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Chapel Hill Super Regional: Schedule, preview, info and more

By Zack Pearson

Omaha, NE - JUNE 23: A general view of a bag of baseballs before the start of the game between the Virginia Cavaliers and the Vanderbilt Commodores during game two of the College World Series Championship Series on June 23, 2015 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images) Omaha, NE - JUNE 23: A general view of the away jersey of the Vanderbilt Commodores and the home jersey of the Virginia Cavaliers before the start of game two of the College World Series Championship Series on June 23, 2015 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images)
Omaha, NE - JUNE 23: A general view of a bag of baseballs before the start of the game between the Virginia Cavaliers and the Vanderbilt Commodores during game two of the College World Series Championship Series on June 23, 2015 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images) Omaha, NE - JUNE 23: A general view of the away jersey of the Vanderbilt Commodores and the home jersey of the Virginia Cavaliers before the start of game two of the College World Series Championship Series on June 23, 2015 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images) /
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We break down the Chapel Hill Super Regional between the North Carolina Tar Heels and Auburn Tigers this upcoming weekend

The North Carolina Tar Heels and Auburn Tigers will meet this weekend in the Chapel Hill Super Regional with a trip to the College World Series on the line. For the Diamond Heels, they are looking to return to Omaha and finish the job after winning their opening game against Oregon State last year before losing two-straight to be eliminated.

UNC has come a long way since the final two Atlantic Coast Conference series of the year. After losing series to both Pitt and N.C. State, the Diamond Heels rallied off four-straight wins to capture the ACC Tournament and then went 3-0 in the Chapel Hill Regional last weekend.

Now they are just two wins away from returning to Omaha but it won’t be easy.

Auburn enters this weekend’s series with an overall record of 36-25 including going 14-16 in the SEC. They swept the Atlanta Regional last weekend by going 3-0 including two wins over host Georgia Tech. The Tigers were powered by Steven Williams who went 6-of-13 in the regional with two home runs and 10 RBI to win the National Player of the Week award.

You look at Auburn’s record and see that they had 25 losses and were below .500 in conference play but they are a better team than that record indicates and they may have got hot at the right time. They were able to score four runs in the bottom of the ninth to win their opening game of the regional and then was able to maintain the success for the final two games.

In addition to Williams, Judd Ward  in the outfield is someone to watch. He’s really good defensively and solid at the plate. He slashed .288/.804/.397 for the season while driving in 31 runs. Infielder Edouard Julien leads the team with 48 RBI’s but is hitting just .239 on the season.

For the Tar Heels, it was their offense that got them this far.

UNC’s bats were alive during the Chapel Hill Regional as they scored a total of 28 runs in the three games. They scored 16 of those in a big win over Liberty. If the Tar Heels’ bats stay hot, they will be tough to beat this weekend.

As for pitching, the edge should go to UNC in this series. They will likely through Tyler Baum in Game 1 followed by Austin Bergner in Game 2.

Bergner is coming off a dominating performance against Tennessee on Sunday, throwing seven innings while striking out 8 batters and giving up just 4 hits. The performance came a week after he was chased early in the game by Miami in the ACC Tournament. If Bergner and Baum are on their game, it will go a long way for UNC’s chances especially if they can give it to the bullpen with a lead where Hansen Butler and Austin Love have been terrific.

Series schedule

Game 1:  Saturday, June 8th at Noon EST (ESPN2)

Game 2:  Sunday, June 9th at 11:30 a.m. EST (ESPN)

Game 3: Monday, June 10th at 1 p.m. EST (ESPN 2)

The winner of this weekend’s series in Chapel Hill will punch their ticket to Omaha for the College World Series which begins June 15th-26th. The final three-game series in Omaha will take place from June 24th-26th.

The Tar Heels are one of four ACC teams still left in the postseason tournament, joining No. 7 Louisville, Duke, and Florida State.

Next. Two Diamond Heels were named Freshman All-Americans. dark

For more on the Chapel Hill Super Regional, please check back with Keeping It Heel.

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