On a basketball court, it’s North Carolina and Duke. For the baseball Tar Heels, I would think NC State might be a better rivalry. While Duke is typically solid, NC State is a perennial ACC contender. The rivalry gets another good chapter this weekend when the No. 13 Wolfpack hosts No. 1 North Carolina. The Tar Heels are an amazing 40-3. They’re the seventh-fastest team to 40 wins in NCAA history.
Schedule
Friday, 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, 6:30 p.m.
Sunday, 7 p.m.
*Games will be broadcast on ESPN3
2013 Cape Leaguers
North Carolina
Landon Lassiter – INF – Chatham
Chris McCue – RHP – Chatham
Benton Moss – RHP – Chatham
Michael Russell – INF – Chatham
Skye Bolt – OF – Harwich
Mason McCullough – RHP – Harwich
Trevor Kelley – RHP – Orleans
Luis Paula – RHP – Orleans
NC State
Brett Austin – C – Harwich
Logan Jernigan – RHP – Harwich
Trea Turner – INF – Y-D
Notable
A Lot of Heels
Three certainties: death, taxes and a big group of North Carolina baseball players coming to Cape Cod. Eight Tar Heels are slated to be on the Cape this year, a pretty standard number for one of the Cape League’s biggest mainstays.
Swinging
It’s a good crop, too. While pitchers outnumber position players on the list, outfielder Skye Bolt and infielders Landon Lassiter and Michael Russell have all been key contributors. Bolt has been out with an injury but was hitting .392 before that. Lassiter is at .328 and Russell is hitting .274.
A Second Ace
Benton Moss is the clear leader among the pitching crew headed to the Cape. The sophomore righty slots in behind Friday starter Kent Emanuel, but he’s been tremendous in his own right. Moss is 7-0 with a 2.81 ERA and a team-best 67 strikeouts.
Delivering
Former Bourne Brave Colin Moran has long been labeled as one of the best hitters in college baseball, and that’s never looked more fitting than it has this year. Moran is batting .395 with 10 home runs and a nation-leading 67 RBI. His on-base percentage is .514 and he has struck out just eight times all season. He’s a surefire first-round pick.
Doing it All
I wrote about Trea Turner earlier in the week. He’s among the most dynamic players in college baseball and he now ranks second in the country in batting average.
Catching On
Brett Austin was a supplemental first-round pick in the 2011 draft and he joined Carlos Rodon in a fantastic NC State recruiting class. He hit .284 as a freshman then had a solid summer with Harwich. He’s hitting .294 this spring. While all those statistics are pretty good, they’re not quite the big numbers expected of a first-round pick. Austin is a prime breakout candidate for the summer.
