University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC Opens ACC Title Pursuit With Boston College
May 12, 2011 | Softball
May 12, 2011
ATLANTA, GA. --- In search on their first ACC Tournament Title since 2001, second-seeded North Carolina will open the 2011 ACC Tournament Friday at 2:30 p.m. against seventh-seeded Boston College from MewBorn Field. The winner of Friday's match-up will advance to face third-seeded Maryland or sixth-seeded NC State Saturday at 1 p.m.
AT A GLANCE
Records: UNC 32-20 (13-7 ACC), Boston College 15-30 (5-13 ACC)
Rankings: Neither team is ranked. Carolina is BCEagles.com (Boston College)
CAROLINA IN THE ACC TOURNAMENT
• North Carolina is 20-31 all-time in the ACC Tournament and 3-3 over the last three league tourneys.
• Carolina will seek their first ACC Tournament Title since 2001 and second overall.
• The second seed is the Tar Heels highest since being the number one overall in 2008.
NOTING THE TAR HEELS
• Winners of five of their last six games, Carolina features a balanced attack with a .278 team batting average, 2.39 staff ERA and a .957 fielding percentage.
• Offensively Kelli Wheeler leads North Carolina with a .367 batting average and a three-game hit streak. Haleigh Dickey sports a team-best 11 home runs and 41 RBI. Junior Ally Blake has reached base safely in eight of her last 13 at-bats over the last five games.
• Atlanta, Ga., native Lori Spingola anchors the UNC staff in the circle. The freshman owns a 1.69 ERA, ACC best 25 wins and 259 strikeouts to just 50 walks over 249.1 innings pitched. Classmate Sara Buchholz owns a 4-0 record and 2.62 ERA in five league starts.
UNC AGAINST THE ACC TOURNAMENT FIELD
• North Carolina has defeated every ACC team, with the exception of league regular season champs and tournament host Georgia Tech.
• The Tar Heels topped Boston College twice April 23 in the lone two games against the Eagles this season. UNC limited the Eagles to just two runs on nine hits in the twinbill sweep.
• With two wins apeice over Maryland and NC State, Carolina is 6-2 overall against their side of the bracket.
NOTING BOSTON COLLEGE
• The Eagles sport a .252 team-batting average, 4.38 staff ERA and .951 fielding percentage.
• Talented freshman Tory Speer leads Boston College at the plate with a .400 batting avergage, seven home runs and 19 RBI in league play this season.
• Amanda Horowitz and Allison Gage have combined for 11 wins in the circle this season.
TAR HEELS CHASING SINGLE SEASON RECORDS
• Lori Spingola is in contention to break a slew of single season school records in her rookie campaign in the circle. The Atlanta, Ga., native's 25 wins are two shy of the school record 27, her 45 appearances are four off the UNC record of 49 and her 249.1 innings pitched are 17 shy of a new single season school record.
• The freshman ranks 14th in the country in shutouts (10), 15th nationally in wins (25) and 23rd overall in strikeouts (259).
• Offensively, Kelli Wheeler currently ranks in the top ten in both slugging percentage (.620) and on-base percentage (.439) in single season school history.
• Haleigh Dickey's 11 home runs are just five shy of the single season school record 16.
BACK HOME IN GEORIGA
• Four Tar Heels hail from the Peach State - Haleigh Dickey (Woodstock, Ga.) Logan Foulks (Douglasville, Ga.), Lori Spingola (Atlanta, Ga.) and Kelli Wheeler (Marietta, Ga.).
• First-year assistant coach Kirin Kumar is a 2005 graduate of Georgia Tech, playing four seasons for the Yellow Jackets.
