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Maryland plays North Carolina to close out their portion of pool play. With UNC losing to Virginia last night, tomorrow's game is "meaningless" as the Terps have secured a spot in Sunday's championship game. But beating North Carolina is always fun, so why not? During the regular season the Tar Heels were 32 - 23 overall, 15 - 15 in ACC games. They needed to beat NC State on Tuesday in a play-in game for pool play, which they did 4 - 3. On Wednesday FSU tattooed UNC 7 - 1, and tonight the Wahoos beat them 3 - 2.
It's been a tale of two seasons for UNC. They started 2014 ranked #11 nationally and were thought to have a reasonable chance of returning to the the CWS. After starting the season 1 - 3 the Heels won nine of their next 10 games. Then UNC traveled to Shipley Field where they took two of three from the Terrapins. That turned out to be the high point of their season as they quickly fell from grace. Bats that had been alive were rendered dormant. With an RPI around 40 UNC found itself on the bubble for an NCAA bid.
One batter who has remained on fire is SS Michael Russell. He's hitting .341 with 19 doubles, two triples and four home runs. But Russell injured his back in Wednesday's game against FSU and has not played since. Landon Lassiter, Wood Myers, and Tyler Ramirez are having respectable years. But Skye Bolt was plagued by the sophomore slump and Korey Dunbar has had a disappointing season.
The starting pitchers are Zach Morris (2 - 1, 2.50 ERA) vs. RHP Zac Gallen (5 - 4, 4.30 ERA).
Regardless of how the Tar Heels fare against the Terps, they're likely still in the NCAA tournament. But wouldn't it be nice if a Terrapin win does indeed turn out to be the nail in UNC's coffin?