May 26, 2003

Chapel Hill, NC- North Carolina will travel to Starkville, Miss. for the NCAA Regional where they will take on Missouri at 2 p.m. CT (3 p.m. ET) on Friday afternoon. The No. 2 Tar Heels (39-21) will face the No. 3 Tigers (35-20) in the first game while host and No. 1 seed Mississippi State (40-18-1) takes on No. 4 Middle Tennessee (33-25) at approximately 6 p.m. on Friday.

This marks North Carolina's 18th ever NCAA Tournament appearance and second time playing in a regional at Starkville. UNC won the 1989 South Regional at Starkville and advanced to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb. before being eliminated in two games. The Tar Heels have made it to the College World Series four times, with 1989 being the most recent. This also marks Carolina's fourth trip to the NCAA Tournament in the five years since Mike Fox took over as head baseball coach.

"We're thrilled to be in the NCAA Tournament," says Fox. "Anytime you go to the tournament, you feel like you've accomplished something. We couldn't be going to a place with a better college baseball atmosphere. Most of our players have never been in that kind of environment and I'm happy they are going to get this chance."

All games will be played at Dudy Noble Field on the campus of Mississippi State University. The Bulldogs have hosted 10 previous NCAA regional tournaments, most recently in 2000.

NCAA Tournament Notes

* Carolina head coach Mike Fox has a 6-6 record in the NCAA Tournament in his previous four years at UNC. The Tar Heels are 3-1 all-time against Mississippi State in the tournament and have never faced either Missouri or Middle Tennessee in postseason play.

* Last Year in the 2002 Columbia Regional, the Tar Heels won three games but were eliminated by South Carolina in game seven of the Columbia Regional. Carolina shut out James Madison 5-0 in game one, but fell 9-6 to the Gamecocks before eliminating James Madison 9-7 in their third game. Only UNC and South Carolina remained on the final day and the Tar Heels stayed alive by taking the elimination game by a score of 8-4. But Carolina's season ended a few hours later when the Gamecocks won the final and deciding game of the Regional by a score of 3-1. Scott Autrey, Sean Farrell, Ron Braun, Russ Adams and Greg Mangum were all named to the All-Regional team for UNC.

* Coach Mike Fox reached the 200-win plateau in just his fifth year at North Carolina with the team's extra-inning victory over top-ranked Florida State in the ACC Tournament on May 22, 2003. With one more victory this season, Fox will reach 40 wins for the fourth time in his five seasons. In the 2003 ACC Tournament in Salem, Va., Fox led the Tar Heels to two victories for the first time since coming to UNC.

* Carolina's three weekend starters have combined for a 20-6 record this season. Junior lefthander Daniel Moore leads the way with a 7-2 record and 3.43 ERA in 84 innings pitched. Freshman Adam Kalkhof is 7-1 with a 3.77 ERA and leads the team with 72 strikeouts. Kalkhof's seven wins are the most by a UNC freshman since Scott Autrey went 7-0 in 2000. Garry Bakker rounds out the trio with a 6-3 record and 4.18 ERA.

Record-Setting Tar Heels

*Jeremy Cleveland is threatening a number of Carolina's single season offensive records thanks to a phenomenal season at the plate to this point. Cleveland is on pace to become just the fourth modern-era player ever to hit .400 in a season at Carolina. The junior from Fairfax, Virginia enters the NCAA Tournament with a .420 batting average . He leads the Tar Heels in most offensive categories including home runs (18), RBIs (61), runs (69) and slugging percentage (.745). In honor of his outstanding season, Cleveland was named first team All-ACC in 2003 and was one of four finalists for ACC Player of the Year.

* Senior Sean Farrell was a pre-season All-ACC pick by Baseball America and followed through with a great season to be named second team All-ACC. Farrell has had an outstanding career at Carolina and is moving up the charts in many career offensive records lists. He is third all-time at UNC in at-bats (841) and runs (195), and ranks second in hits (279), doubles (61), walks (135) and runs batted in (210). Farrell needs just five more RBIs this season to break the career record of 214 held by Jarrett Shearin. With his 10-for-18 performance in the ACC Tournament, Farrell was the only Tar Heel named to the All-Tournament Team in Salem, Va.

* Senior shortstop Chad Prosser recorded his 285th career hit in Carolina's extra-inning loss to NC State in the ACC Tournament on May 24th. With this hit, Prosser passed Jarrett Shearin to become UNC's all-time leader in base hits. Prosser is also Carolina's career leader in at-bats and is in the top five in both runs and doubles. Last week, he was named second-team All-ACC for the 2003 season, the first time he has received this honor in his four year career.