University of North Carolina Athletics
Carolina Welcomes USC For Weekend Series
March 1, 2012 | Baseball
March 1, 2012
Complete Carolina vs. USC Game Notes (pdf)
• No. 6 North Carolina will take on its first ranked opponent of the year Friday when the Tar Heels welcome in Pac-12 foe Southern California for a three-game series.
• The Trojans are heading east after the Tar Heels opened the 2011 season in Los Angeles at the USC Tournament, which the Tar Heels claimed with a 3-0 mark.
• Carolina claimed an 11-7 back-and-forth win a year ago against the Trojans and enter on a five-game winning streak.
• The Trojans had their perfect start come to an end on Tuesday when they fell at Pepperdine, 7-2.
National Rankings
• The Tar Heels were pegged in the top 10 of every preseason poll after being excluded from several preseason rankings a year ago.
• Carolina stayed steady in the polls this week after falling a few spots a week ago after the 2-1 series win over Xavier.
• The Tar Heels top out at No. 6 as Collegiate Baseball, NCBWA and Perfect Game all have UNC ranked No. 6 this week.
• Carolina returned to the No. 9 spot this week in the Baseball America poll after falling to No. 10 last week.
• USC is ranked as high as No. 21 this week which is where the Trojans are in the Collegiate Baseball poll. The Trojans are also ranked in the USA Today Coaches Poll at No. 23 and are No. 29 in the NCBWA poll.
North Carolina-USC Series
• The win a year ago was the first for the Tar Heels in the series as USC had won the previous seven meetings between the squads.
• Tommy Coyle and Colin Moran contributed two hits apiece against the Trojans a year ago as Carolina's 1-5 hitters combined for 11 of UNC's 16 hits in the 11-7 win.
• The 2011 meeting was the first between the squads since a three-game series early in the 1998 season.
• The meeting will be the third overall between head coach Mike Fox and the Trojans as Fox was a member of the 1978 College World Series team that was eliminated by USC.
All-Time Meetings
1960 - USC 6, Carolina 2 - Omaha, Neb.
College World Series
1978 - USC 3, Carolina 2 - Omaha, Neb.
College World Series
1990 - USC 4, at Carolina 2 - Chapel Hill
Carolina Invite
1993 - USC 10, at Carolina 1 - Chapel Hill
Carolina Invite
1998 - USC 10, Carolina 0
USC 16, Carolina 9
USC 10, Carolina 2 - Homestead, Fla.
2011 - Carolina 11, at USC 7 - Los Angeles
| Day | Time | UNC Starter | USC Starter | Coverage |
| Fri. | 3 p.m. | LHP Kent Emanuel | RHP Andrew Triggs | ESPN3 |
| (So., 2-0, 1.50 ERA) | (Sr., 2-0, 1.93 ERA) | |||
| Sat. | 2 p.m. | RHP Chris Munnelly | RHP Ben Mount | THB.com |
| (Jr., 1-0, 2.08 ERA) | (Sr., 1-0, 2.08 ERA) | |||
| Sat. | 1 p.m. | LHP Chris O'Brien | LHP Stephen Tarpley | ESPN3 |
| (Fr., 0-1, 4.32 ERA) | (Fr., 0-0, 3.72 ERA) |
