Chapel Hill Regional: Thursday Notebook

By Joe Wedra, GoHeels.com

CHAPEL HILL – Coming off of a 1-1 showing at the ACC Championship, there's a sense of optimism around the Carolina baseball clubhouse. It has plenty of returners from last season's team that saw an early regional exit, a group that hasn't yet forgotten what it feels like to have a season cut short. The goal is a simple one – get back to a game that will advance them to a Super Regional.

Thursday's post-practice media day offered some insights into the team's preparation along this year's road to Omaha.

Zack Gahagan, Brandon Riley, Brett Daniels and head coach Mike Fox spoke with the media about last season, an early game time and what this week has been like.

2018 is a brand new year

After failing to advance out of the 2017 Chapel Hill Regional, the Heels have taken 2018 as an opportunity to get back and make amends. According to two of the veteran leaders on the team, this season is all about enjoying the ride and taking advantage of the moment.

Brandon Riley on the ending of 2017: "That was a tough moment. It was tough to get over immediately. But I think it's something that drives me. It drove me, it drove all the other guys, just seeing how it ended and realizing that it could end that quickly… Every day is a blessing to be out here with your teammates and coaches and everybody because it really can end quicker than you think it can."

Zack Gahagan on using the loss as motivation: "It was tough and it took a while to get over it. But as soon as we started this new year, we were ready to get back. It's always been a chip on our shoulder as the season has gone on. We're just glad to be in this position and hopefully keep improving.

"Last year hurt really bad. We have a lot of guys in the locker room who are pushing to get to that next level. I think last year just put the chip on our shoulder and it's going to help us."

Afternoon regional action at The Bosh

The Tar Heels will clash with North Carolina A&T in the first game in Friday's regional schedule, with first pitch being set for 2 p.m. instead of 7 p.m. Around the clubhouse, the earlier start time is looked at as a key opportunity to get the first win of the weekend.

Coach Mike Fox on why the Heels are playing at 2 p.m.: "Because we're ready to play," he said with a laugh. "You know, I've been wanting to play the first game now for several regionals and we either haven't done it, have been talked out of it or have been given another reason. I decided that this year, I think it's better for our kids to just get up and play and not have to wait."

Riley on the early start: "I think it will be beneficial. Playing during the day, not having to worry about sitting around all day and waiting until the first game to end and going into extra innings or something like that. I think it's going to be good for us to get in here, be the first team in here and not having to worry about moving around other people while their game is going on and stuff like that. I think that will add to the home-field atmosphere, being able to come in here and do what we do."

Brett Daniels: "I like it better because we don't have to wait around all day and wait to play. We get to get up, eat and play. I like it."

Ready to play

Since Monday's announcement that the Heels would be the No. 6 national seed, excitement around Chapel Hill has been palpable. Over the course of the week, the atmosphere has been filled with nothing but anticipation and readiness to take the diamond.

Fox on this week: "It's the slowest week of the year. It's just the anticipation. You have to know how to manage that, and fortunately we have some guys that were here last year. We didn't have that many last year, so that week leading up can be good or bad. It does seem like it goes by slow because what do the kids want to do? The kids just want to play. Let's play. It is what it is. You have to manage those four days of practice, keep them busy and keep them occupied. You manage their time, feed them and all of that good stuff."

Riley on what this week was like: "It's been awesome. Last year, we were No. 2 and that's an expectation for us. It's where we've wanted to set the bar for this program. It's been awesome to be the No. 6 seed but we know we have to get back to work. That's what we've done the past four days and we're ready to play these teams."

The No. 1 Tar Heels start play tomorrow at 2 p.m. against No. 4 North Carolina A&T. After the first game of the day, No. 2 Purdue and No. 3 Houston do battle in a game that's scheduled for 7 p.m.

The double-elimination format will continue Saturday and into Sunday with a potential championship matchup on Sunday at 6 p.m. An if-necessary game to decide the regional winner is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Monday.

Games will be broadcast on ESPN3 throughout the weekend and can be streamed online and by using the ESPN app on streaming devices.

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Brett Daniels

Zack Gahagan

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