Tudor:If good pitching beats good hitting in baseball, it's often double the case when that pitching comes in the form of good right-handers throwing against a lineup dominated by right-handed hitters.

When North Carolina starting pitcher Alex White left the field in the top of the ninth on Saturday at Boshamer Stadium, even folks wearing Pirates purple joined in the standing ovation for the Greenville native.

The stakes seem clear enough. But to treat the UNC-ECU set as just another NCAA super regional series misses the nature of this simmering rivalry. For ECU, this is a shot at history.

Twenty years ago, North Carolina baseball coach Mike Fox and East Carolina coach Billy Godwin worked together to win a NCAA Division III national championship at N.C. Wesleyan. This weekend, they will be squaring off with a trip to Omaha at stake.

Much praise has been rightfully lobbed at North Carolina's pitching staff, which has accumulated the sixth-best ERA in the nation (3.66). But East Carolina's pitchers are no slouches, either.

North Carolina's home game against East Carolina on Sept. 19 will begin at noon and will be televised by ESPN or ESPN2, according to an ACC schedule for the first three weeks of the football season released Thursday.

UNC first baseman Dustin Ackley is the Tar Heels' career leader in hits, runs and total bases. The junior from Walnut Cove is also the Tar Heels' first conference player of the year since 1998. And he's the projected No. 2 pick in Tuesday's Major League Baseball draft.

Tudor:If it's an athletic contest involving East Carolina and North Carolina, there's no escaping The 'Retha Factor.

The Chapel Hill Super Regional will feature one of the nation's top pitching staffs squaring off against one of the top hitting lineups in the country.

North Carolina's baseball team had just wrapped up the ACC's Coastal Division regular-season title, and redshirt freshman Tarron Robinson couldn't resist sending his dad a good-natured text.

The NCAA Super Regional series between No. 4 national seed North Carolina and East Carolina is sold out, UNC announced this afternoon.

East Carolina has had good and bad moments against North Carolina this season, with a loss that started a slump and a win that helped end one.

East Carolina has the attention of North Carolina's players, and not just because the teams split two games during the regular season. As they prepare for the NCAA baseball super regional that will start at noon Saturday in Chapel Hill, North Carolina's players are raving about the way East Carolina's players swing the bats.

Tudor:When the Tar Heels and Pirates begin a best-of-three baseball series Saturday in Chapel Hill, on the line and down the line will be a shot at the national championship.

If the NCAA super regional in Chapel Hill between East Carolina and North Carolina is anything like this past weekend's regional in Greenville, area baseball fans are in for a treat.

The Pirates first climbed back from a 6-0 deficit after two innings, then made up a three-run deficit in the bottom of the ninth to force an extra inning. The late surge was all driven off the bat of Devin Harris.

East Carolina's baseball team had to pull off the improbable to remain alive today.