Tar Heels-Wolfpack Win -Legion Loses

North Carolina playing their first baseball game as the top seed in the NCAA Tournament ever wins their opening night game 6-3.  Mike Fox elected like many coaches to hold his best pitcher for the winners bracket game Saturday night  didn't quite get five innings from his second best pitcher Benton Moss but the Heels win and advance to the winners bracket in their Region and play Towson a surprise winner over Florida Atlantic at 6pm Saturday night..

Over in Raleigh State scored all they would need in the first inning scoring twice but Binghamton didn't fold under the pressure and gave the Pack a game before faltering 4-1.  Elliot Avent has his big horse Carlos Rodon set to pitch the winners bracket game and they will play William and Mary who shocked Mississippi who held their top pitcher  to play in the winners bracket game but now must pitch in the lose and go home game against Binghamton.  State and William and Mary play at 7pm

The ACC went 5-3  on the day.  Virginia Tech was one of the three losses losing at home an will play in the the losers bracket on their home field Saturday afternoon.  Georgia Tech and Clemson will be playing to extend their baseball seasons in loser bracket games .  Florida State, Miami and Virginia  also will be playing in the winners bracket games in their Regional Saturday night.  The other two North Carolina teams playing in this year's NCAA Tournament played each other and Elon Beat UNC W 10-7.  Elon draws Virginia Saturday night while UNCW plays Army in the Virginia Region losers bracket game.

I don't care what sport it is these days there are no such games that are blow outs any more.  There have been times when a #1 seed would ten run rule a #4 seed but there were very few high scoring games in the NCAA Tournament.  Carolina won 6-3 and State won 4-1 but there were moments in each where fans we uncomfortable with the tightness of the games.  Seems like everybody has at least one good starting pitching  and if that one guy is on  any body can lose.  Let's see as we get to Sunday and see if the scores don't start going up as the pitching for the weekend begins to run low.

I heard that Post 58 was scrambling to get enough players to suit up tonight as a couple of high school graduations depleted the Post 58 roster.  Post 58 lost 13-1 in Garner to lose their first game of the season.  They play again Saturday afternoon in Garner.

State-Carolina Get It Going Today

The Pack and Heels start  their quest to make it to Omaha today when the NCAA Regional baseball tournaments begin all across the country and two in the Triangle.  Carolina as the top seed in the Tournament opens at 6pm against Canisius while State begins play against Bingham at 7.  So two New York schools come south neither carrying much of a resume's to put fear in the hearts of Pack and Heel fans.

This is the first playoff game ever for Canisius who comes into this Chapel Hill tournament 41-15 and an RPI of 90.  Last week Carolina played four games in winning the ACC tournament and all for teams RPI rankings don't add up to 90.  N C State may not be happy making the top 8 in the field but they open against Bingham making their second NCAA appearance and an RPI of 171.  State has only played two teams all year that have a higher RPI than Bingham.

There is no reason to feel that these two games today should be any more than a good practice for both teams but  in sports no one makes tackles for you in football, no one puts it in the basket for you in basketball and no one can hit it for you in baseball they both have to earn their way to the winners bracket of their tournaments.

If you would like to go to either Chapel Hill or Raleigh this weekend here is how it works .  Both school have been selling an all games package all week and there is a chance of it taking seven games if the winners bracket team loses once.  If you would like to go to a single game be at the park sometime before the game you want to see and they will be selling single game tickets.  They clear the stadium out after every game including people who have tickets for all games and then let people back in.  Those that bought the entire package will be sitting between the dugouts and the single tickets are where ever you seat is at the time you bought it.

Coleman Pitt Post 58 begins a five games in five days tonight in Garner.  The fifth game is a home game Tuesday night at Legion Field.  If you have followed Legion Hank Jones will play any body the first couple of weeks not really caring about wins and losses only looking to see who he can count on once conference starts.