Jeff Gravley: Another Shot for the Heels

Before this season began for the North Carolina baseball team, they vowed to make it back to Omaha and the College World Series.

Each practice in the fall ended with the chant, OMAHA. Those are the five most precious letters to a college baseball player.

Last season ended for North Carolina right here at Rosenblatt Stadium, aided by a fielding blunder in the deciding game against Oregon State. Is it irony or fate that the Heels get a second crack at Oregon State?

Either way, that’s the match-up we have for the 2007 National Baseball Championship, and it’s the first time since 1972 and 1973 that we’ve seen the same squads in the national title tilt.

Carolina is coming off of three stress filled, do-or-die elimination games that started Sunday when Rice roughed them up. Talking to the Heels today, they have returned to their kind of game. Pitch well…hit well…have fun. You can’t play not to lose and Carolina hasn’t. Those who were struggling have found ways to bounce back.

After not making it through the second inning in his first Omaha start this year, starting pitcher Robert Woodard said he found his mechanical problem throwing in the outfield one practice. He then went to the bullpen and BAM!!, instant solution. The school’s all-time leader in wins added to his legacy with a stellar performance Wednesday afternoon.

As a teenage Tar Heel fan, Woodard pounded the basketball in his back yard, pretending to be former UNC center Eric Montross winning the 1993 national championship. Robert hopes to add to the Tar Heel trophy case with the school’s first national baseball championship.

The ACC hasn’t won the national title since….I’ll give you a few seconds to think about it…come on…you remember….The ACC hasn’t won a national baseball championship since Wake Forest in 1955!!!

Good move today from Coach Mike Fox who gave the guys off from practice. They needed a day to decompress after the three, thrilling games earlier this week.

Carolina won’t face an elimination game Saturday but they would like to play like it’s one. Be sharp but have fun. Be aggressive but don’t try to do too much. Seize the moment but don’t let it strangle you.

These Tar Heel players would love to make a giant pile in the middle of Rosenblatt Stadium after the final out that clinches the national championship just like their opponent did last season right in front of those Carolina blue eyes.