May 14, 2008

North Carolina-Miami Notes in PDF Format

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - With a combined 85 victories, including 42 wins in Atlantic Coast Conference action, No. 2 North Carolina and No. 1 Miami will square off in a three-game series beginning Thursday at Mark Light Field. The Tar Heels (43-9, 20-6 ACC) trail the Hurricanes (42-6, 22-3 ACC) in the league's Coastal Division standings but still have a shot at winning their third straight division crown.

Jones Angell and Adam Lucas will have the call of all three games for the Tar Heel Sports Network. TarHeelBlue.com, AM-1360 WCHL (Chapel Hill), 850 The Buzz (Raleigh) and AM-1150 WBAG (Burlington) will air the series in its entirety. Additionally, all three games will be televised - Thursday and Friday by Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast and Saturday by Fox Sports Net South.

NATIONAL RANKINGS: North Carolina is ranked No. 2 in all four major polls, and Miami owns the No. 1 spot in all four rankings. The teams also hold the top two sports in the latest official NCAA Ratings Percentage Index released Wednesday, but Carolina holds the top spot.

TAR HEEL TRENDS: Carolina is second nationally with 43 wins, and its 154 wins over the last three seasons top the country ... Three of the four teams with 42-plus wins in 2008 hail from the ACC ... The Tar Heels have won 18 of their last 20 games, 32 of 39 games and 10 of 12 in ACC play ... Carolina is the only team in the ACC to rank among the league's top three in batting and ERA ... Carolina's 2.28 ERA also leads the nation and it tops the country with 525 strikeouts ... The Tar Heels have allowed more than three earned runs just eight times in the last 49 games ... Carolina's team average of .326 would rank as a school record ... Six UNC regulars are hitting .300 or better and eight Tar Heels own 30-plus RBI ... UNC has already stolen more bases (61) this season than it did in 73 games a year ago (47) ... 2B Kyle Seager leads the ACC with a UNC record-tying 25 doubles and is second with 65 RBI ... Dustin Ackley (.392), Kyle Seager (.382) and Tim Fedroff (.380) rank among the top nine hitters in the ACC ... 12 of the 16 pitchers that UNC has used this season own an ERA of 2.36 or below ... Junior RHP Adam Warren is 20-1 in his collegiate career and holds ACC and UNC records with his .952 winning percentage ... Senior 3B Chad Flack has established school records for career hits, at-bats and games played over the last month and needs 13 RBI to set a fourth career mark ... Sophomore OF Tim Fedroff hit for the cycle April 15 at UNC Greensboro.

SERIES HISTORY: Miami holds an 18-15-1 lead in the all-time series, but Carolina is 10-5-1 against the Hurricanes under Mike Fox and 5-3-1 since Miami entered the ACC in 2005. The Tar Heels, who swept a three-game set in 2007 as the nation's No. 1-ranked team in Chapel Hill, have won four of the last five series between the teams, including 2-1 series victories in Coral Gables in 2004 and 2006.

RECENT HISTORY VS. MIAMI: Dustin Ackley hit .500 (6-12) with three RBI in last year's series sweep in Chapel Hill ... Tim Federowicz has three home runs - two in Coral Gables - and seven RBI in six career games but is batting just .190 (4-21) ... Chad Flack is batting .333 (13-39) with three home runs and 10 RBI in nine career games ... Seth Williams is batting .478 (11-23) with three homers and six RBI in eight games ... Tyler Trice has allowed one run and has held Miami hitless in 3 1/3 innings out of the bullpen in three games ... Alex White held Miami to just five hits and no earned runs with seven Ks over 7 2/3 innings in 2007.

SCOUTING THE HURRICANES: No. 1 Miami is a balanced squad with a .333 team batting average a 3.76 staff ERA. At the plate, the Hurricanes are paced by the trio of Yonder Alonso (.382-16-53), Blake Tekotte (.377-9-37) and Jemile Weeks (.375-10-48). Miami has hit 77 home runs and has swiped 83 bases. On the mound, the Canes are led by reliever Kyle Bellamy, who is 5-0 with a 1.28 ERA in 42 1/3 innings. The starting rotation consists of LHP Chris Hernandez (9-0, 2.70), LHP Eric Erickson (7-0, 3.31) and RHP Enrique Garcia (5-1, 4.85).

TAR HEELS IN 1-2 MATCH-UPS: Carolina is playing just its second-ever No. 1 vs. No. 2 regular season series this weekend in Coral Gables and is 3-3 in six all-time games involving the nation's top two teams. All six games were played in 2007. The No. 2 Tar Heels lost two of three at No. 1 Florida State last April 20-22 in its first series involving the nation's top two teams. No. 2 UNC went 2-1 against No. 1 Rice in the 2007 College World Series to even its record in top-two games.

SUCCESS VERSUS NO. 1: Carolina has been very successful under head coach Mike Fox against the No. 1 team in the country and owns a 12-10 record in such games since 1999. Last year, the Tar Heels split six games against the nation's top-ranked team, including two wins over No. 1 Rice in the CWS and one victory at top-ranked Florida State. Not including last year's wins over Rice in Omaha, Carolina has won three of its last five regular season series against the top-ranked team. In addition to 2002 and 2006 series wins over FSU, the Tar Heels took two of three from No. 1 Clemson in 2000.

UNC vs. No. 1 Under Mike Fox
Year	Opponent	Series Record
2007	Rice		2-1*
2007	Florida State	1-2
2006	Florida State	2-1
2002	Florida State 	3-0
2003	Florida State	1-0#
2002	Clemson 	1-2
2000	Clemson		2-1
1999	Florida State	0-3
Total			12-10
*College World Series; #ACC Tournament

CAROLINA NO. 1 IN RPI: The Tar Heels appear to be heading down the right path for earning a second straight national seed, as they were ranked No. 1 in Wednesday's release of the official NCAA Ratings Percentage Index. UNC was one of six teams from the Carolinas in the top 20. The RPI is used by the NCAA as one of the factors for determining seeding and host sites for the postseason.

STILL A SHOT AT COASTAL CROWN: Carolina (20-6 ACC) still has a shot at its third straight Atlantic Coast Conference Coastal Division title entering the series at Miami but it must sweep the top-ranked Hurricanes (22-3 ACC) to claim the crown. The Tar Heels are assured of no worse than the No. 3 seed in next week's ACC Tournament.

A CLEAN SWEEP: Dustin Ackley and Rob Wooten swept this week's ACC baseball honors with Ackley getting the nod for Player of the Week and Wooten earning Pitcher of the Week accolades. Carolina became just the third school to make a complete sweep of both honors outright since the league started handing out separate weekly awards in 2003. En route to his second league recognition this season and the fourth in his career, Ackley hit .526 with six runs scored, six RBI, four doubles and two stolen bases. Wooten made four appearances and combined for seven shutout innings and 11 strikeouts.

40 ONCE AGAIN: With the May 7 win over North Florida, Carolina reached the 40-win mark for the seventh straight season, extending a school record. The Tar Heels, who have won 40 games in nine of the 10 seasons under Mike Fox, needed just 48 games to post 40 victories, matching the 2006 team as the second-quickest to 40 in school history. The 1983 team opened the year 40-7. UNC was the third team in the nation to reach 40 wins this year, trailing only Texas A&M and Florida State.

HEELS MATCH BEST 50-GAME MARK: At 42-8 through 50 games, the Tar Heels matched their 1983 club for the best record through 50 games in school history. Carolina was 40-10 at the 50-game mark in each of the last two seasons.

UNC SPORTS NATION'S TOP STAFF: Pitching has been the backbone of this year's Carolina team, and the Tar Heels entered the week as the national leader in earned run average (2.30), strikeouts per nine innings (10.1) and fewest hits allowed per nine innings (7.36). This year's staff is extremely balanced with 12 pitchers having made 10 or more appearances and 12 hurlers with a sub-2.36 ERA.

POWER SURGE FOR SHELTON: Senior Kyle Shelton entered this season with just one career home run, but the Charlotte native has belted the Tar Heels' last three homers dating to the April 29 win over Florida State - a span of nine games. He has four home runs on the year - all in the last 16 games - and has posted career-best totals of a .350 average and 32 RBI.

ACKLEY FUELS STRETCH RUN: Dustin Ackley has paced Carolina to its 18-2 record over the last 20 games with a .450 average (36-80) from the leadoff spot. He is reaching base at a .545 clip over this run to help set the stage for Kyle Shelton, who is hitting .381 over this hot streak, Tim Fedroff and Kyle Seager, who have combined for 65 of Carolina's 140 RBI in the last 20 games.

BULLPEN SPELLS RELIEF: What was a question mark entering the season has quickly become a strength, as Carolina's bullpen sports a 1.44 ERA, a 16-3 record and seven saves through 52 games. Of the 15 hurlers to work in relief, only two part-time relievers own ERAs over 2.25 out of the bullpen. All seven relievers with 12 or more appearances sport ERAs of 2.25 or less. Additionally, the UNC bullpen has walked just 93 batters to 273 strikeouts in 232 innings.

NO SOPHOMORE SLUMPS: Offensively, Carolina has been carried by its sophomore trio of Dustin Ackley, Tim Fedroff and Kyle Seager, who are each being considered for various national player of the year honors. This group is batting a collective .384 on the season with 57 doubles, 24 home runs, 154 RBI and 35 stolen bases.

PITCHING BETTERING 2006 & 2007: Despite losing a pair of first-round picks, the program's all-time winningest pitcher and an All-America closer off the last two teams, Carolina's pitching staff has not missed a beat this season and leads the nation with a 2.28 earned run average and 525 strikeouts through 52 games. This ERA is more than three-quarters of a run better than the 3.08 mark at this point in the season last year. The 2006 staff logged a 3.27 ERA through 52 games.

FRIDAY NIGHT WHITE: The ACC leader with a 2.36 ERA, sophomore right-hander Alex White has been dominant since returning to the Friday spot in the rotation eight weeks ago at Maryland. After his brief stint in the bullpen due to an injury to Rob Wooten, White is 5-1 with a 2.75 ERA over his last 36 innings. The Greenville native has 47 strikeouts over this seven-start stretch, and he has held the opposition to just one hit in two of his last four starts - at Clemson and vs. then-No. 2 Florida State.

TOPS IN THE NATION OVER 2006-08: While UNC's 43 wins this season are certainly impressive, its 154 victories over the last three years also lead the country. Carolina and Rice are the only teams in the country to win at least 50 games in each of the last two seasons.

Total Wins 2006-08
Team	        2006	2007	2008	Total
North Carolina	54	57	43	154
Rice 	        57	56	39	152
Wichita State	46	53	38	138
Florida State	44	49	44	137
Virginia 	47	45	35	127

SEAGER CLEANING UP: With classmates Tim Fedroff (.448 OBP) and Dustin Ackley (.490 OBP) usually on base in front of him, sophomore second baseman Kyle Seager has made the most of his RBI opportunities. After driving in 30 runs all last season, Seager has doubled his RBI output this season with 65 runs driven in to rank second in the ACC.

STRIKEOUT SUCCESS: The NCAA leader in strikeouts per nine innings at 10.1 entering the week, Carolina has tallied 28 double-digit strikeout games this season, including 15 in the last 26 outings. With an NCAA-best 525 Ks through 52 games, the Tar Heels need just 19 strikeouts to break the school record of 543 strikeouts in 69 games in 2006.

DOUBLE TROUBLE: The Tar Heels lead the ACC with 136 doubles, which is already tied for the fourth most in school history. Carolina needs 18 more two-baggers to break the school record of 153 set in 2002. Kyle Seager leads the ACC with a UNC record-tying 25 doubles and is one of seven Tar Heels with at least 13 doubles on the year.