BY UNC ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
CHAPEL HILL --- Riding a season-long nine-game winning streak, No. 4 North Carolina returns home to welcome Triangle rival NC State for the first of three Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Boshamer Stadium. Carolina is 27-6 following a 20-5 win over No. 8 South Carolina Tuesday in Charlotte, the Tar Heels’ fourth straight victory by at least 10 runs. NC State was also a big winner on Tuesday, thumping UNCG 10-1 in Raleigh to improve to 19-15. Both teams are also coming off big conference series wins - a three-game sweep at Boston College for UNC (12-3 ACC) and a series victory over Florida State for the Wolfpack (7-8 ACC).
Friday • 6:30 p.m. ACC Network Extra UNC - RHP J.B. Bukauskas (5-0, 1.41 ERA) NCSU - LHP Sean Adler (3-4, 4.17 ERA)
Saturday • 4 p.m. ACC Network Extra UNC - RHP Gianluca Dalatri (3-2, 2.48 ERA) NCSU - LHP Brian Brown (1-0, 3.13 ERA)
Sunday • 2 p.m. ACC Network Extra UNC - TBA NCSU - RHP Michael Bienlien (2-1, 4.19 ERA)
AT A GLANCE
Records: North Carolina 27-6 (12-3 ACC), NC State 19-15 (7-8 ACC)
Rankings: North Carolina is ranked in all of the national polls, with a high of No. 4. NC State is unranked.
Video: ACC Network Extrahttp://es.pn/2nIHYq9?SPID=12960&DB_OEM_ID=3350
Audio: GoHeels.com/WCHLhttp://es.pn/2nIHYq9?SPID=12960&DB_OEM_ID=3350
On The Web: GoHeels.com • Twitter: @DiamondHeels
NORTH CAROLINA-NC STATE SERIES HISTORY
• North Carolina is 161-131-1 all-time against NC State, including a 30-25 record under head coach Mike Fox.
• Friday will mark the 294th meeting in the series, which dates back to 1895. Only Virginia (298 meetings) has been a more common opponent for Carolina.
• NC State claimed a series win last season in Raleigh with a pair of victories. After NCSU took the opener 6-4, Carolina responded with a 16-4 blowout on Friday before the ‘Pack responded with a series-clinching 10-1 win.
• UNC took two of three from the Wolfpack in 2015, the last time the teams met in Chapel Hill. Zac Gallen tossed a six-hit complete game in a 2-1 win before Zack Gahagan’s bases-loaded hit by pitch forced in the winning run in the 10th inning in a 3-2 victory.
• The 2014 season was the first since the formation of the ACC in 1953 that did not feature a Carolina-NC State conference series. The two teams met just once, in the ACC tournament in Greensboro, and the Tar Heels were 4-3 winners in an elimination game.
• The Tar Heels won three of five meetings in 2013, including two of three postseason showdowns. Carolina and NC State split a pair of regular season games in Raleigh before staging an 18-inning epic in Durham in the ACC tournament. UNC won that game, which was played in front of a state college record 11,392 fans, 2-1 en route to an ACC title.
• The two teams met again in the College World Series, with the Wolfpack taking the opening game 8-1. But the Tar Heels won the season series and eliminated NC State later in the event with a 7-0 victory powered by Hobbs Johnson’s 8.1 innings of shutout ball.
QUICK HITS
• Carolina ranks second in the ACC and sixth nationally in pitching with a staff ERA of 2.62.
• The Tar Heels established a new school record for runs in a three-game ACC series by scoring 48 times in the sweep at BC. The previous mark was 45 at Duke in 2002. Tuesday’s 20-5 win over South Carolina pushed the four-game total to 68 runs, the most over four games since 1987.
• UNC started ACC play with series wins over divisional foes Virginia, Georgia Tech and Miami. This marks the first time the Tar Heels have won series against those three in the same season since 2009.
• The Tar Heels swept Florida State for the second time in program history and the first time ever in Tallahassee.
• Redshirt freshman closer Josh Hiatt has 10 saves, tops in the ACC and fourth-most nationally. Hiatt is already tied for eighth on the UNC single-season saves list.
• Junior J.B. Bukauskas ranks in the top 10 nationally in strikeouts (fourth, 75) and K/9 (ninth, 13.24). He was named to the D1Baseball and Rawlings/Perfect Game Midseason All-America first teams last week, earning Midseason Top Pitcher honors from D1Baseball.
• Bukauskas and junior shortstop Logan Warmoth were both named to the Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List as two of the top 40 college players in the country.
• Freshman Gianluca Dalatri leads the ACC in innings pitched with 54.1 in eight starts, an average of almost seven innings per outing.
• Carolina allowed five runs or fewer in each of the first 23 games of the 2017 season. That was the longest such streak in 106 seasons. The Tar Heels went 25 straight without allowing more than five across the 1910 and 1911 campaigns.
• Mike Fox recorded his 800th win at Carolina on Feb. 19 against Kentucky. He is UNC’s all-time winningest coach and has over 1,300 total wins in his 34 year career.
Complete Series Notes (PDF)
CHAPEL HILL --- Riding a season-long nine-game winning streak, No. 4 North Carolina returns home to welcome Triangle rival NC State for the first of three Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Boshamer Stadium. Carolina is 27-6 following a 20-5 win over No. 8 South Carolina Tuesday in Charlotte, the Tar Heels’ fourth straight victory by at least 10 runs. NC State was also a big winner on Tuesday, thumping UNCG 10-1 in Raleigh to improve to 19-15. Both teams are also coming off big conference series wins - a three-game sweep at Boston College for UNC (12-3 ACC) and a series victory over Florida State for the Wolfpack (7-8 ACC).
Friday • 6:30 p.m. ACC Network Extra UNC - RHP J.B. Bukauskas (5-0, 1.41 ERA) NCSU - LHP Sean Adler (3-4, 4.17 ERA)
Saturday • 4 p.m. ACC Network Extra UNC - RHP Gianluca Dalatri (3-2, 2.48 ERA) NCSU - LHP Brian Brown (1-0, 3.13 ERA)
Sunday • 2 p.m. ACC Network Extra UNC - TBA NCSU - RHP Michael Bienlien (2-1, 4.19 ERA)
AT A GLANCE
Records: North Carolina 27-6 (12-3 ACC), NC State 19-15 (7-8 ACC)
Rankings: North Carolina is ranked in all of the national polls, with a high of No. 4. NC State is unranked.
Video: ACC Network Extrahttp://es.pn/2nIHYq9?SPID=12960&DB_OEM_ID=3350
Audio: GoHeels.com/WCHLhttp://es.pn/2nIHYq9?SPID=12960&DB_OEM_ID=3350
On The Web: GoHeels.com • Twitter: @DiamondHeels
NORTH CAROLINA-NC STATE SERIES HISTORY
• North Carolina is 161-131-1 all-time against NC State, including a 30-25 record under head coach Mike Fox.
• Friday will mark the 294th meeting in the series, which dates back to 1895. Only Virginia (298 meetings) has been a more common opponent for Carolina.
• NC State claimed a series win last season in Raleigh with a pair of victories. After NCSU took the opener 6-4, Carolina responded with a 16-4 blowout on Friday before the ‘Pack responded with a series-clinching 10-1 win.
• UNC took two of three from the Wolfpack in 2015, the last time the teams met in Chapel Hill. Zac Gallen tossed a six-hit complete game in a 2-1 win before Zack Gahagan’s bases-loaded hit by pitch forced in the winning run in the 10th inning in a 3-2 victory.
• The 2014 season was the first since the formation of the ACC in 1953 that did not feature a Carolina-NC State conference series. The two teams met just once, in the ACC tournament in Greensboro, and the Tar Heels were 4-3 winners in an elimination game.
• The Tar Heels won three of five meetings in 2013, including two of three postseason showdowns. Carolina and NC State split a pair of regular season games in Raleigh before staging an 18-inning epic in Durham in the ACC tournament. UNC won that game, which was played in front of a state college record 11,392 fans, 2-1 en route to an ACC title.
• The two teams met again in the College World Series, with the Wolfpack taking the opening game 8-1. But the Tar Heels won the season series and eliminated NC State later in the event with a 7-0 victory powered by Hobbs Johnson’s 8.1 innings of shutout ball.
QUICK HITS
• Carolina ranks second in the ACC and sixth nationally in pitching with a staff ERA of 2.62.
• The Tar Heels established a new school record for runs in a three-game ACC series by scoring 48 times in the sweep at BC. The previous mark was 45 at Duke in 2002. Tuesday’s 20-5 win over South Carolina pushed the four-game total to 68 runs, the most over four games since 1987.
• UNC started ACC play with series wins over divisional foes Virginia, Georgia Tech and Miami. This marks the first time the Tar Heels have won series against those three in the same season since 2009.
• The Tar Heels swept Florida State for the second time in program history and the first time ever in Tallahassee.
• Redshirt freshman closer Josh Hiatt has 10 saves, tops in the ACC and fourth-most nationally. Hiatt is already tied for eighth on the UNC single-season saves list.
• Junior J.B. Bukauskas ranks in the top 10 nationally in strikeouts (fourth, 75) and K/9 (ninth, 13.24). He was named to the D1Baseball and Rawlings/Perfect Game Midseason All-America first teams last week, earning Midseason Top Pitcher honors from D1Baseball.
• Bukauskas and junior shortstop Logan Warmoth were both named to the Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List as two of the top 40 college players in the country.
• Freshman Gianluca Dalatri leads the ACC in innings pitched with 54.1 in eight starts, an average of almost seven innings per outing.
• Carolina allowed five runs or fewer in each of the first 23 games of the 2017 season. That was the longest such streak in 106 seasons. The Tar Heels went 25 straight without allowing more than five across the 1910 and 1911 campaigns.
• Mike Fox recorded his 800th win at Carolina on Feb. 19 against Kentucky. He is UNC’s all-time winningest coach and has over 1,300 total wins in his 34 year career.
Complete Series Notes (PDF)
