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Carolina has played two other ACC teams in the College World Series.
The Diamond Heels reached Omaha seven times during the Mike Fox era, and it is safe to say they played worse the last five years after reaching the championship round on the second weekend in 2006 and ’07. They never got back there.
Carolina’s first visit in 17 years featured a second-round win over Clemson, 2-0, on Robert Woodard’s shutout and three-hit pitching gem. They went on to the championship round by beating Cal State Fullerton twice and won the first meeting with Oregon State, 4-3, when Chad Flack scored on a passed ball. The Beavers got even in the second and then won the winner-take-all title game, pushing across the winning run in the eighth inning of a 3-2 victory.
UNC was right back in the championship series in 2007 against Oregon State, which swept the first two games by a combined score of 20-7. On the way there, the Diamond Heels beat South Carolina, once in the ACC, and Louisville, which joined in 2012.
Fox’s program did not return to the championship best-of-three in their last five visits. And several times their ouster was quick, like in their third of four consecutive trips to the CWS.
In 2008, while Boshamer Stadium was under renovation, the Diamond Heels played in Cary and swept four games from UNC-Wilmington and Coastal Carolina in the Regionals and Super Regionals but were sent home from Omaha on losses to Fresno State.
In 2009 and 2011, they lost twice to each Arizona State and Vanderbilt, and two years later in 2013 they had their next meeting with an ACC rival, splitting two strange games with NC State, losing the first 8-1 and then blanking the Pack 7-0 before being eliminated by eventual national champion UCLA.
Five years later came Carolina’s seventh CWS appearance under Fox, who retired in 2021. And it was old nemesis Oregon State that eliminated his club, scoring 4 runs in the eighth inning and 4 more in the ninth after the Heels built a 6-3 lead.
So waiting in their first visit to Charles Schwab Field since then is local rival Virginia, boasting one of the best offenses in the country, with the second-highest batting average (.326) and a top-10 stat of 61 home runs.
Carolina shows up with the same number of dingers, 26 by Vance Honeycutt, but is just 31st in team batting average (.304). The Diamond Heels are 12th in walks (355) and No. 15 in earned run average (4.22) where the Cavaliers are not in the top 50.
So it looks pretty even on offense, and UNC’s pitching could get them through Bracket 1 with fewer than two losses and, at long last, send the Tar Heels back to that national championship round.
Featured image via Associated Press/John Peterson
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
Today was a darn fine start to a National Championship run!
GDTBATH