NO. 1 UM VS. NO. 2 NORTH CAROLINA
• When: 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday; 1 p.m. Saturday.• Where: Mark Light Field in Coral Gables.• Admission: Friday and Saturday games are sold out. About 200 tickets remain for Thursday's game ($16 reserved; $9 for general admission; $7 for seniors andchildren 17 and younger).• TV: Thursday and Friday, CSS; Saturday, FSNF, Sun Sports and Comcast Sports Network.• Radio: WQAM (560 AM) and WVUM (90.5 FM);Spanish WWWK (102.5 FM) and WPIK (104.5 FM).• Tickets: 1-800-GO-CANES or www.hurricanesports.com.Of 296 Division I college baseball teams, few will ever be ranked No. 1.
Of those, fewer will take on No. 2.
Lucky Hurricanes.
At 7 p.m. Thursday, top-ranked Miami will play the second-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels at Mark Light Field in the first game of the final regular-season series.
It will be the second time since late April that the Hurricanes play a No. 2 team. Last month, UM defeated then-No. 2 Florida State in two of three games in an emotional series in Tallahassee that nearly escalated to fisticuffs.
This series should be equally hot, minus the emotional baggage carried by archrivals UM and FSU.
''It's going to be awesome!'' said UM pitcher Eric Erickson, who will start Friday night's sold-out game. Left-handed freshman Chris Hernandez (9-0, 2.70 ERA) will start against UNC's right-handed ace Alex White (8-2, 2.36) in the opener.
Erickson said the only way this three-game series could be ''cooler'' is if it were played in Yankee Stadium.
''But I'm glad it's home,'' Erickson added with a grin.
With two victories against UNC, the Canes (42-6, 22-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) would win their first ACC regular-season title since joining the league in 2005, and they would be guaranteed the No. 1 seed in the ACC tournament, which begins Wednesday in Jacksonville.
One victory would assure Miami of the ACC's Coastal Division crown and, at minimum, a No. 2 seeding in the ACC tournament.
RECENT DOMINANCE
Not that anybody thinks even one victory is assured.
The Tar Heels (43-9, 20-6) are College World Series runners-up to Oregon State the past two seasons. They have won four of the past five series against Miami, including a sweep in Chapel Hill last season and two of three in Coral Gables in 2004 and '06. UNC has the No. 1 pitching staff in the country, with a team ERA of 2.30. UM's ERA, ranked 23rd, is 3.80.
Last season, White held Miami to five hits and no earned runs with seven strikeouts in UNC's 3-1 victory.
''This year is different,'' said White, a sophomore with a razor-sharp fastball and slider. ``They're all great hitters. My biggest thing is to limit the damage and give our team a chance to score some runs.''
White's coach, Mike Fox, said he expects a ''really fun, really exciting'' series.
''I think the key is to try and prevent the big inning,'' Fox said. ``If we give up a big inning, we're going to have a difficult time winning. They're so explosive. . . .
``We never expected to have the kind of pitching numbers we have to this point. I hope that continues, but you keep kind of waiting for it not to. We've been able to accomplish a lot more than we thought on the mound.''
The UM hitters, nine of whom are hitting above .300, will do their best to rattle White and UNC. The Tar Heels' top reliever, Rob Wooten, is 5-1 with a 0.63 ERA.
''I'm excited,'' said UM coach Jim Morris, who has led the Hurricanes to the College World Series in 10 of his 14 seasons -- more than any other coach since his first UM season in 1994. ``I told our guys this is the reason they came to Miami, to play in series like this. On paper, you would think these would be low scoring games and would come down to the end. But you never know in baseball. They hit line drives, or we hit a couple of bloopers that fall in, and that could be the difference.
``But if we don't win every game it's not the end of the world.''
Morris' goal now is to be seeded No. 1 of eight national seeds in the NCAA field of 64. For that reason, he said, it's more helpful to play this final series against a great team -- as opposed to a mediocre one.
''It gets you prepared for the ACC and NCAA tournaments,'' Morris said. ``The pressure and the challenge makes you that much better.''
WILD ATMOSPHERE
Expect a wild, wacky crowd this weekend at The Light, with temporary bleachers installed down the right-field line and the always-feisty UM fans offering plenty of moral support for the home team.
''I love when the crowd goes crazy,'' Hernandez said. ``I don't get nervous at all. The louder, the better.''
This will be only the second time UNC has played in a 1-vs.-2 matchup during the regular season. Last year, the Tar Heels lost two of three at No. 1 Florida State in late April.
Said UM center fielder Blake Tekotte: ``No. 1 vs. 2 -- it's a great challenge to see what we're made of.''
