May 27, 2002

AP Selection Story

The University of North Carolina has received the No. 2 seed at the NCAA Baseball Regional in Columbia, S.C. The Tar Heels will open NCAA Tournament play versus third-seeded James Madison at 2 p.m. next Friday (May 31), while host South Carolina faces fourth-seeded Virginia Commonwealth at 7 p.m. at Sarge Frye Field.

"We're certainly thrilled to be in the NCAA Tournament," said UNC head coach Mike Fox. "We know this is going to be a very competitive regional, but we're excited about the challenge of facing such strong competition. I know (James Madison head coach) Spanky McFarland and the types of teams he has. We'll definitely need to be ready for James Madison on Friday."

The Tar Heels are 40-19 and finished third in the Atlantic Coast Conference at 17-7, their highest ACC finish since 1990. Carolina has advanced to the NCAA Tournament in four of the past five years and 17 times overall. Carolina is 35-35 all-time in NCAA Tournament play, including 1-1 all-time against South Carolina. Carolina has never faced James Madison or VCU in the post-season, though Carolina did defeat the Rams, 10-2, on April 23 in the only regular-season meeting between Carolina and any of the teams competing in Columbia.

Carolina is led by first-team All-ACC selections Adam Greenberg and Chris Maples as well as Russ Adams, a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award, given annually to the nation's top player.

South Carolina enters the NCAA Tournament as the No. 6 national seed as well as the top seed in the Columbia Regional. The Gamecocks are 48-14, while James Madison is 43-14 and VCU is 38-25.