Football Preview

The 2013 College Football Preview magazines have started coming out and I have read as many as possible from cover to cover. The first one I started with was the ACC Sports Journal. Normally I do not really "scout" the other teams in the ACC but with new additions Pittsburgh (Coastal Division) and Syracuse (Atlantic Division) joining the ACC, I decided it was a good idea to try to familiarize myself with them. The second magazine I bought was the Inside Carolina: 2013 Football Preview. That one is all about the North Carolina Tarheels and gives a position-by-position breakdown by the Tarheel "experts." I also by the special Recruits edition by Inside Carolina. Reading the fall camp reports everyday online and seeing the pics, especially of the Freshmen, is always exciting to me because you never can tell when a Gio Bernard or a Julius Peppers is going to emerge.

The Game Of His Life

Hobbs Johnson did what he had to do. He pitched the game of his life against NC State, leading the Tarheels to a 7-0 victory. He pitched a career best 8 1/3 innings, throwing 132 pitches, all of them fastballs. He gave up 5 hits, 0 runs, struck out 6, and walked 2. Reliever Chris McCue came in to get the final two outs on three pitches. Shortstop Michael Russell drove in the 'Heels first run with a sacrifice fly in the top of the 4th inning and two more in the 8th inning, helping the 'Heels to close the door with a four run 8th. Colin Moran went 3 for 4 with 2 RBI's. The Tarheels as a team had six RBI's with two outs. That is the kind of clutch hitting and pitching the 'Heels need to finish out the tournament and bring the College World Series trophy home. UCLA is up next.

Staying Alive

To use the Bee Gees song from the disco era from the 1970's the Tarheels stayed alive in the losers bracket of the College World Series with a 4-2 win over LSU the other day. Their reward is a rematch with the NC State Wolfpack who gave them an 8-1 thumping in the opening game of the College World Series for the Tarheels. Whenever you are in the losers bracket, that is the key is staying alive whether it be winning big, winning close, or winning ugly. The Tarheels are rolling out Hobbs Johnson to start this game but the entire pitching staff will be on call. If the Tarheels are to close out the World Series, they will be playing 6 games in 7 days. That puts a lot of stress on a pitching staff and some of the Tarheels starters are going to have to come up with some big performances.

The College World Series

The Tarheels made it to their sixth College World Series in the past eight seasons with their 5-4 win over South Carolina in the Super Regionals. The 'Heels go in as the #1 overall seed but they play ACC rival N.C. State in game #1. In Baseball America's college baseball preview edition, there is a picture of two players from N.C. State and two from North Carolina (Kent Emanuel and Colin Moran) under the caption "Tobacco Road To Omaha". This showdown was predicted from the beginning of the season but rarely do these predictions ever come to fruition. N.C. State is rolling out their ace, left-hander Carlos Rodon, who only gave up one hit in 10 innings in the ACC Tournament to the 'Heels. North Carolina is sending out a lefty of their own, Kent Emanuel, who has struggled in his past two or three starts but did earn his first and only college save against South Carolina. The conjecture on the street is that Emanuel's arm is tired but he has plenty of time to rest after the College World Series is over.

Canisius And Towson

The North Carolina Tarheels won their first two games in the NCAA Tournament over Canisius and Towson 6-3 and 8-5 respectively and most of the media reports that I read acted with surprise the the 'Heels didn't blow both of these schools out. Even Coach Mike Fox admitted after the first game that the 'Heels about ran themselves out of that game by being over aggressive on the basepaths with two runners being thrown out at the plate. The 'Heels take on the winner of the Towson-Florida Atlantic game on Sunday and all they need is one more win to advance to the Super Regional. #2 seed Florida Atlantic is the team that worries me as I had them picked as the sleeper team in the tournament.

2013 ACC Baseball Tournament Champions

The Diamond 'Heels 4-1 victory over Virginia Tech to win the ACC Baseball Tournament was anticlimactic after the two games versus Clemson and NC State. They were able to roll the Championship into a #1 National seed in the NCAA tournament. Freshman Taylore Cherry went 5 innings for the victory in his first start of the seasdon as he fired fastball after fastball at the Hokies. 80 of his 90 pitches were fastballs, and you have to stick with what is working. That put the 'Heels record at 52-8 going into the NCAA's. That was the 'Heels first ACC Tournament Championship since 2007.

Two Epic College Baseball Games

The Diamond Tarheels won two epic baseball games to put themselves into the ACC Tournament game against Virginia Tech. The games lasted a total of 32 innings against two quality opponents, Clemson and North Carolina State. The 'Heels beat Clemson Friday night 12-7, scoring 5 runs in the 9th and 5 in the 14th to win it. The 'Heels beat NC State 2-1 in an ACC record 18 innings on Saturday (make that early Sunday morning) to put themselves in the ACC Tournament final. The 'Heels only managed one hit against NC State ace Carlos Rodon in the first 10 innings but still hung tough to squeeze out the win. The 'Heels also won the ACC regular season title for the first time in 23 years this season. That stat really kind of surprised me. As many College World Series as they have been in the past several years, they had not won a regular season title until this season. Maybe that is a sign of good things to come.