Monday Baseball Report(5/6)

Last week's results: def. The Citadel 13-0
Record Last Week: 1-0
Record This Season: 42-4, 19-3 ACC
Upcoming Schedule: 5/7-5/8 vs James Madison, 5/10-5/12 at Georgia Tech

With exam week in full swing, UNC had a very limited schedule with just one midweek game and no weekend series. In that one game, North Carolina dispatched The Citadel 13-0. Colin Moran continues to do Colin Moran-like things with a grand slam as part of a six run 2nd inning for his 12th home run of the season. Michael Russell also had a three run homer. On the pitching side, Mike Fox used the game to get some work in for Hobbs Johnson who struck out nine in five innings and a couple of innings for Kent Emanuel. On the day, five Tar Heels pitchers shutout the Bulldogs on four hits, no walks and 13 strikeouts.

UNC enters the final two weeks of the season getting geared up for the NCAA Tournament. UNC is a mortal lock for a national seed and home field advantage at both the regional and Super Regional levels. The only question really facing UNC is when Skye Bolt might return from a broken foot. A report last week put Bolt "ahead of schedule" and said a return by May 13th was possible. That could prove to be excellent timing as it would give Bolt four regular season games and the ACC Tournament(which will involve at least three games) to get back into the flow of things putting the whole team in a prime spot heading into the NCAA Tournament.

As the season moves into its late stages, it should be noted there are a few UNC records that bear watching. First and foremost is the single season RBI mark of 83 set by Marshall Hubbard in 2004. Colin Moran is positioned to obliterate that record. Moran has 74 RBIs with UNC guaranteed 12 more games in the regular season and ACC Tournament play plus however many in the NCAA Tournament. The career RBI mark is 214 head by a pair of players. Moran currently sits at 180 which probably puts that record a tad out of reach. If UNC makes it all the way to the College World Series, plays in the championship series and Moran maintains his present 1.6 RBIs per game rate, it could eclipse the career mark. That seems unlikely since the pitching the Tar Heels face will toughen from this point forward.

On the team records front, UNC has scored 407 runs so far through 46 games. The UNC record for runs in a season is 541 in 63 contests. It will be interesting to see if UNC can get there knowing this team can score runs in bunches.