No. 6 North Carolina Opens NCAA Play Friday With NC A&T
May 31, 2018 | Baseball
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UNC'S NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
• This will be North Carolina's 98th all-time appearance in the NCAA tournament. UNC is 96-67 in tournament play, with a 64-36 record under Mike Fox.
• The Heels are 33-9 all-time when hosting. In the current format, UNC has won seven regional titles. Six of those have come as hosts – five in Chapel Hill, one in Cary (2008).
• This will be Carolina's 10th time hosting a regional. It has hosted nine times since 2006.
• North Carolina has won 25 of its 30 tournament-opening games.Â
• Last year, UNC went 2-2 in the regional, dropping an elimination game to Davidson.Â
• This will be the 8th time North Carolina has been a top-8 national seed. Only FSU, LSU and Florida have done so more. UNC has reached CWS 5 of previous 7 times. Heels lost in regional 2 times they did not reach Omaha.
2007 CWS
2008 CWS
2009 CWS
2011 CWS
2012 Regional
2013 CWS
2017 Regional
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NORTH CAROLINA A&T SERIES HISTORY
• The Heels and Aggies have faced off five times in series that started in 1993
• North Carolina holds a 4-1 advantage in the series, and won the meeting on March 13.
• In the meeting this season, RHP Rodney Hutchison tossed a nine-inning shutout, helping the Tar Heels to a 1-0 win. He allowed just four hits, walking one and striking out seven.
HOUSTON SERIES HISTORY
• North Carolina has never faced Houston in program history. This will mark the first meeting on the diamond between the two schools.
PURDUE SERIES HISTORY
• This will mark the 10th meeting between UNC and Purdue in a series that started in 1981
• The Heels hold a 8-1 edge in the series.Â
• The two schools haven't faced off since meeting in a three-game series back in 2006. The Heels hosted the Boilermakers in that set, winning two of three. The Heels won the series courtesy of a seven-inning start from then junior left-hander Andrew Miller.Â
Quick Notes
• UNC is 13-2 in regional openers under Mike Fox.Â
• UNC is 23-6 at home this year and have won 13 consecutive games, a streak that extends to 68 days on Friday, June 1.
• UNC has been a national seed 8 times. 5 of the previous 7 they went to the CWS.
• For the first time in program history, the Tar Heels led the ACC in runs per game during conference play with 7.26. Carolina also led the ACC in batting average (.295) for the first time since 2003.
• When the Heels score at least 6 runs on the season, they are 31-0.
• The Heels have a +32 run differential in the first inning (45-13).
• The Heels are 30-0 when leading after seven innings.
• The UNC bullpen is 23-7 on the season with a 2.87 ERA while the starters are 15-10 with a 4.30 ERA.
• The North Carolina bullpen is allowing just 29% of inherited runs to score in 2018.
• Carolina has won 17 of its last 20 ACC series dating back to last season.
• Over the last 10 games, Brandon Riley is hitting .432 and leads the team in hits (16), total bases (18). Ike Freeman leads the team in RBI with 13.
• Caden O'Brien has 25 appearances as a true freshman, with 23 coming in relief. The last time a true freshman had more relief outings was in 2014 when Spencer Trayner threw in 28 games out of the bullpen.
• The Tar Heels had five players hitting over .300 in ACC play (Ike Freeman, .324, Dallas Tessar, .319, Michael Busch, .317, Kyle Datres, .312, Brandon Riley, .311).
