UNC, The Super Regionals And The SEC

This weekend Boshamer Stadium will host its seventh NCAA Super Regional when the resident Tar Heels welcome Southeastern Conference foe Arkansas for a three-game series to determine one of eight College World Series participants.

Six times North Carolina has hosted a Super Regional at The Bosh, three times they've faced an SEC opponent and three times those series have gone the distance.

The last time the Heels hosted a Super Regional was 2019, when Auburn took two of three and prevented Carolina from reaching Omaha via the Chapel Hill Super Regional for the first time.

Prior to hosting the Tigers three years ago, the Heels faced South Carolina in 2007 and 2013 with a trip to the CWS at stake. UNC prevailed in both of those series.

The Diamond Heels took game one from the Gamecocks in each series, but lost game two both times and needed a third game to advance.

As a first-time Super Regional host in 2007, the Heels were down three runs after five innings. UNC tied the game in the sixth inning and Chad Flack broke the tie with a two-run home run in the seventh inning that propelled the Heels past the Gamecocks and on to their second consecutive CWS. Dustin Ackley, Reid Fronk and Garrett Gore all added RBI singles in the final three innings for a 9-4 victory in the final game at old Boshamer Stadium.

"It's kind of profound and prophetic that we play our last game at the old stadium and get one of the biggest wins in the program's history," head coach Mike Fox said following the game. "I'm happy for my players. To see the look on their face when they win, for a coach, is priceless. You can't put it into words."

Six years later, the Tar Heels found themselves in the same position, trailing in the sixth inning.

UNC scored three times in the frame, with Colin Moran knocking in Landon Lassiter with a triple to cut the deficit to 4-3. Moran later scored on a throwing error before reliever Tyler Webb walked in Skye Bolt to give Carolina the 5-4 lead. Staff ace Kent Emanuel got the final two outs to send the Heels back to the College World Series.

"It was the best feeling I've ever had," UNC pitcher Trent Thornton said afterwards. "Just knowing that we're going to Omaha. We've been through a lot this year. This is probably the most fun I've had playing with any team. It's emotional, going to Omaha."

The Diamond Heels reached their first Super Regional in 2003 after winning the Starkville Regional, which was paired with the Columbia Regional, with two wins over Mississippi State. South Carolina then eliminated the Heels from the postseason in two straight.

Three years later, Carolina found itself back in a Super Regional and its first visit to Tuscaloosa, Ala.

UNC rolled over the Tide in the opener 11-5 but found itself down 4-2 in the eighth inning until Chad Flack hit a three-run homer to put Carolina ahead by one.

Alabama answered with three runs in the top of the ninth to retake the lead.

"There was such a swing of emotions," Fox said. "From his first home run and going ahead and thinking you're going, to the fact that you might have to play another game possibly."

Flack made sure that Carolina's next game was in Omaha, hitting a two-run, two-out walk-off home run.

"That's something that you can only write about in a fairy tale," UNC pitcher Matt Danford said. "Going from feeling so high to so low, just stunned and then back on top in a 10-minute span is something I'll never forget."

Additional Carolina runs to the College World Series also went through the SEC. The Tar Heels won the 1978 South Regional in Auburn and the 1989 South Regional in Starkville, Miss.

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