With regional round complete, Auburn is UNC baseball’s next test
Heading into this season, UNC first baseman Michael Busch and most of his upperclassmen teammates already knew what it was like to win a regional. They knew what it felt like to lose one, too.
In 2017, when Busch was a freshman, the No. 2 nationally seeded Tar Heels were knocked out of their own regional by unseeded Davidson.
Devastated, they refused to let it happen again.
Two years later, UNC is set to host its second consecutive super regional when it faces Auburn at home on Saturday. The Tar Heels also have the chance to advance to the College World Series for the second straight year.
“They just keep fighting and believe,” UNC coach Mike Fox said Sunday in his post-game press conference. “I think our experience the last two years is what you’re seeing.
The Tar Heels struggled at the end of the regular season, however. They went 4-5 this past May, including back-to-back losses to N.C. State. UNC (45-17, 17-13 ACC), though, looked at the ACC tournament as a way to reset.
They focused more in practice, Busch, now a junior, said.
On the field it showed. UNC’s defense was much better and their bullpen was lights out. They haven’t lost a game in the postseason — they’ve won seven straight — and won the ACC tournament and the Chapel Hill Regional in the NCAA tournament.
“Everybody goes back to the two State losses, but we started 0-4 in the league and we got punched in the mouth right out of the gate in the ACC,” Fox said Sunday.
“We weren’t really deterred that much from our start.”
UNC swept the Chapel Hill Regional, which included a 7-6 walk-off win over UNC-Wilmington, a 16-1 win over Liberty and a 5-2 win over Tennessee.
On Saturday, they’ll begin their best-of-three series with Auburn (36-25).
The last time Auburn stood in the way of UNC winning a title was a little more than two months ago on the basketball court at the Sprint Center in Kansas City. There, the No. 5-seed Tigers upset the No. 1-seed Tar Heels, 97-80, in the Sweet 16.
In baseball, though, Auburn received an NCAA tournament at-large bid and was a No. 2 seed in the Atlanta Regional, where it beat Georgia Tech twice to win it.
UNC is 1-7-1 all-time against Auburn. The Tar Heels’ one win against the Tigers was Fox’s senior year at UNC in the 1978 South Regional.
The two schools have not played since 2003.
Auburn at UNC
Chapel Hill Super Regional
Saturday: Noon (ESPN2)
Sunday: 11:30 a.m. (ESPN)
Monday: 1 p.m. (ESPN2)*
*If necessary
