University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Host Pirates In Super Regional
June 4, 2009 | Baseball
June 4, 2009
- North Carolina's NCAA Super Regional Notes (PDF)
- NCAA Chapel Hill Super Regional Central
- Complete Super Regional Schedule
- NCAA Interactive Bracket
- Follow The Diamond Heels On Twitter.com
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - After splitting a pair of regular season meetings, No. 4 national seed North Carolina (45-16) and East Carolina (46-18) will meet with a College World Series berth on the line in the 2009 NCAA Chapel Hill Super Regional, which opens Saturday at Boshamer Stadium.
The best-of-three series begins at noon Saturday on ESPNU, followed by a noon Sunday meeting on ESPN. If needed, Monday's deciding game will be played at 1 or 7 p.m. Mike Gleason and former major leaguer Keith Moreland will call the action for ESPN.
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.
Carolina will stick with its normal weekend rotation of right-handers Alex White Saturday, Adam Warren Sunday and Matt Harvey Monday, if needed. The Pirates will counter with righty Seth Maness Saturday and left-hander Kevin Brandt Sunday.
SUPER REGIONAL NOTEBOOK
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 41-20 (.672) record after three consecutive runs to Omaha and four straight regional wins.
• The Tar Heels have reached the regional final in eight of their last nine trips to the postseason and are making their fifth Super Regional appearance in the last seven seasons.
• In its 24 appearances, Carolina sports a 76-52 (.594) all-time NCAA record and has made seven trips to the College World Series (1960, 1966, 1978, 1989, 2006, 2007, 2008).
• The Tar Heels have placed among the final three teams in Omaha in each of the past three seasons.
• With a 29-8 NCAA Tournament record over the last four seasons, Carolina has recorded just over one-third of the postseason wins in program history from 2006-09.
• The Tar Heels are 6-3 in four all-time Super Regional appearances.
Series History
• Carolina has won nine of 10 in the series and is 13-3 against East Carolina under Mike Fox.
• The Tar Heels had won nine straight in the series until a 4-0 loss in Greenville April 22. ECU has not won in Chapel Hill since 1994.
• Carolina holds a 44-25 lead in the all-time series, which dates to 1958.
• The teams have met five times in the NCAA Tournament with the Tar Heels owning a 4-1 advantage in the series. UNC scored a dramatic 11-10 win in the 2007 NCAA Chapel Hill Regional.
Earlier This Season
• North Carolina and East Carolina split a pair of games earlier this season, each winning on its home field. The Tar Heels won 3-1 April 7, while the Pirates posted a 4-0 win April 22.
• Offense was at a premium in the two games, as the teams hit just .175 (UNC) and .169 (ECU), respectively.
• Patrick Johnson started both games versus ECU, posting 19 strikeouts in just 12 1/3 innings. He went 1-1 with a 2.92 ERA.
• Kyle Seager and Dustin Ackley led the Tar Heels with three hits apiece versus the Pirates in the regular season.
Bats Break Out In Regional
• The Tar Heels, who hit a combined .400 over three games last weekend, outscored the opposition by a 31-8 margin en route to their fourth straight NCAA regional title.
• After a 5-2 win over Dartmouth, Carolina toppled Coastal Carolina and Kansas by a 26-6 margin over the final two games.
• The Tar Heels scored in double digits in back-to-back games for the first time since mid-March wins over Virginia Tech and Princeton.
• UNC has tallied 10 or more hits in eight of the last nine games, including four straight.
M.O.P. Ackley Mashing In May
• National player of the year candidate Dustin Ackley rode his hot streak to Most Outstanding Player honors at the NCAA Chapel Hill Regional by hitting .714 (10-14) with five runs, three doubles and a home run.
• Last weekend was a continuation of an outstanding May for Ackley, who is batting .508 (33-65) with 26 RBI, 19 runs and has 10 multi-hit games in 15 chances.
• Paced by eight home runs, including three in the ACC Tournament, Ackley has posted 16 extra-base hits over this stretch (8 HR, 1 3B, 7 2B) for a whopping 1.015 slugging percentage.
Ackley Streaking In The Postseason
• Dustin Ackley enters the 2009 NCAA Chapel Hill Super Regional on a 17-game postseason hitting streak dating to 2007.
• The All-America had a hit in the final four games of the 2007 College World Series, hit safely in all 10 tournament games a year ago and the three regional games last weekend.
• Ackley has at least one hit in 21 of 26 career postseason games and owns 13 career multi-hit games in the NCAA tourney.
Record-Setting Regional For Ackley
• With his 10-for-14 effort in last weekend's NCAA Chapel Hill Regional, Dustin Ackley established UNC career records for base hits, runs and total bases over the past three games.
• With 336 career hits in just 202 career games, Dustin Ackley surpassed Chad Flack's record of 328 base hits from 2005-08. The record-setting base hit was an eighth-inning double against Dartmouth May 29.
• He grabbed the runs record with a run in the first inning against Coastal Carolina May 30 and currently has 224 runs to move past Jarrett Shearin's previous mark of 219.
• With 16 total bases in the regional, Ackley owns 530 in his career, surpassing Flack's 525 set just last year.
• His 336 hits are eighth in ACC history, just six out of the league's all-time top five. The 224 runs stand 18th in conference history.
Memorable Day For Tar Heel Seniors
• The bat of senior Garrett Gore and the right arm of classmate Adam Warren helped No. 4 national seed North Carolina claim its fourth straight regional title with a 12-1 win over Kansas in the finale of the NCAA Chapel Hill Regional.
• With a third-inning grand slam and a fifth-inning solo shot, Gore posted his first career multi-home run game and belted his first career postseason homers in 34 NCAA Tournament games. The five RBI were a career-best, bettering a four-RBI effort against Davidson March 28, 2007.
• With 6 2/3 scoreless innings versus the Jayhawks, Warren became just the third pitcher in Carolina baseball history to reach the 30-win mark. At 30-4 in his career, Warren is tied with Michael Hoog (1987-90) for second in school history and trails only Robert Woodard's 34 wins from 2004-07.
• Classmate Mike McKee singled in his first career postseason at-bat in the regional clincher.
Bunting On A Roll
• Sophomore Ben Bunting is riding a career-best seven-game hitting streak and is batting .500 (15-30) with six multi-hit games over this stretch.
• Over the past 15 games, Bunting is second to Dustin Ackley with a .391 average (25-64) with 15 runs scored.
• He earned a spot on the NCAA Chapel Hill All-Tournament Team with a .462 average (6-15) with five runs and three RBI.
Postseason Home Cooking
• Carolina has been outstanding at home in the postseason over the past three seasons, logging a 16-1 record at home in four regionals and the 2007 and 2008 Super Regionals.
• The Tar Heels are unbeaten in 12 regional games at home over the last four seasons and have outscored the opposition by more than six runs per game (10.4-4.0).
• Last weekend marked Carolina's first NCAA Tournament games on campus since 2007 after spending the 2008 postseason at Cary's USA Baseball National Training Complex.
Against The Tournament Field
• UNC built its tournament resume with a tough regular season schedule and currently owns a 17-10 mark against nine opponents that reached the 64-team field: Boston College (2-1), Clemson (2-2), Coastal Carolina (1-1), Dartmouth (1-0), East Carolina (1-1), Elon (1-0), Florida State (1-2), Georgia Tech (2-1), Kansas (1-0), Miami (3-0) and Virginia (2-2).
• The Tar Heels are 6-6 against fellow No. 1 seeds, 7-3 versus No. 2s, 3-1 against No. 3s and 1-0 versus No. 4s.
Tourney Tested
• While Carolina's expected starting lineup for this weekend's NCAA Chapel Hill Super Regional is not as experienced as last year's squad, it still has five regulars that have made at least 13 starts in the postseason.
• Garrett Gore leads the way with 32 starts, followed by Dustin Ackley (26), Kyle Seager (23), Mike Cavasinni (14) and Ryan Graepel (13). Cavasinni has seen his first postseason action since 2007.
• Conversely, the other three normal starters, Ben Bunting, Mark Fleury and Levi Michael, entered 2009 with a combined three postseason starts, all by Fleury last season.
Tar Heels Know Nothing But Omaha
• Outside of the freshmen on this year's North Carolina roster, no current Tar Heel has seen a season end outside of Omaha's Rosenblatt Stadium.
• Seniors Garrett Gore, Mike McKee and Adam Warren have made three straight trips to the College World Series and open their search for a fourth consecutive appearance in this weekend's NCAA Chapel Hill Regional.
