University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Take To The Road Before Exam Break
April 26, 2011 | Baseball
April 26, 2011
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - No. 14 North Carolina will hit the road for its second midweek road game of the year on Wednesday when the Tar Heels head to Greenville, N.C. to take on East Carolina at 6 p.m. in Clark-LeClair Stadium. The Tar Heels will take on the Pirates before having a rare weekend off due to exams before returning to Boshamer Stadium on May 3 to take on Gardner-Webb.
National Rankings
• Following a 2-2 week that saw Carolina's 19-game home winning streak snapped the Tar Heels fell in the polls once again.
• The Tar Heels are ranked highest at No. 14 in the USA Today/Coaches Poll.
• Carolina is No. 15 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Top 30 poll and the Perfect Game Top 25 poll.
• Collegiate Baseball has the Tar Heels ranked No. 17.
• Baseball America has Carolina at No. 18 this week.
• East Carolina is ranked No. 29 in the latest NCBWA poll.
• The Pirates are receiving votes in the USA Today/Coaches Poll as well.
North Carolina-East Carolina Series
• The Tar Heels and Pirates have met 74 previous times with Carolina holding a 49-25 advantage in those meetings, including a 5-3 win in Chapel Hill on April 12.
• East Carolina leads the Tar Heels in games played in Greenville posting a 15-11 mark in such contests.
• Prior to the meeting earlier this year the Tar Heels last met the Pirates in 2009 when Carolina took three of four, including the final two in the NCAA Super Regionals.
• Starter Chris Munnelly threw 2/3 of an inning against the Pirates on April 12 in the 5-3 win.
Scouting The Pirates
• The Pirates are coming off a series win at Houston over the weekend improving to 8-7 in Conference USA which has them tied for fifth in the league.
• ECU's pitching staff has been leading the team this season as it owns the fifth-lowest ERA in the country with a 2.30 mark entering the week.
• The Pirates also rank among the top 30 in the country in hits allowed per nine innings (10th, 7.4), strikeouts per nine innings (27th, 8.1) and walks allowed per nine innings (29th, 2.85).
• The defense has not exactly helped out the pitching staff this year committing 53 errors in 40 games for a .966 fielding percentage.
• The Pirates are hitting .285 as a team and are led at the plate by Jack Reinheimer who owns a .323 average.
• Sophomore Joseph Hughes will take the mound for East Carolina making his first of the season after making four as a freshman.
• Hughes has made 11 appearances posting a 2.70 ERA without registering a decision. Hughes threw a scoreless inning of relief against the Tar Heels on April 12.
• Hughes has thrown 13.1 innings on the year allowing four earned runs and has a 15/6 strikeout to walk ratio.
Tar Heels Holding Serve Over In-State Foes
• The Tar Heels have posted a 54-20 against fellow North Carolina schools over the last four years posting one of the top marks in the Old North state.
• Carolina is 10-6 against in-state foes this season but are looking to snap a three-game losing streak after dropping its series at NC State.
• In the last four years Carolina is:
2008: 15-3
2009: 15-7
2010: 14-4
2011: 10-6
Michael Rolling In April
• Junior shortstop Levi Michael has had a bit of an up and down year hitting nearly .500 in his first dozen games before slipping to .167 over his next 13 games.
• Once the calendar turned to April, Michael elevated his game to another level and is hitting .407 (22-54).
• Michael has scored a team-high 17 runs in the last 15 games and has driven in 13 more runs.
• The Welcome, N.C., native has drawn 17 walks during the month of April to post a .560 on base percentage.
• Michael has reached base in every game in the month of March and is on a nine game hitting streak entering Wednesday's contest.
• CollegeSplits.com tweeted early last week that Michael leads the ACC position players in wins above replacement, a statistic that looks at a player's hitting and fielding statistics and compares them to the average.
Get To The Seventh
• Carolina is a remarkable 31-3 when either tied or leading a ball game after the sixth inning this season.
• The Tar Heels are 28-1 in games they lead after the sixth inning and 3-2 in games that are tied.
• The bullpen has been the key cog to the late inning success allowing just 33 runs over the final three frames this season.
• The offense has done its part scoring 84 runs over the final three innings, including the ninth that the Tar Heels have not had to bat in 22 times.
Tar Heels One Selective Group
• Entering the week Carolina had drawn 223 walks on the year which ranks fourth in the country and has helped the Tar Heels to nearly 8 runs per game on the year.
• The trio of Colin Moran, Jacob Stallings and Levi Michael have all drawn at least 30 walks on the year, with Michael leading the way with 36. Michael's 36 walks is good for ninth in the nation.
• Carolina is averaging 5.31 walks per contest.
| UNC in 2011: | 32-10, 13-8 ACC |
| ECU in 2011: | 27-13, 8-7 C-USA |
| All-Time Series | UNC leads 49-25 |
| Last Meeting: | UNC 5, ECU 3 April 12, 2011 in Chapel Hill, N.C. |
| All-Time In Greenville: | ECU leads 15-11 |
| Date | Time | UNC Starter | ECU Starter | Coverage |
| Wednesday | 6 p.m. | RHP Chris Munnelly (So., 3-3, 4.50 ERA) |
RHP Joseph Hughes (So., 0-0, 2.70 ERA) |
THSN |
