North Carolina(34-26) vs Florida(40-22), 1:00 PM, ESPN3
Win or go home. For UNC that will mean knocking off the tournament's #2 overall seed on its home field to do it. UNC, which dropped a 6-1 decision to regional #3 seed Long Beach State will hope to stay alive and knock the home-standing Gators out of the regional. Florida lost 3-2 to College of Charleston in a game that started after 10 PM Friday night thanks to a weather delay.
UNC will send Benton Moss to the mound to keep the season going. Moss pitched extremely well in his last outing going 6.2 innings giving up four hits and striking out eight against Virginia during the ACC Tournament. The Cavaliers managed to scratch across two unearned runs on the way to a 3-2 win. The downfall for UNC in that game was a lack of timely hitting and errors in key moments. If that is the case again today, UNC will end up "two and Q" and out of the NCAA Tournament.
Obviously emerging from the loser's bracket in an NCAA regional is a very steep hill to climb, especially for a team that has struggled with the little things this season. Part of what makes it tough is the need to treat every game like it could be the last game of season which puts a great deal of stress on the pitching staff. To win the regional UNC would need to be Florida, the loser of LBSU-College of Charleston then the winner of that game twice. Four wins in three days with two games using midweek starters or going deep into the bullpen is a tough task. That's why if there was ever a time for the offense to show up, now would be it.