June 18, 2008

OMAHA, Neb. - No. 2 national seed North Carolina faces its first elimination game of the 2008 NCAA Tournament Thursday against LSU in College World Series action at Omaha's Rosenblatt Stadium. The Tar Heels (52-13) and Tigers (49-18-1) will square off at 7 p.m. Eastern on ESPN and on the Tar Heel Sports Network with Jones Angell and Adam Lucas on the call.

Freshman right-hander Matt Harvey, who is 7-2 with a 2.52 ERA in 17 appearances, will take the mound for the Tar Heels opposite LSU lefty Blake Martin (5-3, 4.89 ERA). Harvey has not pitched since the first game of the NCAA Tournament against Mount St. Mary's May 30. In 60 2/3 innings, the freshman All-America selection has 74 strikeouts, 44 walks and is holding the opposition to a .210 batting average.

The Tar Heels look to bounce back from their first loss of the postseason, a 5-3 defeat at the hands of Fresno State Tuesday, while the Tigers are coming off a walk-off, 6-5 win over Rice in an elimination game Tuesday.

Behind three-hit efforts from Tim Fedroff, Kyle Seager, Seth Williams and Ryan Graepel, the Tar Heels pounded out 17 hits in Sunday's 8-4 win over LSU in the CWS opener for both teams. The victory moved Carolina to 1-2 all-time against the Tigers and 6-1 against the Southeastern Conference in the postseason over the last three seasons.

The winner of Thursday's game will face Fresno State Friday and will have to top the Bulldogs twice to advance to next week's championship series.