University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels And Bruins Head South For Big Early Series
February 19, 2015 | Baseball
ORLANDO ---With winter weather affecting the early season schedule for the second year in a row, No. 6 North Carolina will travel to UCF's Jay Bergman Field in Orlando to face No. 4 UCLA in a three-game series beginning Friday at 2 p.m. The series, which was scheduled to take place in Chapel Hill before snow, ice and extreme temperatures forced a change, will continue Saturday at 1 p.m. and conclude Sunday at 11 a.m. Carolina opened the 2015 season with a sweep of Seton Hall last weekend in Chapel Hill. UCLA is 4-0 on the year after sweeping Hofstra in Los Angeles and winning a midweek game at Cal State Northridge on Tuesday.
AT A GLANCE
Records: North Carolina 3-0, UCLA 4-0
Rankings: North Carolina is ranked No. 6 by D1Baseball, No. 13 by the NCBWA, No. 16 by Perfect Game, No. 17 by Baseball America and No. 19 by Collegiate Baseball. UCLA is ranked in each of the major polls, with a high of No. 4 by D1Baseball.
TV: None.
Audio: All three games will be streamed live on GoHeels.com.
On The Web: GoHeels.com • Twitter: @DiamondHeels, @CoachFox30 | @UCLABaseball
| Carolina Probable Starters | UCLA Probable Starters | |
| Friday | RHP Benton Moss (1-0, 3.60 ERA, 1.00 WHIP) | RHP James Kapreielian (Jr., 1-0, 1.50 ERA, 1.00 WHIP) |
| Saturday | RHP Trent Thornton (0-0, 2.08 ERA, 1.85 WHIP) |
LHP Grant Watson (Sr., 1-0, 1.29 ERA, 0.57 WHIP) |
| Sunday | RHP J.B. Bukauskas (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1.00 WHIP) |
RHP Cody Poteet (Jr., 1-0, 3.00 ERA, 0.83 WHIP) |
UNC-UCLA SERIES HISTORY
• North Carolina is 5-2 all-time against UCLA.
• The last meeting between the two programs came in the 2013 College World Series when the Bruins won 4-1 on their way to the NCAA title.
• Carolina and UCLA played a home-and-home regular season series in the 2000 and 2001 seasons. The Tar Heels scored a three-game sweep in Los Angeles in 2000 before the two teams split a pair of games in Chapel Hill in 2001.
• The only other meeting in the series came in the 1993 NCAA tournament. UNC defeated UCLA 8-5 in an elimination game in College Station, Texas.
NOTING THE SETON HALL SERIES
• Carolina improved to 16-1 in season openers under Mike Fox with a 7-1 win over Seton Hall last Friday.
• The Tar Heel offense impressed against the Pirates, outscoring the visitors 26-10 over three games. Only once in 2014 did the UNC offense score more than 26 runs in a three-game series (28 at Boston College).
• Carolina's three starting pitchers allowed just three earned runs in 14.1 innings on the weekend. Freshman RHP J.B. Bukauskas did not allow an earned run over 5.0 innings in his collegiate debut.
• UNC's bullpen was outstanding against Seton Hall, with eight different relievers posting a scoreless outing. Leading the way were sophomores Spencer Trayner, who allowed just one hit in 2.2 innings to get the win Friday, and Zac Gallen, who retired all six batters he faced on Saturday.
UNEXPECTED HOMECOMING FOR SUNSHINE STATERS
• With Florida State off the schedule and Miami traveling to Chapel Hill, a trip to the state of Florida seemed unlikely in 2015. But Mother Nature intervened, allowing Carolina's three Florida natives to play in front of friends and family.
• Sophomores Adrian Chacon and Spencer Trayner were teammates at Tampa's Jesuit High School.
• Freshman Logan Warmoth is from Orlando, where he attended Lake Brantley High.
MOSS APPROACHING CAREER LISTS
• After deciding to return to school despite being selected by the San Francisco Giants in the 15th round of the 2014 MLB Draft, senior Benton Moss is in position to add his name to the Carolina record books.
• The Enfield, North Carolina, senior currently ranks tied for eighth in school history in career winning percentage (.800, 20-5).
• Moss also finds himself just outside the top 10 in three other career pitching categories - wins (20), innings pitched (274.1) and strikeouts (261). With nine Ks in 5.0 innings against Seton Hall, Moss trails Robert Woodard (264 Ks from 2004-07) for 10th in career strikeouts.
• Daniel Bard (2004-06) and Derek Manning (1989-93) currently rank 10th in career innings with 286.0 IP, just 11.2 ahead of Moss.
• Moss needs four more wins to move into a tie for 10th with three Carolina greats. Bard, Roger Williams (1983-85) and Scott Bankhead (1982-84) each had 24 wins at Carolina.
