UNC baseball starts season on top

Heading into its season-opening series against Seton Hall, the North Carolina baseball team has a lot to live up to.

The Tar Heels are ranked No. 1 by Baseball America, No. 2 by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and No. 4 in the ESPN Coaches Poll.

Coach Mike Fox said he hopes those high hopes will be proven warranted.

“One of my expectations is that we don’t worry about that — that we have more maturity than that,” Fox said. “That’s just stuff on paper, and we have to go out and play.”

The season’s first pitch will take place at 3 p.m. today, followed by games at 2 p.m. and 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday respectively.

Though unranked, the Pirates won’t be pushovers.

Seton Hall senior Jon Prosinski was voted the Big East Preseason Pitcher of the Year, and the Pirates enter 2013 after two consecutive 34-win seasons.

The Pirates’ roster lists nine seniors returning from the team that racked up 17 conference wins last season, the program’s best mark since 2000.

North Carolina has the numbers, talent and experience to match.

The 23 returning players on UNC’s roster include two members of the Golden Spikes Award watch list, All-American third-baseman Colin Moran and pitcher Kent Emanuel.

Fox said he was pleased with the high expectations the team’s veterans had set for the club. But those players, he said, will determine whether that bar is met.

“(It’s) because of what they’ve done in past seasons,” Fox said. “Hopefully they don’t put too much pressure on themselves being that.”

Having the nation’s eighth-ranked freshman class is an added bonus.

“Especially in late innings, it’s going to be good to see how some of the younger guys do,” senior outfielder Chaz Frank said. “There’s a lot of great talent, but seeing everything in action will be exciting.”

The series will prove whether UNC looks as dominant on the diamond as it does on paper.

“We have strong pitching across the board,” junior Parks Jordan said. “And the pitchers are comfortable with us outfielders out there, we’ve got good guys on all the bases.

“We’re looking good. We’re ready to see what happens.”

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