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FSU vs UNC - Baseball '06
Quote:FSU Baseball This Week
Friday :FSU @ North Carolina (Henry) 7:00
Saturday: FSU @ North Carolina (Chambliss) 1:00 Live TV on FSN Florida
Sunday: FSU @ North Carolina (Browning) 1:00
WEEKLY RELEASE: No. 1 FSU Heads To Chapel Hill To Face 6th-Ranked Tar Heels
Weekend series kicks off with Henry and Miller facing off Friday at 7:00 p.m.
by FSU Sports Info.
THE SERIES
Florida State leads the overall series vs. North Carolina 52-19. North Carolina is one of five ACC teams that Florida State has defeated more than 50 times (Miami -130, Duke - 59, Clemson - 57, Georgia Tech - 56). The Seminoles have won the last five games against the Tar Heels and with two more wins, would tie their longest winning streak against North Carolina with seven (1996-1997, 1998-2000). Florida State leads the Tar Heels 11-10 in games played at Boshamer Stadium, with the Tar Heels taking two of three the last time the teams met in Chapel Hill. Overall, Florida State has won 13 of 16 three game series but North Carolina has taken two of those series victories on their home turf. This will be FSU's first series of the year versus a ranked opponent as the Heels check in anywhere between six and eight in the four major polls. On top of playing a consensus top 10 team, the Seminoles have to do it on the road. While the Seminoles are 20-0 at home this season, they are just 5-2 on the road so far. The last time FSU won a series in Chapel Hill was in 2000 and the last time they swept the Tar Heels in their own stadium was 1996. That was the only time the Seminoles ever swept UNC in Chapel Hill.
2006 FSU UNC
Games 28 26
W-L 26-2 21-5
Avg. .333 .328
Runs 265 205
Hits 327 298
Dbls 68 56
Trpls 12 1
HRs 38 33
RBIs 248 180
Slg % .542 .501
BB 151 103
K 172 139
SB 52 43
ERA 3.05 3.63
LAST YEAR IN TALLAHASSEE
Florida State swept the regular season series against the Tar Heels by scores of 9-4, 6-5 and 7-6 on top of a 3-2 win in the ACC Tournament last year. The three regular season victories marked the 5th time Florida State has swept North Carolina in a three game series, and the first since 2001. In game one, Bryan Henry picked up his 7th win of the season, and 5th in a row, with a seven inning, five hit performance. Ryne Malone, Tony Thomas Jr. and Josh Spivey all hit home runs for the Seminoles as they took game one 9-4, with Spivey's being the first of his career. Games two and three had plenty of drama, as FSU won both games in walk-off fashion. In game two, Ryne Malone hit his first career walk-off home run, a three run shot in the bottom of the 9th that led the Seminoles to a 6-5 victory. Mark Sauls pitched 6 2/3 strong innings for the Seminoles, and Kevin Lynch had a perfect 9th inning to earn his ninth victory of the season. The loss was the first of the season for the Tar Heels when entering the ninth inning with the lead. In the finale, the two teams battled for 11 innings before Aaron Cheesman hit a game-winning single in his final regular season home game as a Seminole. The Seminole bullpen led the way, as Brian Chambers, Barret Browning, and Tyler Chambliss combined to throw eight innings, giving up nine hits, one run, while striking out eight. Tyler Chambliss, who blanked the Tar Heels for 3 1/3 innings, earned his sixth victory of the year to finish the sweep.
IF LAST YEAR IS ANY INDICATION, FSU WILL...
- Get the leadoff man on base. For the series, Florida State hit put the leadoff runner on 50% of the time with Shane Robinson going 4x6 .667).
- Score late in the game. After the fifth inning, the Seminoles outscored North Carolina 15-3, with seven runs coming in the sixth inning.
- Hit the ball well. Florida State had double digit hits in all three games of the series, which was right in the middle of a nine game streak in which Florida State had more than ten hits in a game.
- Keep their winning streaks alive. Last year, Florida State went into their series against the Tar Heels with a seven game winning streak, and swept the Tar Heels. This year, Florida State has a six game winning streak heading into their series against North Carolina.
- Win close games late. In 2005, Florida State had six walk-off wins,
with half of those coming against North Carolina.
TURN THE PAGE
This year's series is the first for the Seminoles in the month of April, which has been a good month for Florida State against North Carolina. In 12 games played during the month of April, the Seminoles have a .750 winning percentage (9-3) versus the Heels. The last time the two teams played in April was the 10th-12th in 1998, when Florida State took two of three in Chapel Hill. In that three game series, Florida State set series records for most runs (20, April 11th, 1998) and biggest margin of victory (16, 20-4, April 11th, 1998).
HITTING VERSUS THE HEELS
Something must have been in the water at Dick Howser Stadium because Florida State was hitting the ball everywhere against the Tar Heels. As a team, Florida State had a .343 batting average, with six Seminoles hitting better than the team average. Ryne Malone, Shane Robinson, Nick Francis, Josh Spivey, Tony Thomas Jr. and Jack Rye all posted a .364 average or better for the three game series. The Seminoles also out homered the Tar Heels 4-1, with Malone, Spivey and Thomas Jr. all going yard. The four homerun blasts tied the season record for home runs in a series, as Florida State also hit four in three game series against Duke, Wake Forest and NC State.
FINE AT FIFTY
This year's match-up between the Seminoles and Tar Heels doesn't just mean something to the current fans, but to those of old as well. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the baseball rivalry between Florida State and North Carolina. The first game was played March 29, 1956 in Tallahassee, with FSU taking home the victory 3-2. Florida State would go on to win six of the first seven games against North Carolina, setting the tone for their 52-19 record against the Tar Heels. The two teams would play yearly from 1961-1967, with FSU taking 10 of 14 games. The two teams played short series in 1970 and 1985 (FSU went 5-1 in the two series), before the yearly rivalry resumed when Florida State joined the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1992.
DOUBLE OR NOTHING
Since the turn of the century, Florida State is 7-3 (.700) against North Carolina when having 10 or more hits for the game. Currently, Florida State is on a five game double digit hit streak against the Tar Heels dating back to a 10-6 Seminole victory on March 27, 2004. Since that streak began, Florida State has taken 4 of 5 from the Tar Heels, and has scored at least six runs in each victory.
PUT THEM TO BED AND TUCK THEM IN
The most common thing heard around the Seminole clubhouse after any game Luke Tucker closes is "I am sure glad we don't have to face him" and for good reason. The new Seminole closer has been just phenomenal this season. He has five saves and a 2.70 ERA but those aren't even his most impressive stats. Opponents are hitting just .109 versus Tucker this year and in his last four games he has recorded 10 of his 12 outs via K's. He has recorded at least one K in 12 of his 14 appearances this year and multiple K's eight times. A pretty amazing number considering he has never pitched for more than an inning. He has walked just one batter in his last seven games to go along with 13 strikeouts. One other nice stat for Tucker is FSU is 14-0 in games in which he appears. In ACC games Tucker has two saves and a 0.00 ERA. He has allowed just one hit in four innings as conference teams are hitting an amazing .067 against the junior. He has fanned almost half (7) the ACC batters he has faced (15) and not a single ACC team has recorded a hit off him with runners on base.
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