UNC Baseball facing elimination versus Wright State

The UNC baseball program began NCAA Tournament play 0-1 on Friday versus the Iowa Hawkeyes and now will face elimination versus Wright State.

The UNC baseball program will have to do things the hard way if they wish to keep playing into the month of June and in the NCAA tournament. After their 5-4 loss to Iowa in the opening game, the Tar Heels are now 0-1 and must come through the loser’s bracket of regional play to advance, which means winning four straight games.

Carolina will face No. 4 seed Wright State today at 12:00 PM on ESPN+ in the first of what could be several, elimination games. So what do you need to know about the Raiders from the Horizon League?

Well, Wright State isn’t your typical No. 4 seed that some fans may expect to be an “easy” game. They have been to the NCAA baseball tournament three consecutive years and six times since 2015 (missed in 2017, and 2019 and there wasn’t a tournament in 2020). This is an experienced program that has been on the verge of upsetting great teams in the past.

Wright State, led No. 1 seed Indiana State 5-2 through five innings on Friday, and 5-3 going into the eighth inning before giving up three runs in the eighth and losing to the Sycamores 6-5. The Raiders only used two arms on Friday, with their starter throwing 108 pitches in 7.1 innings before turning to their bullpen for the final two outs of the eighth.

Starting center fielder for the Raiders Andrew Patrick is a sixth-year senior who brings plenty of experience to the Wright State team. He’s their leadoff man and hits .330 for the season. According to the Wright State sports information department is the first NCAA Division I player with 20-plus doubles (21), 20-plus homers (20), and 30-plus stolen bases (30) this season.

For the Tar Heels, once a team is in the elimination bracket, all hands are on deck, especially with the pitching staff. However, a great starting performance will be needed for the Tar Heels to help their bullpen recover as much as possible to set up well for a potential four-game run.

It hasn’t been announced officially at this time, but we expect Tar Heels ace pitcher Max Carlson to get the start. He’s 4-2 with a 5.97 ERA on the season. Carlson has gone seven innings or longer four times this season (versus East Carolina, Stony Brook, Georgia Tech, and NC State). Carolina could use another long outing from its junior pitcher to save the bullpen.

The Diamond Heels ultimately need to come ready to play from the first pitch against Wright State if they want to keep their season alive for another day. There can’t be any more struggles to get hits with runners on base or with runners in scoring position for the Tar Heels if they hope to keep playing. The schedule for the remaining regional schedule looks like this.

Saturday, June 3rd

Game 3: No. 3 North Carolina vs No. 4 Wright State 12:00 PM ET (Elimination Game)

Game 4: No. 1 Indiana State vs No. 2 Iowa 6:00 PM ET

Sunday, June 4th

Game 5: Winner of Game 3 vs Loser of Game 4 12:00 PM ET (Elimination Game)

Game 6: Winner of Game 4 vs Winner of Game 5 6:00 PM ET

Monday, June 5th

Game 7: If Necessary (TBD)

Do you think this UNC baseball team has what it takes to come out of the loser’s bracket in the Terre Haute Regional?

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