Facing elimination in their second College World Series game, Carolina turned to their strong point, their pitching. (Also navy uniforms.) And freshman Kent Emanuel came through, throwing the first complete-game shutout since, well, Tar Heel Robert Woodward did so in 2006. By blanking the Longhorns, UNC advances to play the winner of Florida-Vanderbilt. That game was suspended for rain in the bottom of the sixth.

UNC's pitching has been strong in the postseason, which has bailed out a sputtering offense. The Heels stranded 16 men on base today, for the second straight game. They also had a disturbing propensity to hit into double plays, exiting the second, fourth, and seventh innings that way. Ben Bunting has been the brightest offensive spark; after struggling with his bat for much of the season, he went 4 of 5 including a ninth-inning RBI. This follows two hits and a walk in the opening game against Vanderbilt. In the last four games he's a combined 11 of 18 with 3 RBIs. Jacob Stallings was the engine behind the Heels other two runs, driving them in with a single in the third.

Today belongs to Emanuel, however, and a defense that backed him up with two double plays of their own, from the outfield no less. This should serve them well in their next game against either SEC team, who gave up 3 to 4 runs in their first games in Omaha and won on the strength of their bats. 2009 is the only year in UNC's recent history where they didn't make at least the semifinals, and I'd expect them to advance at least that far this season.

it was just one of those games where few things go right. The Tar Heels left 16 runners on base, while Vandy scored their last five runs all with two puts in the inning. As a result, Carolina os banished to the losers bracket to face the team that falls in tonight's Florida-Texas matchup. UF as the second seed is the favorite, meaning the Heels will most likely face the Longhorns, with an opportunity for revenge against the Commodores if chalk holds going forward.

UNC also has the honor of giving up the first home run in the new stadium, a two-run shot that gave the Commodores the lead.

North Carolina's long drought of College World Series appearances – they bowed out in the regional last season – is at an end. With a two-game sweep of Stanford, the Heels are returning to Omaha. The first game was a pitching duel, with Patrick Johnson extending his scoreless streak to 30.2 innings in a 5-2 win, while the second was a little more bizarre. Carolina was up 6-1 until the eighth, when the Cardinal came roaring back to cut the lead to 1 and put UNC on the ropes with two outs in the ninth. The Heels were rescued by a three-and-a-half hour rain delay, after which they added an extra run and then let Michael Morin shut down Stanford from the mound, winning 7-5. 

Third-seeded Carolina will face Vanderbilt in their first game in Ohama. The Commodores, whose basketball coach Kevin Stallings is the father of Heels catcher Jacob Stallings, join second-seed Florida, South Carolina, Texas, and California in the world series. Overall top-seed Virginia faces UC Irvine and Florida State plays Texas A&M for the final two slots.

Despite have a rougher ACC Tournament than they liked, Carolina rebounded this weekend by reeling off three straight wins at home to justify their #1 RPI rating and advance to the Super Regional. The three-game performance included two shutouts, a 4-0 win over Maine and a 14-0 domination of James Madison. After JMU worked their way out of the losers bracket they faired slightly better, tying the game at 3 in the top of the fifth before UNC took control, winning 9-3.

The game was dedicated to Barbara Fox, mother of coach Mike Fox, and the team wore pink socks in her honor. Barbara passed away from cancer this Saturday at 76, and the coach had missed the entire regional as a result.

UNC will now move on to play Stanford in the Super Regional. The Cardinal were the two-seed in the Cal-Fullerton bracket but also went 3-0 to advance. Stanford is 35-20 on the season and has struggled a bit this season, with their last eight games of the season decided by 13 runs. They won their regional by a combined score of 25-5, however, and appear to be peaking at just the right time. SBNation blog Rule of Tree has more.

In case you missed it, the East Coast suffered through some pretty rough weather Friday, including hail in Chapel Hill and a lot of rain in Durham, host site of the ACC Baseball Tournament. As a result, the North Carolina and Wake Forest baseball teams had a lot of time on their hands, and, well, this happened:

Once play did get underway after midnight, UNC showed an equal dominance on the field, hitting a season-high three home runs on their way to a 5-0 lead. Alas, the game was finally postponed after the sixth inning, and will be finished today beginning at 4 pm before Wake's game against Miami. UNC lost to the Hurricanes earlier this week, and will need to beat both Wake and top-seeded Virginia for the opportunity to win their pool and advance to the tournament finals on Sunday. Carolina faces the Cavaliers in the night game beginning at nine, provided the rain doesn't push things back further today.

Despite three runs in the bottom of the ninth, UNC wasn't able to pull off the upset against Oklahoma last night. Instead, a strikeout stranded a runner at third, and OU scored in the 10th to win the game 7-6. The Heels now have to beat Oral Roberts and then win two off of Oklahoma to advance out of the Norman Regional. 

Also of note is that freshman outfielder Brian Goodwin had his eighth triple of the season, breaking a Carolina record that has stood since 1949.

Despite missing the ACC Baseball Tournament by virtue of losing a tiebreaker with Boston College, the Tar Heels found themselves offered their ninth straight bid to the NCAA tournament this week. UNC's strong finish and high RPI swayed just about everyone to their cause, with the notable exception of Wolfpack coach Elliot Avent, who's a little bitter the Heels got a week off. Carolina touched down in Norman, Oklahoma yesterday, where they'll be a three seed in the regional. What are their chances for surviving and starting a trip to their fifth consecutive CWS?

Pretty decent, actually. The Heels have an RPI only three spots behind regional host Oklahoma, and well ahead of California and Oral Roberts. Carolina's first opponent, the Golden Bears, may be the weakest two-seed in the tournament, having been swept in three of their last five weekend series. Neither their pitching nor their batting has put up particularly strong numbers, a good sign when facing a UNC team that like last year, is stronger on the mound than on the plate. Oral Roberts is greatly diminished from the team that nearly pulled off an upset in Tempe last year, having lost a large chunk of their rotation and their closer. They look to be a non-factor.

And that leaves the favorite Oklahoma. Like Carolina, the Sooners started slow but have turned it on down the stretch, winning nine of their last eleven. They've done it with their bats, led by third baseman Garrett Buechele. Their pitching is tough, but beatable. They're the biggest impediment to Carolina surviving the weekend, they'll be playing on their home turf, and be extremely tough to beat. But the Heels have as a good a chance as they could hope for in Norman, and could quite conceivably pull out the victory.

The Heels play California Friday at 8 pm Eastern, with Matt harvey getting the start for Carolina.