University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Set For Super Regional Showdown
June 8, 2011 | Baseball
June 8, 2011
Complete Super Regional Notes (pdf)
Tar Heels Set For Super Regional Showdown
• No. 3 seed North Carolina will welcome in Stanford to Boshamer Stadium this weekend with a trip to the College World Series on the line.
• The Tar Heels allowed just three runs en route to a NCAA Regional sweep of Maine and James Madison in the opening round and will look to continue the strong pitching.
• Stanford pulled a minor upset by taking down regional host Cal State Fullerton along with Kansas State and Illinois to reach to the Super Regional round.
• The only time this two storied programs have met on the diamond was in the 1999 Palo Alto Regional when the Cardinal bested the Tar Heels 7-4.
Carolina A Constant Success In Postseason Play
• Thanks to four consecutive appearances in the College World Series from 2006-09 North Carolina is the winningest program in the country during NCAA play since 2006.
• The Tar Heels have racked up 35 wins over the last five seasons, seven more than second place Oregon State.
• Carolina won nine games during the postseason in both the 2006 and 2007 seasons before picking up six wins in 2008 and 2009. The Tar Heels won a pair of games in the Norman Regional a year ago before winning the regional in 2011.
Most NCAA Wins Since 2006
35 - North Carolina
(`06:9-2; `07:9-4; `08:6-2; `09:6-2; `10:2-2, `11:3-0)
28 - Oregon State
27 - Cal State Fullerton
26 - Arizona State, South Carolina
25 - Rice
22 - Clemson, Florida State
National Rankings
• Carolina is ranked as high as No. 7 this week in the USA Today/Coaches Poll, while receiving a first place vote.
• The Tar Heels are also ranked in the top 10 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and NCBWA polls where they rank No. 7 and 10, respectively.
• Baseball America has Carolina ranked No. 13.
• Stanford checks in as high as No. 13 this week in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll.
• The Cardinal rank among the top 25 schools in the country according to three other polls as the NCBWA poll has them ranked No. 20 overall.
• The USA Today/Coaches Poll ranks Stanford No. 21 overall and Baseball America has Stanford at No. 24 going into the NCAA Tournament.
Johnson Looking To Continue Magical Run
• Senior right-hander Patrick Johnson is on a phenomenal run since the end of April as he has posted a perfect 6-0 record and allowed just two earned runs over 37.1 innings of work for a 0.48 ERA.
• Johnson has not allowed a run over his last 23 innings of work, a stretch that is considered to be the longest in school history.
Emanuel Joins Rare Company
• Freshman southpaw Kent Emanuel opened the NCAA Tournament with a 4-0 win over Maine becoming just the seventh freshman in school history to notch a postseason win.
• Emanuel was the first freshman since Matt Harvey in 2008 to earn the first start of the tournament when he started against Maine last week.
• With a win Saturday Emanuel would become the first freshman in school history to record two wins in his initial run through the postseason.
Freshmen Earning A Postseason Win
2011 - Kent Emanuel
2010 - Chris Munnelly
2005 - Robert Woodard
2003 - Matt Danford & Zack Zuercher
1993 - Scott Wissel
1989 - Frank Maney
National Seed Once Again
• The Tar Heels earned the No. 3 national seed after their 45-14 regular season, marking the fourth time in the last five seasons that the Tar Heels were a top eight national seed.
• The four times that Carolina has been named a national seed the Tar Heels have never been lower than a 4 seed.
• The 2008 squad was the No. 2 seed, the 2009 group was a No. 4 seed and the 2007 and 2011 teams are No. 3 seeds.
Pitching Powers Tar Heels Through Regional
• Carolina's pitching staff and bullpen has been one of the tops in the country all season long and proved it once again during the regional weekend sweep allowing just three runs over the three games.
• Regarded as one of the top conferences in the country the pitching of the ACC was represented well over the opening weekend as joining Carolina among the top three ERAs of the opening weekend were No. 1 seed Virginia which allowed just three runs as well and Georgia Tech which allowed a 1.54 ERA.
• Carolina recorded back-to-back shutouts to open the tournament marking the second time in school history a team shutout two opponents in a single postseason joining the 1948 squad.
• The Tar Heels are only the sixth team in NCAA Tournament history to record back-to-back shutouts since the field expanded in 1999.
Back-To-Back NCAA Shutouts Since 1999
2011 - North Carolina vs. Maine & James Madison
2009 - Vanderbilt vs. Indiana & Middle Tennessee
2006 - Oregon State vs. Rice (two times)
2002 - Georgia Tech vs. Coastal Carolina & Georgia
2002 - Rice vs. LSU (two times)
1999 - Florida Atlantic vs. Bethune-Cookman & FIU
Two Wins From 50
• With a Super Regional round win the Tar Heels would become the fifth team in school history to register 50 wins in a season, joining the 2006 through 2008 squads and the 1990 group.
Tar Heel Teams With 50 Wins
2008 - 54-14
2007 - 57-16
2006 - 54-15
1990 - 51-14
Walk This Way
• Entering the week Carolina had drawn 331 walks on the year which ranks third in the country and has helped the Tar Heels to exactly 7 runs per game on the year, ranking 19th in the country.
• Carolina is averaging 5.34 walks per contest.
• The 331 walks is the most in school history out doing the 1990 squad that drew 324 passes in 65 games an average of 4.98 per game.
• Carolina has drawn at least 7 walks in a game 20 times this season.
• Four Tar Heels rank among the top 100 in the country in walks drawn with Levi Michael leading the way with 47.
• Levi Michael and Colin Moran both rank among the top 25 in the country in total walks on the season as Michael ranks 19th with 47 and Moran 23rd with 45.
• Jacob Stallings and Chaz Frank also rank among the top 100 in the country with Stallings ranking 54th with 41 free passes, while Frank ranks 65th with 40 walks on the year.
• Stanford ranks 71st in the country in walks per nine innings allowing 3.2 per game on the seasont.
Johnson Going For Lucky No. 13
• Senior right-hander Patrick Johnson is looking to become just the fourth pitcher in school history to reach 13 wins in a season and the first since Alex White in 2008.
• The Conover, N.C., native had won 12 games during his first three seasons as a Tar Heel but could eclipse that mark on Friday.
• Johnson moved into the top 10 in school history with his 23rd career win against Wake Forest in the ACC Tournament and moved into a tie with Daniel Bard (2004-06), Roger Williams (1983-85) and Scott Bankhead (1982-84) for seventh on the career list after win No. 24 against James Madison.
• Johnson became just the sixth pitcher in school history to reach 10 wins during the regular season joining: Tom Buskey (1969), Greg Norris (1978), John Thoden (1989), Andrew Miller (2006) and Adam Warren (2007).
Another Successful Draft
• For the fourth time in the last six years the Tar Heels had a player taken in the first round of the MLB Draft as junior shortstop Levi Michael was taken No. 30 overall by the Minnesota Twins.
• Michael became the sixth Carolina player drafted in the first round since 2006, giving the Tar Heels the most first round picks over that time.
• A trio of seniors were drafted on day two of the draft as Greg Holt was drafted in the eighth round by the Washington Nationals to anchor the bunch.
• First baseman Jesse Wierzbicki was taken in the 24th round by the Houston Astros and less than a round later right-handed pitcher Patrick Johnson was selected by the Colorado Rockies in the 25th round.
• Wednesday saw junior catcher Jacob Stallings taken in the 42nd round by the Cincinnati Reds.
• The Tar Heels also had eight signees taken in the 2011 MLB Draft:
RHP Bryan Brickhouse (3rd round, Royals)
1B/OF Cody Stubbs (14th round, Nationals)
RHP Dillon Maples (14th round, Cubs)
INF Josh Ake (29th round, Mets)
RHP Chris McCue (35th round, Yankees)
RHP Derrick Bleeker (37th round, Nationals)
RHP Adam Griffin (44th round, Indians)
INF Zac LaNeve (44th round, Marlins)
• Carolina has had 65 players taken in the MLB First Year Player Draft since head coach Mike Fox took over the program in 1999, including 12 in the first and supplemental rounds.
| Day | Time | North Carolina Starter | Stanford Starter | Coverage |
| Friday | 3 p.m. | RHP Patrick Johnson | RHP Mark Appel | ESPN2 |
| (Sr., 12-1, 2.36 ERA) | (So., 6-6, 3.02 ERA) | |||
| Saturday | 3 p.m. | LHP Kent Emanuel | RHP Jordan Pries | ESPN |
| (Fr., 7-1, 2.62 ERA) | Jr., 6-5, 3.24 ERA) | |||
| Sunday | 4 p.m. | RHP Chris Munnelly | RHP Danny Sandbrink | ESPN |
| (if necessary) | (So., 6-5, 4.11 ERA) | (Sr., 4-1, 3.39 ERA) |
