Tar Heels facing hot team

LSU's comeback kids 25-1 in past 26 games

OMAHA, NEB. -- LSU's 21-7 victory over UC Irvine on Monday was so dominating that North Carolina coach Mike Fox said he had to turn off the television.

Don't make that mistake Sunday night when the No. 2 seed Tar Heels (51-12) open the College World Series against the No. 7 Tigers -- even if Carolina is winning big in the final inning.

LSU's rally to Rosenblatt Stadium actually began in Game 2 of the Super Regionals, when it trailed the Anteaters by three runs entering the ninth inning but came away with a 9-7 win, forcing a decisive third showdown. That performance pretty much sums up a season in which the Tigers began 6-11-1 in conference play before starting a streak of 23 victories.

In all, they are 25-1 over their past 26 games. Eighteen of those are come-from- behind wins.

"Probably the strength of their team is they've got kind of some mojo going,'' said Fox, whose team has outscored its last five opponents 51-20 en route to its third straight trip to the CWS.

"They know that they belong here, and they may be destined to win this thing - you just don't know. When you win that many games, there's probably something internal that's your strength, other than one phase of the game. But they've certainly got it going in all phases."

It wasn't always that way. On April 20, the Tigers -- who head coach Paul Mainieri had predicted in the preseason could go to Omaha -- were on a three-game losing streak when they closed out their home series against Georgia with a 10-10 tie. Coaches were frustrated. Players were irritated. Looking back, that marked a turning point.

"We really felt like we were in games, but we just kept letting them slip away the last moment,'' sophomore outfielder Jared Mitchell said. "After that, we had a talk as a team, and we said, 'We've got to go right now. Now's the time.' "

The turnaround began two days later at Tulane, when the team trailed 5-2 in the top of the fifth but came back to win 8-4. And it continued with notable rallies against South Carolina, at Kentucky -- and in the SEC tournament, when it trailed the Gamecocks 4-0 in the ninth, only to prevail 5-4 in extra innings.

"There's no panic in the dugout," said hitting coach Cliff Godwin, who grew up in Snow Hill and was a standout baseball player at East Carolina. "If we come out on Sunday and North Carolina scores two or three in the first inning, you won't see panic in our dugout. We'll be facing one of the best pitchers in the country, but there won't be panic."

And why not? The Tigers (48-17-1) are led by outfielder Blake Dean, who has hit .434 with 38 homers in their past 26 games and earned first-team All-America status from Baseball America; and pitcher Louis Coleman, who is 5-0 with two saves and a 1.37 ERA during his past 11 relief outings.

No Tigers player was named to the first- or second- All-Southeastern Conference teams, which was both a disappointment and a reflection of why LSU is making its 14th appearance the College World Series.

"Our kids have rallied around the concept that we apply this synergy concept that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, and there's no one individual that's going to carry the team,'' Mainieri said. "It's been such a joy for me, because our group represents what it is to be unselfish, and that's what carried us through."

And what they all hope will carry them forward -- and keep the televisions of both teams' fans turned on. Or else.

"If you know anything about us this year, your best bet it to keep tuned in,'' Mitchell said.