OMAHA, NEB. - We’re about to get under here at Rosenblatt Stadium for North Carolina’s must-win game against Rice.

There’s not much to be said about the matchup, you can look at the old blog to get my take on Rice. The only difference is that freshman Ryan Berry will be getting the start for the Owls.

Berry has been one of the most dominant pitchers in the nation, going 11-2 with a 3.03 ERA in 22 appearances. Berry is your typical Texas power pitcher with 122 strikeouts through 119 innings of work. The Tar Heel hitters will have to be able to hit the ball better than they did against Louisville to have a shot.

One major change for North Carolina is the demotion of freshman first baseman Dustin Ackley to the bottom part of the lineup. Today, Ackley will be hitting in the 7-spot instead of his usual role as UNC’s third guy up to the plate. The reason for the change has been Ackley’s eye-opening struggles in the College World Series as well as the postseason.

In his three CWS starts, Ackley has managed to get just one hit in 13 at-bats. During this slump, Ackley has seen his batting average fall to .400 - the lowest it has been since early March.

-David Ely

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 20th, 2007 at 1:54 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.