Technically, they classified it as baseball, of course. And never let it be said that North Carolina's fine nine cannot cope with the heat, even the kind of heat normally associated with tanning booths and two-a-day football drills.

With temperatures approaching the just-plain-ridiculous level Saturday at the USA Baseball Training Complex near Cary -- or might this really be the Carybbean? -- the Tar Heels ran through Coastal Carolina's Chanticleers like they were a Myrtle Beach mini bottle of No. 2-strength sunscreen.

The best-of-three NCAA Super Regional tournament began with coach Mike Fox's Heels leading 2-0 after one inning and never in much danger of dropping the series opener. The final score, after 3 1/2 blistering hours, was a 9-4 UNC win, and it could have been even more one-sided.

With another win today at 1 p.m. -- at the same hot spot -- the Heels will be off to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb. There, the Heels are as due as an afternoon thunderstorm, too.

They reached Omaha in each of the previous two seasons -- once with about as much pitching talent as the law allows at the college level -- and have yet to leave town with an NCAA championship trophy.

Entering today's game, Fox thinks the close calls of 2007 and 2006 will serve as motivation for this team.

"It's a fine line between motivation and pressure," Fox said. "Right now, I think we're working with motivation. The pressure you don't really feel until you're behind and trying to stay alive. We could still have to deal with that part of it."

But if there's Omaha pressure lurking, Carolina sophomore Alex White put it a thousand miles -- and one win -- away early Saturday.

The right-handed pitcher from Greenville Conley High disposed of Coastal Carolina without ever having to crack the first cap on a bottle of water. Instead, he went with several bottles of Gatorade -- grab an endorsement tip future agents -- and more or less chilled in the thrill.

"We just [got] caught in the dust," said Central Carolina catcher Dock Doyle, one of the Chanticleers' top hitters. "He kept us off-balance all day."

White didn't do it alone.

The Heels benefitted from a huge hitting performance by center fielder Seth Williams, who is one of the team's few remaining regulars from the '06 College World Series. Williams smacked his eighth home run of the season, had two other hits and drove across a pair of runs.

"This time of year, you're going to get everybody's best, but we're going to try to give them our best. It brings out the best in everybody."

The best in Carolina on Saturday was more than enough to beat the heat, the playing conditions and a Coastal Carolina team known for its hot hitting. When hot came to trot on this toasty afternoon, Carolina had enough pitching and hitting cover to have it made in the shade.