Where: Boshamer Stadium, Chapel Hill, NC
When: Friday, June 1st, approx. 50 mins following Game 1
Radio/Internet: CBS ULive: Video | Audio
Records: UNC 44-14, Cornell 31-15-1
Rain drops keep falling on my head.
Hobbs Johnson will get the start versus Cornell and looks to extend UNC's winning streak at home in regional play to 16 games. Johnson struggled a bit coming out of the bullpen in the ACC Tournament versus NC State and was pulled in short order for Luis Paula who kept the shutout intact.
For the most part, the Tar Heel pitching looks to be very much primed for the NCAA Tournament. Aside from Kent Emanuel struggling versus Miami, the starters and bullpen have performed quite well over the past month capped off by Michael Morin's ridiculous five shutout innings on Saturday. The focus for the Heels is really on the offense where consistency has been elusive at times. Colin Moran's return helped some though he had all sorts of trouble hitting the ball in Greensboro last week, something Mike Fox attributed to Moran being anxious.
Moran returned from injury and had a .375 average in North Carolina's 12 games before the tournament, with a hit in 11 of those games.
Fox said he thought Moran was a little anxious in the ACC tournament and that he lunged at pitches. Hitting coach Scott Jackson spent extra time working with Moran at the batting cage this week.
"We've won games without him," Fox said. "He's not the key to our offense. He's a big part of our offense, but he's not the key.
"It's not like we've got one guy who has driven in 70-75 runs. I like that about our offense. It's been about as balanced as we've had here one through nine."
UNC does enjoy a lot of balance on offense but it would help tremendously if Moran got on a huge RBI tear in the NCAA Tournament. After going 2-15 in three ACC Tournament games, Moran is due to get back on track.