Sometimes you wonder why things go the way they do, this can be said when North Carolina and Vanderbilt played the first game of the 2011 College World Series at the new stadium, TD Ameritrade. The Diamond Heels left sixteen players on the base path, and that, combined with the fact that Carolina gave up five runs with two outs in the frame, made it so that Vandy would take the game by the final of 7-3. What does all of this mean? Easy enough, North Carolina is now in the loser bracket of the tournament and that means one more loss and Mike Fox’ squad will once again go back to Chapel Hill without the title in hand for the fifth time in six years.

However, while it was not pretty what we saw Saturday afternoon, with just a couple of things going the Heels’ way and they would have won the game, and that means that coach Fox can still put this team in gear to win today against Texas (first pitch set for 2:10 pm EST – televised on ESPN). The Longhorns lost to Florida 8-4 after taking an early lead of 3-0 against the Gators which then vanished in the middle innings. This will be the first time the two programs play each other, as Cole Green (Texas ~ 8-3 3.03) and Kent Emanuel (UNC ~ 8-1 2.55) will face each other with the winner staying for at least another game and the loser going home as the season just ended.

This game, while Texas (49-18) is no pushover, is more about which North Carolina (50-15) will show up. We have seen the Diamond Heels play as good as any team in the nation, beating the best one in the nation, Virginia, and we have seen them playing below par, as they did in the Atlantic Coast Conference post season tournament. The one difference for these two squads seems to be that Texas has been with its back against the wall, having to come out of both the Regional and Super Regional from the loser brackets, while for Carolina this is the first time in the NCAA Tournament that it’s win or go home. One thing that makes you feel somewhat better is what the starting pitcher for the Diamond Heels said of this game…

“I think all year one of our greatest strengths is how we’ve responded to stuff”

And this seems to be true as Carolina did make a great come back in the NCAA’s after having a very bad ACC Tournament. Junior shortstop Michael Levi said this about the game ahead of his team…

“Nobody’s panicking yet,” Michael said. “I think we’re going to continue to play loose, play like we have all season and we’ll be just fine.”

I have to say this, in the end, this team knows how to win and if that is the way they think they will win then who is anyone to tell them differently. I have to say I am looking forward to this game as both of these teams are 27 outs from going home or 27 outs from still being part of the tournament and that alone makes this a special game!

As I told you a couple of days ago, the Diamond Heels are headed to the CWS, making it its fifth trip in six years to Omaha. Yesterday the schedule came out for the first round games, as North Carolina will play against Vanderbilt in the first game of the tournament, Saturday, June 18, 2001 at 2:00 p.m. EST. The game will be televised on ESPN/ESPN3.com, and it’s the first of two games on Saturday, with Texas vs Florida being the night time game (starting time of 7 p.m.). Sunday’s pair of games will be Cal vs UVa, the other ACC squad, at 2:00 p.m. EST and Texas A&M vs S. Carolina as the night cap, and the only game to go on the duece and not ESPN.

This is the first year that the College World Series is switched to the TD Ameritrade Park, which is a new park in Ohama, Nebraska. Not sure what that might do to the game themselves, but it should make it for a better fan affair as the park looks a lot nicer than the old one. On the other hand, in this article it talks about how the NCAA is going to be able to control a lot of things there, which I am not too sure I like that! And if you are looking for something to do while we wait for the World Series to begin you can go to the official web site for UNC Athletics and check out the highlights of the Super Regional against Stanford. The World Leader in Sports also has a video about North Carolina heading to the CWS.

In other news for the Diamond Heels is that Colin Moran was named to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Freshman All-America team, making him the second ever UNC player to get this honor. The first one being Colin Bates. Moran is one run batted in from getting seventy in his first season in Chapel Hill, the only one that has ever done this feat as a frosh is Dustin Ackley.

In something that many, including myself, did not think we would be saying, North Carolina Baseball is headed to the College World Series, and it’s the fifth time ins six years that head coach Mike Fox leads his squad to Omaha. And while it is true that the Diamond Heels have not won it yet, sooner or later the national commentator are going to start saying that UNC and the post season trip to the double elimination tournament go hand in hand. This time the Heels did it by having a great season, a not so good ACC Tournament, running through the Regional and then taking Stanford down in a best of three series, that meant facing mother nature’s rain delay that lasted over three hours. For a good recap of the game you can check out the article by Tar Heel Fan.

Now, this team, which a lot would say isn’t as good as the others that have gone to the baseball’s version of the big dance, has a chance to make its own history in the days to come. It also has a chance to make sure that one of the team’s greatest fans, Earl Passwaters, the father in law of the team’s pitching coach, Scott Forbes, who passed away last week gets to experience some more Carolina baseball from up in the sky. For more on this a must read is Adam Lucas’ article posted on UNC Athletic web page. Very touching, to say the least, including a quote by coach Fox.

As for this old Heel, it’s fun to be to get out of the slump that I have been in as far as real life is concerned and talk about the thing I love, the University of North Carolina! Hopefully, in the days to come, with the Diamond Heels going towards what could be their first title, I have the honor to talk about them some more!

While most of the fan base around North Carolina are either following the basketball season, checking on the recruiting for the football team, or most likely, both, there is news about another sport in Chapel Hill that has provided many great times of late. The Diamond Heels, whose season is about three weeks away from beginning, are ranked in both the Baseball America (20th) and in College Baseball (13th). But just like basketball, rankings do not mean much when you win it on the field, and for head coach Mike Fox said the following of the high rankings for his squad: “Rankings do not matter to him or his team”. I like that attitude because it makes the team work on what they are and not what the media thinks they are.

The Heels open up the 2010 campaign February 19th in Chapel Hill, facing George Washington University. I will put up the full schedule for the team in the following days, so make sure to check back soon!

Head Coach Mike Fox

Before I talk about the game between UNC and ASU, which would be the second meeting between the two teams in this College World Series, let me just say the following about this game. Just like the commentators repeated over and over during the broadcast, I too do not believe that head coach Mike Fox needs to win the national title to show how good of a program is at Chapel Hill. Would it be nice? Sure, but let’s be realistic, this team was probably the less talented of the four that went to Omaha in back to back to back to back seasons. So, when last night North Carolina fell to Arizona State 12 to 5 in front of the largest crowd of this CWS (25,001, which included Men’s Basketball head coach Roy Williams) it was hard to swallow, but in my mind it was not a complete surprise.

What was a surprise was the fact that such a great pitching staff gave up a lot of runs on things they do not usually do. Five wild pitches, ten walks (second time in all this season that the Heels had 10 or more walks), giving up 12 runs (a season high) and Brian Moran, who in the first 62+ innings this season he gave up 2 home runs, giving up two homers in the CWS. All of that made it so that the 4-0 lead that Carolina had brought into the fifth inning disappeared and then some in the last four innings of the game, which included 18 ASU players getting on base between the fifth and eight inning. It was not what coach Fox or any of the Diamond Heels wanted to finish the season on. On the other hand, this one loss should not take away from the fact that in the last four years no team has won as many games as North Carolina has. And while the title eludes the Tar Heels once again, I do not believe it will do so forever. Head coach Mike Fox is a very knowledgeable person and a hard recruiter, the talent will be there next year at Chapel Hill and he will be able to mold it once again.

Without a doubt UNC is the cream of the crop when it comes to the ACC, as they have been the last team standing for the last four years (this season tieing with UVa as the last team from the conference to be still playing). To be noted, for Arizona State, their head coach, Pat Murphy, won his 1,000th game by defeating the Heels. Lastly, as we close the chapter on this season for the baseball team, all the best to the seniors, that for four years went to Omaha without coming home with the hardware. In my eyes that did not put any sort of blemish on your careers. To the players that will be moving on to the pro’s, all the best to you in your next step. And to the ones coming back, best of luck reloading/rebulding and on having another great season.

And to end all of this, from the official site of UNC Athletics here is what head coach Mike Fox began his press conference after the defeat to ASU:

“I’m not going to apologize for how long it took us to get up here because it was the last time for me to be in the locker room with the guys I love. Getting to Omaha four years in a row is unbelievable. Congratulations to Arizona State, they deserve to win. I’ve had the most fun this year, it’s been a great year.”

That is why I love you UNC and I am so proud to be a Tar Heel. It’s about being a family, and caring as though you are a family. As I said before, it might have been tough to swallow, but UNC won’t go away, it’s always going to be here, and always going to try to make the best teams with players that want to part of the “Carolina Family”.

Dustin Ackley (AP Photo)

After two games in Ohama the Tar Heels are still alive. Losing the first game to Arizona State by a final of 5-2 in 10 innings, where junior right hander Alex White pitched a gem of a game (9.0 IP, 7 hits, 1 ER, 12 K’s) , but his team mates could not bring in any run support. Yesterday head coach Mike Fox’ team responded in a very convincing way, with junior first baseman Dustin Ackley leading the way (5 for 6), Carolina put up 23 hits (tieing the CWS record for most hits in a game) against a Southern Miss team that just could not tame the power of the Heels. When it was all said and done it was North Carolina beating Southern Mississippi by the final of 11-4. And while we all wish that UNC was 2-0 right now, you have to feel good about the fact that the two top Heels (and first rounders in this year’s MLB Draft) were key in both games.

The first game was deja vu of sorts for the Heels, as once again the final outcome was determined, at least partially, by errors that this squad doesn’t commit during the regular season, and should never commit during the CWS. A fly ball to right that senior outfielder Garrett Gore has caught 1,000′s of during games (and practices) drops and the Sun Devils have first and second with one out, instead of just first and two outs. A home run a batter later blew the game wide open and UNC could not catch up in the first frame of extra innings. I have to say that I felt really bad watching White pitch has good of a game as he could have and the bats not being able to support him with some runs, as the Heels left 11 men stranded. Let’s face it, how many of you that follow the Diamond Heels would have said that with a 9 inning performance, giving up just a run the righty would have come out of the game with a no decision? And even worst the Heels would have lost? Not many I would venture to guess.

The second game began a lot like the first game, with coach Fox’ squad leaving five men stranded on the base path in the first two innings while only scoring a a pair of runs. But then the flood gates opened, led by Ackley, who has also set the record for most hits at the CWS (27 in 14 games), Carolina came through in the next two frames, scoring four in the third and two in the fourth, making the score 8-0. In the game every single player had at least one hit, while seven of them had multiple, with Ackley having 5, junior short stop Ryan Graepel (who dropped from the clean up spot to seventh in the line up) having 4, sophomore outfield Ben Bunting 3 and four others having two a piece. It was a nice game to watch if you love small ball, since the hits weren’t for power for the most part, being singles/doubles that just crushed the opposition a bit at a time.

Of course, to be noted (and maybe underlined), since there are a couple of things that worry me about this team. First, the Heels did have another error in this game, which gives them a total of 4 in 19 innings. The other thing that people might have noticed, mainly because this was a very good win, is the fact that once again the Heels left 14 men on the bases, which makes it 25 in two games. Both of these trends have to be stopped if Carolina wants to win the title this year, especially when you consider the fact that they are not as strong as they were the past years, and are not the strongest of the teams in Omaha. You can not give up runs by committing errors like dropping fly balls and you can not leave runs off the board by stranding so many. As the games continue those two categories are going to be more and more important and they can not be (no pun intended) the achille’s heel of this team.

Today the team has the day off and will play tomorrow against Arizona State once again (who lost to Texas yesterd 10 to 6 after being up 6-0), with the first pitch scheduled for 6:00 p.m. EST. If the Heels can play like they did in the second game of this CWS I do not see a problem for them going onto the next game, which would be Texas the following night, once again a six o’clock start.

UNC vs ASU

And so it begins, the College World Series for the Diamond Heels that is. It’s, as most of you now by now, is the fourth time in a row that North Carolina (47-16 – 19-10 in the ACC) is going to Omaha, something that no other team in the Atlantic Coast Conference has ever done before. It’s also the first time that any college has gone to a bowl game, been in a Final Four and gone to the CWS, and that is not just in the ACC, but anywhere in Division I. With the Heels ranked fourth and going up against Arizona State (49-12 – 21-6 in the Pac-10) today at 2:00 p.m. EST (on ESPN) I figured it would be time for a small post about what I think is going to happen in this game and in the next two weeks.

Over at the College Baseball Blog they have a nice little online piece about the players to watch in the bracket that the Tar Heels are in. For Carolina it has the two obvious ones, as they did go in the Top 15 of the MLB Draft, Alex White (15th) and Dustin Ackley (2nd). But it also has another pitcher, which they believe will be a first round next season when Bud Selig does his sport next draft. For today’s game the CBB also has three players they say to keep an eye on. And while I totally agree that these three Diamond Heels need to produce in order for Carolina to do what it hasn’t been able to do so in the previous three times, I am a firm believer that the only way that head coach Mike Fox is going to be able to lift the national title trophy is by having the whole team produce. It seems that when a couple do not as well as expected this time all goes down a bit. On the other hand when all are playing to their expectations the whole squad becomes better than anyone would imagine.

Speaking of junior first base man Dustin Ackley, he is one of the three finalists of the Dick Howser Trophy. The winner of this award, who is voted by the College Baseball Writers Association, will be annoutns on July 2, 2009 in the first ever College Baseball Awards Show (streamed on MLB.com). The following day will be the nationally broadcasted College Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony (for more on this award check here, or you can go see the official web site). The CBWA membership has been voting the winner of this award for a decade now, and they also select the Stopper, the Coach, the Freshman and the Pitcher of the Year. Coach of the Year in 2009 went to a head coach whose team is in the CWS, Virginia’s Brian O’Connor, while Stopper of the Year went to San Diego State’s Addison Reed.

I watched the games yesterday, and while I could not truly concentrate on them (since I was not at home), I think that for the Tar Heels to win it all it is going to come down to one major thing: pitching. If Alex White and the other Diamond Heels that will take to the mound this College World Series can settle in and pitch as good as they can, it could truly be Carolina’s year. They are not as talented as the first three times they headed to the CWS, so neither the pitchers or the rest of the team can make mistakes, especially in crucial moments, something that if memory serves me right, has happened in the last three outings to Omaha by coach Fox’ squad.

I also feel that the two brackets North Carolina is definitely in the tougher one, which means the team can not take a game/inning/play off and expect to get to the best of three final round. Besides UNC and ASU this round features Texas and Southern Miss, which will square off tonight, the game starting at 7:00 p.m. EST. Since this is double elimination, the winners of these games will face off as will the losers of these games. So, knowing that no one goes home this round, we also must think that losing the first game of this tournament means you can not make any more mistakes and I doubt a team like UNC wants to have that on their shoulders. What will happen today, as Alex White takes to the mound? I believe that while he did have some so-so starts this year, it’s all behind him, and he will come out with his best stuff and keep ASU in check while Dustin Ackley and the other bats put it away before the fifth inning.

The UNC Seniors (TarHeelBlue.com)

How many college programs can say that they had their football team go to a bowl game, their basketball team go to the Final Four and their baseball team go to the College World Series all in the same season? No one could until the Diamond Heels took care of the Pirates of ECU by the final score of 9-3. By doing some Carolina became the first team to have that triple feat as well as being the first team in the Atlantic Coast Conference to head to Omaha four years in a row. Add to that a women’s soccer title, the men’s soccer team coming in second, the men’s lax team going to the elite eight, and that is just from teams I follow. Indeed, UNC could truly stand for University of National Champions.

But getting back to Mike Fox and his team, which are now headed for another shot at the title. It’s been quite a ride for them, with Carolina being the winningest team in the last four seasons. This year’s group putting up a 47-16 mark up to this point with a team that has several great players, but probably not as talented as the previous years. Today, starting at 6:00 p.m. EST some of these players will know what the pro’s think of them, as the MLB Draft begins. But for now all of these players are focused on just one thing, and that is getting the title that has eluded them in the past three seasons. The head coach of the team says this about the past seasons:

“I said after the first year, the second and the third, we may never go back again, and we might not,” Fox said. “The journey we’ve been on has been pretty amazing.”

Once again it was a great performance by the starting pitcher of the game, as senior righty Adam Warren did a great job in the 7.1 innings on the mound, allowing three runs (all in the seventh inning) on eight hits and one walk, while striking out 8. In the 16.2 innings the starters had 21 strike outs, with junior righty Alex White getting the rest in game one (check out the break down that The College Baseball blog did on White), and the bull pen didn’t have much work, something that will definitely be needed if the Heels want to be able to take home the title. On the offensive side it was All American junior first baseman Dustin Ackley (check out the break down that The College Baseball blog did on Ackley), who went 1 for 4 with a 3 run home run. And just like the first game, where all the starters got a hit, in this game 8 out 9 got a hit in the second game of the best of three series between UNC and ECU.

Having watched the game on ESPN I noticed something I found awesome, the crowd at Boshmar Stadium giving a standing ovation to each of the seniors, because in the end isn’t that what sports should be all about? I think so. But I was not the only one that noticed that, as Warren was asked about this and he told the reporter:

“It’s an unbelievable feeling. Our crowd has been great all year and for them to do that for us was really special and emotional for me. I’m sure it was for the other guys. You kind of reflect on your four years here at Carolina in a flash like that. I’m pretty excited right now.”

Having been a Tar Heel, knowing how the fan base is/was, this is nothing out of the norm by any means, but it’s still something that makes you feel good. Something that makes you feel proud of being a Tar Heel. When you watch the fan base at the newly remodeled stadium (where over $ 25 million was spent) it just makes you feel that while basketball is probably the king at UNC, it’s not suffocating the other sports. Things like this make me proud to be a Tar Heel, to be part of something special, to be part of what is the University of North Carolina.

Now, with the Super Regional all settled coach Fox has to turn his attention to the CWS, where #4 North Carolina (47-16) will be facing #5 Arizona State (49-12) on Sunday, June 14, with the first pitch scheduled for 1:00 p.m. EST. This is the first game of a double header, with the second game being #8 Southern Miss (40-24) vs #1 Texas (46-14-1), starting time being 6:00 p.m. EST. The other side of the bracket, with the games being played on Saturday, is: #7 Arkansas (39-22) vs Cal St. Fullerton (47-14) at 1:00 p.m. EST, followed by #6 Virginia (48-13-1) going up against #3 LSU (51-16) at 6:00 p.m. EST.

As we all know the College World Series is a double elimination tournament, with the finals being a best of three format. Below is the complete schedule for the 2009 CWS:

`09 College World Series:

Saturday, June 13
Game 1 – 1 p.m. (ESPN) Arkansas (39-22) vs. Cal St. Fullerton (47-14)
Game 2 – 6 p.m. (ESPN) Virginia (48-13-1) vs. LSU (51-16)

Sunday, June 14
Game 3 – 1 p.m. (ESPN) Arizona St. (49-12) vs. North Carolina (47-16)
Game 4 – 6 p.m. (ESPN2) Southern Miss. (40-24) vs. 1 Texas (46-14-1)

Monday, June 15
Game 5 – 1 p.m. (ESPN2) Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2
Game 6 – 6 p.m. (ESPN2) Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2

Tuesday, June 16
Game 7 – 1 p.m. (ESPN2) Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4
Game 8 – 6 p.m. (ESPN2) Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4

Wednesday, June 17
Game 9 – 6 p.m. (ESPN2) Winner Game 5 vs. Loser Game 6

Thursday, June 18
Game 10 – 6 p.m. (ESPN2) Winner Game 7 vs. Loser Game 8

Friday, June 19
Game 11 – 1 p.m. (ESPN2) Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 6
Game 12 – 6 p.m. (ESPN2) Winner Game 10 vs. Winner Game 8

Saturday, June 20
Game 13 – 1 p.m. (ESPN) or 6 p.m. (ESPN) Game 13 will be necessary if the winner of Game 9 also wins Game 11. If it is the only game scheduled for that day, the game will start at 6 p.m.

Game 14 – 6 p.m. (ESPN) Game 14 will be necessary if the winner of Game 10 also wins Game 12. If it is the only game scheduled for that day, the game will start at 6 p.m.

College World Series Finals:

Monday, June 22
Game 1 – 6 p.m. (ESPN) Bracket One Winner vs. Bracket Two Winner

Tuesday, June 23
Game 2 – 6 p.m. (ESPN) Bracket One Winner vs. Bracket Two Winner

Wednesday, June 24
Game 3 – 6 p.m. (ESPN) (if necessary) Bracket One Winner vs. Bracket Two Winner

If you are headed to the 63rd College World Series I found this small online post from the CWS Official Site talking about the best places to stay while enjoying the best college baseball has to offer.

Alex White (TarHeelBlue.com)

Yesterday, even with a very hectic day due to real life issues, I was able to watch most of the opening game of the NCAA super regional series, where North Carolina (46-16) beat East Carolina (46-19) by the final of 10-1. It was a great performance by junior right hander Alex White, who went into the ninth inning before being pulled by head coach Mike Fox (White went 8.1/throwing 128 pitches/79 strikes), along with the bottom part of the Tar Heel line up, which went a combined 8 for 15 with five RBIs and five runs scored. But, while the game ended in a blow out for the Diamond Heels, they were not the ones to take score first in this game. However, they sure were the ones to score over and over and over again.

With the win Mike Fox’ club has improved to 17 and 1 in the post season when playing at home, which includes a 5-1 record in the Super Regional. I predict that if the team keeps hitting as they did yesterday, with all starters getting at least one hit, and five of them getting 2 or more, that winning record will continue to grow with time. In all the Carolina pitchers struck out 14 ECU players yesterday (with White having 12 of them). In 26 innings against East Carolina the UNC staff has struck out 38 Pirates. I love reading and reporting all of these stats, but the one I have to take a minute on now is the fact that with the 6th post season win Alex White has become the winningest post season pitcher in Carolina’s history. It is no wonder that the junior pitcher is slated to be a Top 5 player when the MLB Draft comes along next week.

I read on the official site of UNC’s Athletics that yesterday’s attendance of 4,316 was a Boshamer Stadium record. Having watched the game, but not all of it, I never saw head coach Roy Williams, who seems to have been to most of the road trips the Diamond Heels have made to Omaha in the last years. Maybe he is out recruiting and we will see him today. Stay tuned for that small tid bit in the next small blog about the team.

When coach Fox was asked about taking White out in the ninth inning he said the following:

“When I went out to take Alex [White] out, he said, ‘Thanks, I really needed this.’ And that kind of surprised me a little bit because I knew it was never an option for me not to pitch him if he was healthy. Our guys feed off of him. He’s tough, a competitor, he doesn’t back down and he wants the ball. Whether or not he feels good, he wants to be out there. That’s part of the quality of a good leader.”

While the junior pitcher said this about it:

“Obviously, I wanted to go back out on the mound no matter the pitch count. [The coaches] are looking out for me at all times and I think Coach Fox did a great thing by letting me go back out. It’s possibly my last start right here. Who knows? It was just great with the crowd. It was an emotional moment and I enjoyed it.”

All of this tells me one thing: the team and coach trust Alex White and he knows how to prove that he can be trusted. Going that long is a good thing for the pitcher that is going to be the number one option at the College World Series, as it will ease the duty of the bull pen. I truly think that in college baseball the bats can win the games just as much as the pitchers, but when you know that one game is almost certainly yours to begin with the whole team can play more relaxed and puts the pressure on the opponents.

The record crowd (TarHeelBlue.com)

A nice article detailing the win by the Tar Heels and how dominant White was was done by the Winston-Salem Journa, which is entitled “Tar Heels pound Pirates“. And I have to say, it was a great game, one that if it can be repeated today and next week at the CWS, could have UNC taking home the national championship.

At WRAL the title of the article is “White steals the show“, and I guess I can agree with that, even if the batters were also in the mix in the game. What I liked about the online article was this sentence:

For a pitcher that many think will hear his name called within the first few minutes of the 2009 MLB draft, Alex White had a lot of questions surrounding his Saturday start against East Carolina.

Would the 6-foot-3 junior return to form after consecutive outings that saw him allow 13 earned runs in just seven innings against Virginia and Coastal Carolina?

This to me shows that the young man left the past behind him and worked hard to prove that his All American status isn’t a fluke but a just reward for the type of player that he is. Some say that what makes a pro from the rest is the ability to let go of the last play/game/whatever and focus on the things at hand. And that is just what Alex White when he stepped on the mound yesterday against East Carolina. He faced a much more potent line up than what he had in the last games and it didn’t bother him at all as he focused on what needed to be done. And what he did was help his team go up 1-0 in the series, with game two coming up today at Boshamer Stadium (first pitch scheduled for noon).

After ending the season in a way that head coach Mike Fox might not have liked too much, losing a game for the first time ever to Boston College and then losing two out of the three games in the Atlantic Coast Conference post season tournament, it’s time for the Diamond Heels to get back to their winning ways. They can do that starting this Friday as they host one of the regional sites and are the number four national seed. The games of course will be at the brand new Boshamer Stadium (schedule of the game for the Chapel Hill Regional are below), and the other three teams participating in it are: #4 Dartmouth (27-16), #3 Kansas (37-22) and #2 Coastal Carolina (46-14). North Carolina, the number one seed for this part of the tournament, comes into this with a 42 and 16 record.

2009 NCAA CHAPEL HILL REGIONAL SCHEDULE

Friday, May 29

Game 1: #2 Coastal Carolina (46-14) vs. #3 Kansas (37-22), 2 p.m.
Game 2: #1 North Carolina (42-16) vs. #4 Dartmouth (27-16), 6 p.m.

Saturday, May 30

Game 3: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 1 p.m.
Game 4: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 5 p.m.

Sunday, May 31

Game 5: Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 1 p.m.
Game 6: Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5, 5 p.m.

Monday, June 1

Game 7: 6 p.m. - (if necessary) (If Game 5 winner also wins Game 6)

Coastal Carolina

This could set up an eventual rematch between North Carolina and Coastal Carolina. The two teams met in late February at the same stadium they might be again this weekend, with the Tar Heels being number one in the nation and the Chanticleers, 18th in the country at the time, gave UNC their first lose of the young season. The final in that game was 7-3. Over, overall the Heels are 36-14 over the Chanticleers, who is also the same team they defeated in last year’s Super Regional on their way to the College World Series.

It will definitely be interesting to see if this team, who has played above expectations in my opinion, can reach Omaha for the fourth straight season. I would say that as a fan I would be disappointed if they didn’t, but as one that follows the sport as close as I can, I could see the possibility of this happening. For all I have seen this team is lacking that one player that can spark it up when needed and when you have a team that has talent, but maybe not enough to make it to the CWS, you need one of those types of players for when the team is down and needs a boost.

I am looking forward to these games and seeing if North Carolina can rally itself around and make it to the College World Series. I have found that for the last three seasons having the Tar Heels in Omaha makes the summer so much shorter and the wait until college football starts a lot more bearable. One thing that can be said about Mike Fox’ team: if they make it to another College World Series they will have done so by defeating a lot of “other” Carolina teams. Since it’s most likely that UNC will have to beat first Coastal and then face either South Carolina or East Carolina in order to make it to Omaha. Then it can be said that whether the Heels win or not the CWS they were the best Carolina team in this tournament. But then again, we all knew that before, didn’t we?