#6 UNC Tarholes (23-4, 7-2 ACC) vs. #16 Clemson Tigers (14-9, 4-5 ACC) in Chapel Hell.
North Carolina, who has won six ACC games in a row, sports a 15-1 home record in 2011, this will not be an easy series. UNC couldn't hit for shit last year and their pitching was hit/miss for parts of the year when I expected them to be dominant on the mound again. They've fixed all that so far. Their schedule so far may not be the toughest but VT is a good baseball team and they swept them. I think they're going to give UVA all they can handle in a few weeks. Right now I'm not optimistic at all about this series for us, especially Saturday against the lefty, but at least we got some guys back from injury this week as Hinson and Miller have returned. With them in the lineup we can possibly take 2 of these games.
Clemson AD Series Preview -- UNC AD series preview
The Tar Heels hold a 38-36 lead all-time in games played at North Carolina, while Clemson has a 76-59 advantage in ACC regular-season games. Jack has a 31-22 record against the Tar Heels as Clemson's head coach, including a 13-8 record at Boshamer Stadium. Mike Fox is 18-18 against Clemson.
Last Week:
Clemson defeated UGA 11-5 in midweek play, after losing 2 of 3 at NC State. UNC had a 9 game winning streak snapped by Charlotte 4-3 this week. They swept Duke and a pretty good Virginia Tech over the last month.
Weekend Starters:
Friday, 7pm:
Throws | Player | Rec | ERA | IP | H | R | ER | BB | Ks |
R | Patrick Johnson | 5-0 | 2.58 | 38.1 | 37 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 33 |
R | Scott Weismann | 2-3 | 6.52 | 29 | 37 | 23 | 21 | 8 | 16 |
Saturday, 2pm:
Throws | Player | Rec | ERA | IP | H | R | ER | BB | Ks |
L | Kent Emanuel | 4-1 | 2.04 | 35.1 | 21 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 36 |
R | Dominic Leone | 0-1 | 7.00 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 11 |
Sunday, 1pm:
Throws | Player | Rec | ERA | IP | H | R | ER | BB | Ks |
TBA | |||||||||
R | Scott Firth | 2-0 | 3.10 | 20.1 | 15 | 12 | 7 | 11 | 13 |
Game 3 will likely be Munnely, Stiles or Morin for UNC.
Hitting Comparison
BA | SLG | H | R | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | HBP | SB-ATT | ||
Clemson | .318 | .452 | 245 | 176 | 46 | 6 | 15 | 155 | 128 | 25 | 34/43 | |
UNC | .308 | .469 | 287 | 215 | 58 | 14 | 21 | 200 | 149 | 22 | 39/49 |
North Carolina is averaging 8.0 runs per game and hitting .308 with a .468 slugging percentage and .409 on-base percentage. Freshman 3B Colin Moran was named National Player of the Week by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper on Monday after hitting .529 with 4 HR and 13 RBI in 5 wins. He currently leads the ACC in RBI (35) and walks (24).
Going through their lineup statistically, its pretty good, even the bench is hitting over .300 for the most part. They're also fairly patient like us.
Pos | Player | BA | R | H | 2B | HR | RBI | BB |
CF | Ben Bunting | .285 | 29 | 35 | 3 | 1 | 17 | 10 |
SS | Tommy Coyle | .357 | 29 | 41 | 10 | 1 | 21 | 14 |
2B | Levi Michael | .304 | 20 | 28 | 5 | 2 | 23 | 19 |
C | Jacob Stallings | .309 | 25 | 29 | 8 | 2 | 20 | 21 |
3B | Colin Moran | .362 | 23 | 34 | 9 | 5 | 35 | 24 |
1B | Jesse Wierzbicki | .358 | 23 | 34 | 6 | 5 | 24 | 12 |
LF | Chaz Frank | .305 | 21 | 25 | 4 | 0 | 13 | 17 |
2B/DH | Brian Holberton | .324 | 7 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 4 |
RF | Seth Baldwin | .265 | 12 | 18 | 5 | 2 | 12 | 12 |
Pos | Player | BA | R | H | 2B | HR | RBI | BB |
3B/2B | John Hinson | .286 | 19 | 22 | 5 | 2 | 12 | 8 |
LF | Jeff Schaus | .286 | 12 | 24 | 9 | 0 | 20 | 16 |
RF/DH | Phil Pohl | .433 | 15 | 26 | 8 | 2 | 16 | 7 |
1B/3B | Richie Shaffer | .312 | 27 | 24 | 2 | 4 | 18 | 20 |
DH | Brad Miller | .333 | 15 | 16 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 20 |
C | Spencer Kieboom | .458 | 11 | 27 | 3 | 0 | 16 | 10 |
RF/CF | Chris Epps | .296 | 24 | 24 | 2 | 5 | 16 | 16 |
SS | Jason Stolz | .306 | 12 | 22 | 6 | 0 | 13 | 6 |
2B | Steve Wilkerson | .161 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
CF/P | x-Will Lamb | .271 | 15 | 23 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 7 |
Kieboom leads the ACC with that .458 batting average along with a .539 on-base percentage, while Pohl is second in the ACC with a .433 batting average along with eight doubles, two homers, and a .514 on-base percentage.
Team Pitching
ERA | W-L | SHO/CBO | Saves | IP | H | R | ER | BB | Ks | ||
Clemson | 3.59 | 14-9 | 1/1 | 3 | 203.0 | 187 | 96 | 81 | 62 | 179 | |
UNC | 3.17 | 23-4 | 2/2 | 8 | 244.0 | 201 | 94 | 86 | 90 | 254 |
Last year UNC had the arms but not alot of depth out there, and they really hit very bad. This year the pitching was a question mark but Mike Fox replenished his losses pretty well and they've been a strength. The biggest issue is the 3rd starter. With the hitting picking up, so have the Ws. UNC's staff is a bit like SC's, in that Fox lets them go deep in games and they go for the K. Right now they strike out 9.5 per game and rank 3rd in the ACC with 99Ks. Sophomore righthander Cody Penny has five of the team's eight saves and 15 strikeouts in 12.0 innings pitched over 12 relief appearances. Greg Holt has 2 SV in 23IP with 28Ks.
I'm not ready to stay our pen is doing much better yet.
North Carolina is fielding at a .980 clip, good for 2nd in the ACC and 9th nationally; Clemson has a .961.