Keeping It Heel
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UNC Baseball: Diamond Heels host big series against Florida State

By Zack Pearson

WEST PALM BEACH, FL - MARCH 09: A ball sits on the field as the St. Louis Cardinals take batting practice before a spring training game against the Houston Astros at FITTEAM Ball Park of the Palm Beaches on March 9, 2018 in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
WEST PALM BEACH, FL - MARCH 09: A ball sits on the field as the St. Louis Cardinals take batting practice before a spring training game against the Houston Astros at FITTEAM Ball Park of the Palm Beaches on March 9, 2018 in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) /
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The Diamond Heels are hosting Florida State in a weekend series at the Bosh

After closing out last week with a series sweep over Pitt, the North Carolina Tar Heels baseball team continued their hot play. On Tuesday, UNC stayed hot by beating Maryland 13-2 at home to improve to 13-8 overall and extend their win streak to four games.

But now as the weekend approaches, the Tar Heels are hosting a very big series against an Atlantic Coast Conference Atlantic division opponent.

The Florida State Seminoles invade Chapel Hill with an 18-4 record but are just 3-3 in ACC play. sitting in third place behind NC State and Wake Forest. A series win would be big for the Seminoles as they hope to not fall too far behind.

For the Tar Heels, they are tied atop the Coastal Division with a 4-2 record with three of those wins against Pitt and one against Louisville.

UNC has struggled to stay consistent overall but this provides another chance for the Tar Heels to go on a big run and rally off some wins.

The two teams have met 102 times with Florida State holding a 68-34 lead in the series. Last year, the Tar Heels swept the three-game series at Florida State.

The original three-game series was scheduled for the weekend but with inclement weather expected, Saturday’s game has been moved to Friday. That means Friday’s session will be a double-header with the first game starting at 3 p.m. ET with the second starting 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first. 

Pitching matchups

Game 1: Tyler Baum (UNC) 3-0, 4.03 ERA, 34 K’s, 10 BB vs. Cole Sands (FSU) 4-1, 4.40 ERA, 34 K’s, 8 BB.

Game 2: Austin Bergner (UNC) 3-1, 4.43 ERA, 27 K’s, 11 BB vs. Drew Parrish (FSU) 2-0, 2.03 ERA, 36 K’s, 9 BB.

Game 3: Taylor Sugg (UNC) 2-0, 4.67 ERA, 16 K’s, 10 BB vs. Austin Pollock (FSU) 2-1, 3.09 EA, 20 K’s, 5 BB.

Keys to the series

  • Keep the bats going. The Tar Heels bats came alive against Pitt scoring 15 in Game 1 and 13 in Game 2. They followed that up with 13 runs against Maryland. Getting off to a big start on Friday by putting up early runs could be the difference.
  • Jump on FSU. UNC’s bullpen hasn’t allowed an earned run in their last 25 innings of work so jumping on FSU and grabbing the lead going into the final frames will be key. Turning it over to the bullpen and letting them go to work with a lead is ideal for the three-game series.
  • Bergner stays hot. In his last outing against Pitt on Saturday, Bergner set a career-high with 12 strikeouts. He has 27 strikeouts on the year and going in the middle game, his start is huge if the Tar Heels want to win the series.

How to watch

If you can’t be at the game and want to watch, the games will be streamed live on Watch ESPN beginning Friday. To follow along with live stats, check out the stats broadcast or follow the Diamond Heels official Twitter account.

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