The Diamond Tarheels Opening Series

The North Carolina Tarheels Baseball team opened up the season with a three-game sweep of Seton Hall. Pitching is going to be the Tarheels strength this season and that was proven in the sweep of Seton Hall.

Senior Benton Moss got his 20th win as a Tarheel, Reliever Spencer Trayner got a win in relief with 2 2/3 scoreless innings behind starter Trent Thornton, and Freshman starter J.B. Bukauskas picked up his first win as a Tarheel with 5 innings and only giving up one unearned run. Bukauskas was a 20th Round Draft Pick of the Arizona Diamondbacks in spite of his request that he be taken off Major league Draft Boards because of his desire to be a Tarheel. He was still drafted on the strength of his Fastball that can run up to 98 MPH.

The offensive standouts against Seton Hall were Adrian Chacon with 6 hits in the series, Joe Dudek with a Homerun and 4 RBI's, and Tyler Ramirez had a Homerun and 6 RBI's. The Tarheels batted .327 in the three games and had a 2.67 team ERA.

Pulling Out The Brooms

The Diamond Heels have not had a great season like they have in the past several years and might just be on the bubble for making the NCAA tournament. A weekend sweep of the Virginia Tech Hokies and a strong finish I believe will carry them through. All three were very close games, 3-2, 6-4, 5-4, as were the previous weeks games against #1 Virginia where they lost 2 of 3. The Diamond 'Heels have a much different team this year. They have to manufacture more runs and keep the pressure on the other teams defense. The pitching has been solid with a team ERA of 2.83 with Trent Thornton being the ace of the staff with a 7-2 record and a 1.85 ERA in 11 starts. On offense, there has been a power shortage on the 'Heels as Michael Russell and Tom Zengel lead the team with 4 Homeruns a piece. Russell also leads the team with a .352 Batting Average and is tied for the team lead in RBI's with 28 with Zengel so he is shooting for the Tarheel Triple Crown.