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SCS.com The #2 overall seed North Carolina Tar Heels and the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers headline this section of the Division I NCAA Baseball Tournament. The Tar Heels are hosting UNC-Wilmington, Elon, and Mount St. Mary�s in Cary, North Carolina, while the Chanticleers are hosting East Carolina, Alabama, and Columbia in Conway, South Carolina. The Carolinas have seen their fair share of regionals in past years; however, the fans should be in for a treat with high-caliber teams venturing into the Carolina Region. The North Carolina State Toast is the �Tar Heel Toast� and the Tar Heels look to be the toast of these two regional brackets. The Chanticleers will have to be on the lookout from the attacks of Pirates or the Tide rolling in; either way, it will be rough waters for Coastal Carolina this weekend.

CARY REGIONAL
vs Conway Regional

The Field

(1) North Carolina [National #2]

Record: 46-12. Bid: ACC At-large. The two-time National Runner-Up Tar Heels have been at the top of the ranks all season. Last week in the ACC tournament, they seemed to just get through the weekend after losing the opening day to Virginia and will be ready for regional action.
(2) UNC-Wilmington

Record: 42-15. Bid: Colonial At-large. The Colonial Regular Season Champion Seahawks went 1-2 last weekend in the conference tournament. They have been ranked for most of the season and could cause problems in this regional as they put up lots of runs.
(3) Elon

Record: 43-16. Bid: SoCon Champs. The Phoenix pulled off the double play this season in the Southern Conference by winning the regular season and conference tournament titles. They have been in regionals before; therefore, they will not be awestruck on Friday.
(4) Mount St. Mary�s

Record: 21-32 Bid: Northeast Champs. The Mountaineers reeled off four straight victories after losing the opening game to top-seeded Monmouth to take the Northeast Conference Tournament Championship last weekend. They will be excited about being there and any victory would make their weekend.

The Venue

Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill usually gets the most attention in middle North Carolina but the town of Cary has started making a name for itself. Since 2002, the town has been home of USA Baseball. The USA National Training Complex has served as the Tar Heels home field this season while a new stadium is being built on campus. The complex has a stadium field and three training fields. The stadium dimensions are 330 down the lines and 400 to straight-away center. Seating capacity is around 2,000 and the stands will be packed this weekend.

The Best

Starting Pitcher � Alex White, North Carolina - White has a 2.86 ERA with an 8-3 record. He has started 12 games in 14 appearances while only giving up four homeruns and striking out 87 in 72 1/3 innings pitched.
Runner-up: Bradley Holt, UNCW (10-1, 3.30 ERA, 92 Ks)

Relief Pitcher � Rob Wooten, North Carolina - Wooten only has three saves because UNC has not been in many close games; however, his 1.82 ERA in 42 1/3 innings is quite remarkable.
Runner-up: Thomas Girdwood, Elon (5-1, 2.52 ERA, 9 saves)

Infielder � Dustin Ackley, North Carolina - What more can one say about Ackley? He is Mr. Do-It-All for UNC by leading off, hitting .399, and stealing 18 bases on the season. He sets the table for the rest of the lineup and has only made one error at first base.
Runner-up: Nate Hall, UNCW (.349, 13 HRs, 63 RBI)

Outfielder � Jason Appel, UNCW - All the senior Appel has done is hit .405 with five homeruns and 21 stolen bases. Like Ackley, Appel sets the table for the rest of the Seahawks.
Runner-up: Tim Fedroff, North Carolina (.383, 12 HRs, 59 RBI)

Homerun Hitter � Mark Carver, UNCW - Carver has the most homeruns (21), which is over half of the number that Mount St. Mary�s has hit on the season (40). The Seahawks will need him to hit the long ball with runners on base to have those big momentum swings (pun intended).
Runner-up: Josh Vittek, Mt. St. Mary�s (.366, 19 HRs, 62 RBI)

Coach � Mike Fox, North Carolina - Coach Fox has been through this before and will have his team focused on getting back to the title game again this year. At least Oregon State is not in the field of 64 this season; therefore, they may have a should of hoisting the title in June.
Runner-up: Mark Scalf, UNCW

The Forecast

North Carolina is the class of the Cary Regional. Their stellar pitching coupled with their offensive explosions should put them in position to do very well this weekend. The Seahawks need to play errorless baseball (they have 88 on the season) in order to give the Tar Heels a run for their money. The Phoenix have been known to pull off an upset in a regional. They did split two games with UNCW and knocked off UNC 2-0 in Cary earlier this year. Mount St. Mary�s will have to play way above the bar just like they did last week in taking the tournament championship as the lowest seed in their four team tournament.

The Predictions

Eddie Jason Jimmy Jonathan

North Carolina North Carolina North Carolina North Carolina

CONWAY REGIONAL
vs Cary Regional

The Field

(1) Coastal Carolina

Record: 47-12. Bid: Big South Champs. The Chanticleers have dominated the Big South this season and it showed last weekend in the conference tournament as they only lost once. All their hard work has paid off with the host and #1 seed; however, they cannot relax in a tough regional.
(2) East Carolina

Record: 40-19. Bid: Conf USA At-large. The Pirates were in the top half of the conference and have even been ranked during the year. They did send Rice packing in the loser�s bracket game last Friday. The Pirates are resilient and should be up to the challenge in Conway.
(3) Alabama

Record: 34-26. Bid: SEC At-large. The Crimson Tide turned it on late in the season and reached the SEC semi-finals, knocking off top-seed Georgia and fifth-seeded Kentucky before losing to eventual champ LSU. The pitching has been suspect but the offense has done enough to overcome it. They will need to keep the hot bats if they want to win this region.
(4) Columbia

Record: 22-28. Bid: Ivy Champs. The Lions captured the first bid in the tournament way back on May 7th. They did get swept last weekend by the Patriot League Champion Bucknell Bison. That does not bode well for the Lions but maybe they have gotten the losses out of their system.

The Venue

Temporary seating will be brought into Charles L. Watson/Vrooman Field to accommodate the 1,500 seat requirement for a regional. Renovations have been made to the stadium in recent years, including a new locker room and lounge, resurfaced infield, new outfield wall, and new scoreboard in right field. �Tree City USA� will be buzzing with excitement as Conway hosts a regional for the second straight year.

The Best

Starting Pitcher � Seth Maness, East Carolina - Maness has amassed a 9-1 record while posting a 2.87 ERA in 14 starts. He has given up 29 earned runs and struck out 77 in 91 innings pitched.
Runner-up: Bobby Gagg, Coastal Carolina (6-2, 2.92 ERA, 49 Ks)

Relief Pitcher � Pete Andrelczyk, Coastal Carolina - Nine saves, half of the team�s saves, in 28 appearances for the Chanticleers. He has allowed 16 earned runs in 42 2/3 innings while striking out 50.
Runner-up: Josh Ruhlman, East Carolina (4-3, 2.48, 2 saves)

Infielder � Scott Woodward, Coastal Carolina - Woodward leads the team with 40 stolen bases. He is hitting .357 with seven homeruns. Lead off hitting is important and the freshman Woodward has been up to the task all season.
Runner-up: Brandon May, Alabama (.377, 9 HRs, 49 RBI)

Outfielder � Harrison Eldridge, East Carolina - Swiping 32 bases this season, Eldridge leads the Pirates in batting average at .355. A recurring theme with these schools but getting on and moving over is huge in the post-season. Eldridge can certainly hold his own.
Runner-up: Adam Rice, Coastal Carolina (.351, 8 HRs, 41 RBI)

Homerun Hitter � Alex Avila, Alabama - No one in this regional has a better opportunity to hit a game changing homerun than Avila (17 HRs on the season). He has enjoyed the limelight and will certainly provide a game changing moment if the Tide has hopes of winning the regional.
Runner-up: Dock Doyle, Coastal Carolina (.365, 16 HRs, 65 RBI)

Coach � Gary Gilmore, Coastal Carolina - Coach Gilmore enters into his seventh NCAA tournament at his alma mater. He has led the Chanticleers to two straight regional hosts and eight 40+ win seasons in 13 years. The next step: Super Regional.
Runner-up: Jim Wells, Alabama

The Forecast

The Chanticleers have won nearly 75 percent of its games at home and will need three or four to move on to the Super Regional. East Carolina and Alabama pose the most danger for the host squad; however, one of those teams will have a loss on day one as they meet on Friday. Columbia should enjoy the trip and experience of participating in a regional. Do not look for them to impede on the top three battling it out on the weekend. Alabama will need to overcome some suspect pitching numbers, while East Carolina will have to continue with the slow and steady pace to win the race.

The Predictions

Eddie Jason Jimmy Jonathan

Coastal Carolina Alabama Alabama Coastal Carolina

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