Carolina Faces Strong In-State Competition This Week
http://www.goheels.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=3350&ATCLID=210800861
No. 6 North Carolina steps out of conference to face a pair of familiar opponents this week as the Tar Heels travel to Greenville to face No. 17 East Carolina on Tuesday before returning home to host Elon on Wednesday. ECU is 11-5 on the year following a road series loss at Rice over the weekend. Elon has won eight of its last 11 games to improve to 8-8 after taking two of three from The Citadel.
AT A GLANCE
Records: North Carolina 12-2, East Carolina 11-5, Elon 8-8
Rankings: North Carolina is ranked in each of the national polls, with a high of No. 6 by D1Baseball. East Carolina is ranked No. 17 by D1Baseball and Elon is unranked.
Video/Audio:
ECUPirates.com and
GoHeelsTV. Both games this week will be streamed live online.
On The Web:
GoHeels.com • Twitter:
@DiamondHeels
Carolina Probable Starters Opponent Probable Starters
Tuesday RHP Cole Aker (Fr., 2-1, 3.00 ERA, 2.22 WHIP)
RHP Evan Voliva (So., 0-0, 2.70 ERA, 1.05 WHIP)
Wednesday TBD
TBD
NORTH CAROLINA-EAST CAROLINA SERIES HISTORY• North Carolina is 50-27 all-time against East Carolina, including a 19-5 record under head coach Mike Fox.
• With 77 prior meetings, East Carolina is UNC’s most common non-conference opponent since the Tar Heels joined the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1953. Carolina has played Davidson 109 times, but many of those games came either prior to formal conference affiliation or when both schools were members of the Southern Conference.
• Carolina and ECU did not play in 2015. The Pirates swept a pair of games in 2014, winning 3-2 in Greenville and 1-0 in Chapel Hill. The win in Greenville was ECU’s first in the series in five years.
• The UNC-ECU series has been full of memorable moments in recent seasons. Fox’s first win as the head coach of North Carolina came against the Pirates in 1999, while the Tar Heels have faced ECU in NCAA tournament play four times since 2007, winning all four.
NORTH CAROLINA-ELON SERIES HISTORY• North Carolina is 35-9 all-time against Elon, including a 19-4 record under head coach Mike Fox.
• Carolina and Elon have played at least once in every season since 1998. Prior to 1998, the two programs hadn’t met in baseball since 1982.
• UNC won both meetings in 2015. The Tar Heels were 10-5 winners at Elon on March 31 before scoring a 14-2 victory in Chapel Hill on May 6.
• The Tar Heels have won 11 in a row over the Phoenix, including home-and-home sweeps in each of the last four seasons. Elon’s last win in the series came in 2010.
• This year marks the first time the teams are not scheduled to meet twice since 2011.
North Carolina Baseball
