also threw fewer pitches than Spence).
ASU head coach Pat Murphy seems confident, as you would expect. He'll be shooting for his 1,000th career win in tonight's game. Murphy tends to create a bountiful amount of self-confidence in his team that has been noticed by several observers.
There's been some down time in Omaha but the Diamond Heels have had plenty of things to occupy their time. A trip to the local Air Force base was a highlight.
Link of the day: the Austin paper's terrific take on ESPN's coverage of the CWS. Glad someone else noticed. When Mike Patrick and Orel Hershiser got wrapped up in the late innings of last night's Virginia-Arkansas extra-innings affair, they provided compelling commentary and storylines about the game on the field. It's OK to do that before the ninth inning, too.
