Feb. 25, 2008

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - On the heels of a dramatic three-game sweep at Florida Atlantic, North Carolina hosts its first home game at Cary's USA Baseball National Training Complex against preseason top-25 Old Dominion (1-1) Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. The Tar Heels (3-0) put up some big power numbers on their trip to Florida, which included 11 home runs.

Tuesday's game will mark the UNC debut of freshman right-hander Matt Harvey. The Monarchs will start senior righty Ryan Bergh, who has worked 2 1/3 innings in relief on the season and went 5-6 with a 4.84 ERA a year ago.

UNC leads its all-time series with ODU, 5-3.

Each Monday, TarHeelBlue.com will take a look back at the previous week's on the diamond before moving on to another week of baseball action.

WEEKLY RESULTS (FEB. 22-24):
Feb. 22: North Carolina 7, Florida Atlantic 1
Feb. 23: North Carolina 14, Florida Atlantic 13
Feb. 24: North Carolina 8, Florida Atlantic 7

NOTING THE FLORIDA ATLANTIC SERIES:
• Carolina clubbed 11 home runs and added six doubles for a .675 slugging percentage in the series sweep at Florida Atlantic, which marked just the eighth sweep on the road for UNC in the last eight seasons. Left fielder Dustin Ackley and center fielder Seth Williams each hit three home runs, and second baseman Kyle Seager added two.

• The Tar Heels rallied from deficits of at least three runs to win the last two games in the series. Carolina trailed 10-6 in the 14-13 win Saturday and 7-4 heading into the ninth in Sunday's 8-7 victory.

• National player of the year candidate Dustin Ackley had at least three hits in each game this weekend and finished with a .714 average (10-14), three home runs, seven RBI and five runs scored. He belted a pair of solo shots Friday and added a three-run blast in Sunday's series finale for six home runs in his last seven games dating to last year's College World Series. The Walnut Cove, N.C., native was 4-for-4 Friday for his sixth career four-hit game and followed with back-to-back three-hit games to close the series. Ackley finished with a 1.429 slugging percentage on the weekend.

• Senior center fielder Seth Williams hit .538 (7-13) on the weekend with three home runs and a team-high eight RBI. He scored four runs and slugged 1.231 against the Owls. Williams' two homers Friday marked his first career multi-homer game and he had three hits and four RBI in each of the first two games of the series.

• Sophomore second baseman Kyle Seager had a career day Saturday with four hits, four runs scored, three RBI and his first career multi-home run effort. Seager's four hits marked a career high and he equaled career bests with the three RBI and four runs scored.

• The Tar Heels recorded three multi-home run games in the first two games of the series. Dustin Ackley and Seth Williams went deep twice Friday, followed by Kyle Seager's two-homer effort Saturday. Williams and Seager recorded their first career two-homer games, while Ackley posted his second.

• FAU's 13 runs Saturday marked the most runs allowed by the Tar Heels in a victory since a 17-13 win at UCLA Feb. 18, 2000.

• Carolina's designated hitters for the weekend were making their first career starts. Mark Fleury had a hit in each of his two starts and added a pinch-hit RBI single Sunday, while Kendric Burney, who is a starting cornerback on the UNC football team, got the starting nod against a left-hander Sunday. He went 0-for-1 but drew a pair of walks.

• With junior shortstop Garrett Gore nursing a hamstring injury, sophomore Ryan Graepel also made his first career start and responded with two hits in Sunday's win

• Senior Chad Flack had three hits and four RBI on the weekend and moved into seventh on the Tar Heels' career hit list with 255. He also hit his 36th career home run Saturday.

• Sophomore Alex White struck out six and did not allow an earned run in 5 1/3 innings Friday's win. He evened his career record at 7-7.

• Senior right-hander Rob Wooten worked a career-long four innings and earned his first save in Saturday's win. He also matched a career-best with five strikeouts and walked just one.

• In his first collegiate action, redshirt freshman Colin Bates earned the win in Saturday's 14-13 slugfest. He went 3 2/3 innings, struck out four and allowed three runs on four hits.

• The Tar Heels got key pitching performances from a pair of freshmen Sunday, as Ryan Leach earned his first career win, and Nate Striz picked up his first career save. Leach worked 2 2/3 scoreless innings over the weekend, including 1 2/3 Sunday. Striz struck out four in two innings, closing the wins Friday and Sunday.

• Sophomore left-hander Rob Catapano pitched well in his first career start Sunday with seven strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings. As a staff, the Tar Heels struck out 34 batters on the weekend.