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By UNC Athletic Communications
No. 4 North Carolina looks to stay undefeated as they host UNCW and VCU in midweek matchups this week. The Heels will take on the Seahawks on Tuesday, Feb. 26, and the Rams on Wednesday, Feb. 27, with both games starting at 3 p.m. at Boshamer Stadium. Both games can be seen on ACC Network Extra.
Quick Notes
• Carolina has the country's longest current home winning streak (25 games). The last loss came on March 25 against Florida State. In those 25 games UNC has outscored opponents 194-73.
• The 20.2 innings that Gianluca Dalatri, Tyler Baum and Austin Bergner combined to pitch in UNC's 3-game sweep of USF were the most by UNC's starters in a 3-game weekend series since J.B. Bukauskas, Jason Morgan and Dalatri went 20.2 against Radford from Feb. 24-26, 2017.
• Ike Freeman's three home runs are the most by a UNC player through the first seven games of a season since Dustin Ackley, Kyle Seager and Seth Williams each hit three to open the 2008 campaign.
• This is the 8th time UNC has started 7-0 under Mike Fox. The last time was in 2017.
• Head coach Mike Fox is just 3 wins away from 900 wins at Carolina.
• The 11 earned runs that UNC pitchers have allowed are the fewest surrendered by a Tar Heel pitching staff through the first seven games of a season since the 2005 squad gave up five. That staff didn't allow any earned runs through the first four games of the season.
• UNC has the best ERA in the ACC (1.55) and the 8th best ERA in the country.
• Ike Freeman is 2nd in HR (3), 2nd in SLG % (.955), 3rd in RBI (11), 3rd in on base % (.594) and tied for 3rd in BA (.500).
• Michael Busch is tied for first in the ACC in walks (11) and runs scored (10).
• Tyler Baum is tied for 1st in the ACC in Ks (19), 2nd in wins (2) and is 3rd in the country in strikeout to walk ratio at 19:1. He has started at least 2-0 in all 3 seasons at UNC.
• Austin Love is 1st in the ACC in Opp. Batting Avg. (0.48), ERA (0.00), App. (5), and tied for second in wins (2).
• UNC has scored in the first inning 5 of its first 7 games.
• Junior Ashton McGee has started in 3 positions this year (RF, 3B, 2B).
• UNC's bullpen has allowed 1 earned run in 27.1 innings of work this season (0.33) ERA.
• Ike Freeman's 3 HR so far this season ties his career high.
• UNC scored 8 or more runs in its first 3 games of the season for the first time since 2006.
• 34 runs are the most runs scored in an opening weekend three-game series since the 2006 team scored 38.
•The Heels already have two wins this season in which they only scored two runs (2-1 over NC A&T and USF). The last time Carolina had a season with two wins while scoring two runs or less was 2015, when they did it three times, a 2-1 win against NC State and 1-0 wins over Boston College and High Point.
UNCW SERIES HISTORY
• UNC holds a 58-16 seried advantage over UNCW in 74 all-time meetings.
• In 10 meetings since 2013, Carolina holds a slight edge with a 6-4 record.
• The first meetings between the teams occurred as a double header in 1976. North Carolina swept the double header in Chapel Hill by scores of 3-0 and 6-5.
• UNCW swept the home-and-home series last year. UNCW won Carolina's home opener 5-4 in the first meeting and won 4-2 in Wilmington later in the season.
VCU SERIES HISTORY
• Carolina owns a 20-5 advantage in the series history with VCU and hasn't lost to the Rams since 2004 in an 8-6 loss in 10 innings.
• The two teams last met in 2017 in an 8-2 win for UNC, and were scheduled to meet last season until the game was cancelled due to weather. Ike Freeman and Ashton McGee each recorded a pair of RBI in that 2017 matchup. Tyler Baum picked up the win, throwing 5.0 scoreless.
• Under Mike Fox, UNC is 11-2 against VCU and has outscored them 94-49.
DOMINANCE AT THE BOSH
The Tar Heels currently hold the nation's longest home winning streak at 25 games. Their last loss at Boshamer Stadium came on March 25 vs Florida State. The Heels did not lose again at home before heading to Omaha, sweeping both the regional and Super Regional. Over the course of those 25 games, the Tar Heels outscored their opponents by a score of 194-73. The longest home winning streak in program history got to 34 games from 1980-1981 and the longest consecutive unbeaten streak is 42 games from 1979-1981.
OFFENSIVE TALE OF TWO WEEKS
• Against Xavier in the first 3 games of the year, UNC hit .340 and scored 34 runs while collecting 33 hits and 5 HR.
• In the last 4 games, UNC hit .155 as a team and scored 12 total runs on 17 hits with 3 HR.
• The pitching has been strong through the first two weeks with a 2.00 ERA during the Xavier series and a 1.22 ERA over the last 4 games.
STARTING STRONG
• The Heels already have two wins this season in which they only scored two runs (2-1 over NC A&T and USF). The last time Carolina had a season with two wins while scoring two runs or less was 2015, when they did it three times, a 2-1 win against NC State and 1-0 wins over Boston College and High Point.
• USF out-hit Carolina 15-14 during the series. The last time North Carolina was out-hit in a series and still won the series was against Duke in the final regular season series of 2017, when Duke out-hit Carolina 32-24, but the Heels still took two of the three games.
EARLY SUCCESS
• This is the 8th time that UNC has started 7-0 under Mike Fox (1999, 2000, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2013, 2017)
• Three of the last four times the Heels have started 7-0 they have gone on to reach the College World Series (2006, 2007, 2013).
• This is the best start to a season following a trip to Omaha and the CWS since the 2007 team started 10-0.
BE LIKE IKE
• Junior SS Ike Freeman continues his hot start to the season as he leads the team in batting average (.500), hits (11), HR (3), RBI (11), total bases (21), slugging percentage (.955), and on base percentage (.600).
• Ike is also tied for 3rd in the ACC in batting average (.500), tied for 4th in hits (11), tied for 2nd in HR (3), 3rd in RBI (11), 3rd in on base percentage (.600), and 2nd in slugging percentage (.955).
• His 3 home runs ties his career high set last season.
• Three of his seven career home runs have come against South Florida. All three of those against USF have come in tied or one run games in the 8th inning or later, with two of them turning out to be game-winning home runs.
WINNING ON THE MOUND
• Tyler Baum set a career high with 12 strikeouts on Saturday Feb. 24, against USF, topping his previous best of 10 set last season against USF. He also matched his career high with 7.0 IP during the game.
• Gianluca Dalatri turned in his best start of the past two seasonson Saturday, Feb. 23, going 7.1 IP and striking out nine. Both marks are his best since 2017, when he went 8.2 IP against GT and struck out 15 against Radford in his second career start.
• Dalatri and Baum turned in the first back-to-back starts of 7.0 IP or longer since Baum and Austin Bergner did it against Pitt last season. Dalatri threw 7.1 on Saturday against USF before Baum threw 7.0 in game one of Sunday's double header.
