UNC Baseball: 2014 Season Outlook
The dates and location UNC fans want to be still watching baseball through are Saturday, June 14th through Wednesday, June 25th in Omaha, Nebraska. Am I getting ahead of myself by listing the days and location of the College World Series in a pre-season preview piece? Some might say: maybe. I just consider it an ultimate goal. Let’s get it out there in the open. Let’s say, “this is where we want to be,” and go out and let the cards fall where they may—but keeping it mind the penultimate goal. On another note, go ahead and dump your significant other this Valentines Day because UNC plays Charleston February 14th.
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Head Coach Mike Fox brings his NCAA best .748 winning percentage into the season opener against Charleston, along with his 15 Tar Heel College World Series wins, in order to get the season started off on the right foot. The 2008 National Coach of the Year hopes other big wins over monsters like LSU, where the #1 seed Tar Heels knocked the 2009 champion out of last year’s College World Series in an elimination game. And, to be honest, I don’t think that’s going to be a problem for the veteran coach. Fox has seen his share of big wins and this year will be no different.
Last season ended with a sour taste in Tar Heel fans’ mouths. UNC came up short to UCLA in the semi-final round and the Bruins went on to the national championship. UCLA won it all, beating Mississippi State in a best-of-three round.
The worst part was Chapel Hill seemed like it had many chances to take away a victory in that final game against the Bruins. UNC loaded the bases not once, but twice against UCLA’s closer, David Berg, but couldn’t capitalize on the good fortune—only scoring once. The #1 seed Tar Heels didn’t leave Omaha with the championship in tow.
It’s important to focus on what worked and how to implement that for this upcoming season, as well as how to learn from bumps in the road in 2013. Mike Fox will bring his talent of maximizing player’s abilities to both the film room and the field. UNC will have to play their best when the stakes are most high.
Now, that means taking care of business this season and starting off on the right foot. Charleston will most likely have circled UNC on their calendars this off-season and will want to add a statement win to their schedule this year. This is their opportunity. It’s important that the Tar Heels comes out, looking crisp and looking to light up the scoreboard early and often. Mike Fox will have to get his team chomping at the bit to get out of the dugout and get their uniforms dirty.
And can we just talk about how the first 16 games of UNC’s baseball season are going to be played in Chapel Hill? That’s a major advantage for the Tar Heels, especially if we can fill the stadium to its 4,100 person capacity. This is a major chess move for Coach Fox. He knows UNC was the better team last season when they lost to UCLA. The squad’s confidence might have been a bit shaken coming out of last June. This scheduling will be a Godsend to the boys in Carolina Blue, helping to get them off on the right foot and out of the gates swinging.
The beginning of every season will be important, but especially to UNC, who looks to climb back up the mountain, come June. Chapel Hill has coaching and the schedule for a solid foundation. It’s up to the players to run with it from here.