NCAA Tournament, Chapel Hill Regional

MAINE vs. NORTH CAROLINA

Time, site: Friday, 6 p.m.; Boshamer Stadium, Chapel Hill, N.C.

Records: Maine 35-20-1, North Carolina 45-13

Series, last meeting: North Carolina leads 2-1, UM 4-3 in 1987

Top hitters – Maine: SS Curt Smith (.380, 5 HR, 49 RBI, 19 SB), 1B Joel Barrett (.372-5-50), 3B Kevin McAvoy (.362-7-56), CF Joe Hough (.333-7-34-26SB), DH Matt McGraw (.333-4-36-17SB), LF Ryan Quintal (.325-9-60); UNC: SS Josh Horton (.408-5-48-11SB), 1B Chad Flack (.376-11-55-13), LF Jay Cox (.370-9-44), 2B Kyle Shelton (.327-1-14), DH Tim Federowicz (.299-8-48), 3B Reid Fronk (.288-8-38)

Possible Pitching Matchup

Maine Black Bears North Carolina Tar Heels

ERA W-L Ks ERA W-L Ks

RH Mike Powers 4.04 5-3 23 RH Robert Woodard 3.25 6-1 43

Outlook: The Bears make their second straight trip to the NCAAs, opening against the Tar Heels. UMaine hopes to ride the momentum of a five-game win streak that includes Saturday’s win over Stony Brook in the America East championship. UNC, which lost in the Atlantic Coast Conference semifinals, is ranked as high as sixth and no lower than 11th in the three national polls. The Bears’ biggest challenges are trying to hit the Heels’ superb pitching (3.22 ERA, .232 opponents’ average) and attempting to contain a lineup that has batted .317 and averaged 7.3 runs against high-level competition.