Baseball at No. 1 North Carolina this Weekend
4/23/2009 8:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 23, 2009
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Playing arguably its best baseball of the season, with four wins in the last five games, including a victory against No. 27 George Mason Wednesday, the Terrapins will look to continue their hot play this weekend when they travel to Chapel Hill, N.C., to play the top-ranked team in the nation in the North Carolina Tar Heels.
Maryland (20-21, 6-15 ACC) took two of three games from Duke last weekend at Shipley Field before taking both midweek contests at home against La Salle and George Mason. The Terps have won three games in a row, tying their longest winning streak of the season.
Mike Murphy and A.J. Casario are the top hitters for the Terps. Murphy leads the teams in home runs (9), RBIs (35) and slugging percentage (.600). Murphy already ranks in Maryland's all-time top five in six offensive categories with the chance to improve his standing this weekend. Casario owns the team lead in batting average (.335), hits (52) and on-base percentage (.422).
Casario and Murphy will need to continue their hot hitting this weekend, as the top-ranked Tar Heels are a tall order. The Tar Heels are 32-11 and 13-7 in conference play. The 32 wins are tied for the most in the country. Kyle Seager and Dustin Ackley are the Nos. 1 and 3 hitters in the ACC, respectively. Seager is hitting .402 and Ackley comes in at .392.
The first game of the series begins at 7 p.m. Friday with Scott Swinson on the mound for Maryland against reigning ACC Pitcher of the Year Alex White. Swinson and White locked horns in last season's series opener at Shipley Field, with Swinson out-dueling White in a 4-2 Terps upset of then-No. 3 North Carolina.
Freshman southpaw Matt Fullerton gets the call for Maryland Saturday against Adam Warren of the Tar Heels. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.
The series finale is scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday with sophomore Brett Harman facing Matt Harvey. Harman ranks sixth in the ACC in strikeouts with 58.
North Carolina's pitching staff is arguably the most dominant in college baseball. Tar Heels pitching has combined for 438 strikeouts, the most in the country and 50 more than the next-closest ACC team.
Live radio coverage of all Maryland baseball games is available free on the Internet at WMUCSports.com.
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