Heels say playing at home will help

Coach Mike Fox of North Carolina said he's not concerned that his team is struggling a bit heading into the NCAA Division I baseball tournament, which is scheduled to start on Friday with regional play at Boshamer Stadium.

The Tar Heels lost two of three games in last week's ACC Tournament, scored only four runs in the losses and didn't reach the title game. They have a 5-5 record in their past 10 games, although they are 42-16 overall and are the No. 4 seed in the nation.

"I don't think it really matters," Fox said. "I just don't think it's a predictor of who's hot and who's not. Baseball's a little different game in that regard. I think it's how focused and how in tune we are starting Friday.

"I don't think we're playing our best, but I don't think we're playing bad baseball, either."

North Carolina will begin the regional on Friday at 6 p.m. against Dartmouth, the Ivy League champion. Coastal Carolina and Kansas will play in the opening game at 2.

Right fielder Garrett Gore said he was disappointed by North Carolina's performance in the ACC Tournament, which was played in nearby Durham, but added that he's not worried, either.

"I don't know about ‘struggling;' I don't know if that's the word I'd use," Gore said. "Maybe we're just a little down, but this is the time of year we pick it up.

"I think the last three years, in two of the years we've been absolutely pathetic in the ACC Tournament and we wound up doing pretty good. I'm really not too worried about the last 10 games."

Fox said he's confident that his veterans will be sharp and focused. Gore and Adam Warren, a right-handed pitcher, have played in three consecutive College World Series in Omaha, Neb., and two national-championship rounds in 2007 and 2006. Four starters other than Gore have played in the past two College World Series and the 2007 national-championship round.

The only players on the team who haven't had a season end in Omaha are the freshmen.

Dustin Ackley, a junior first baseman from Walnut Cove, said that the team has a sense of urgency now, knowing that the next two defeats in double-elimination play end the season, which was heightened by last week's ACC Tournament performance.

"It's pretty much you win or you go home," Ackley said. "Maybe we didn't play our best baseball the last couple of games, but I feel like as a team we're going to be ready to play this week regardless of what happened last week. I think we're about to play our best baseball."

Playing at home could be crucial to the Tar Heels' chances of reaching a fourth consecutive College World Series. They are 31-7 in Boshamer this season. They have a 13-1 record at home in the past three seasons in three regionals and two Super Regionals.

North Carolina hasn't lost at home in nine regional games in the past three seasons and has outscored opponents by an average of six runs a game. Gore said you can't discount the advantage that North Carolina has by playing at home.

"It's good because I get to sleep in my own bed," Gore said. "It comes with a lot of little things that you don't notice. When you're on the road, it kind of takes a toll on you when you have to get on the bus and do all this other stuff. When you're at home you get to relax a little bit more."

Staying at home isn't the only factor, according to Fox. His 2009 team differs from the 2008 team. Last season's team packed more wallop in the middle of the lineup and could score three or four runs in any inning.

This team has to fight a little harder to win, in Fox's opinion.

"We're going to have to play at a very high level," Fox said. "We can't make mistakes defensively. We can't make base-running mistakes. We've got to take advantage if the other team opens the door for us. We've got to get some two-out and two-strike hits and move the ball.

"If nothing else, we've got to be able to move the ball with a runner at second and no outs. We can't punch out in that regard. If that happens, we're going to have a difficult time. And if we don't score runs early, we can't fret about it. When we score first our record's pretty good, but that's a mental thing more than anything else."

Matt Harvey, a sophomore right-hander, will be North Carolina's opening-game pitcher. Harvey is 6-2 with an ERA of 5.60, but has pitched effectively in the past three weeks, according to Fox. Harvey was North Carolina's opening-game pitcher in regional play last season.

Dartmouth played one game this season against a top-25 team. North Carolina played 12 games this season against teams that are top NCAA Tournament seeds. Harvey said that his arm is not fatigued and that he understands that Dartmouth will likely see a quality of pitching in the regional that it hasn't faced most of the season.

"I'd like to hope they're scared," Harvey said. "I'm going to go out there and do as best as I can and try and make them scared in the (batter's) box."

■ Bill Cole can be reached at bcole@wsjournal.com.