Preview: Tennessee Volunteers vs North Carolina, College World Series

A preview into Tennessee's matchup in the college world series against the North Carolina Tar Heels.

The first round of the College World Series brought fireworks as Tennessee defeated Florida State in a late-inning comeback win to walk it off, and North Carolina also walked off Virginia. Now the two teams will play one another in the second round of the College World Series. The Volunteers come in as the top-ranked team so what does their matchup against the Tar Heels look like?

Tennessee comes in with an overall record of 56-12 while the Tar Heels sit with a 48-14 record. The Vols won the SEC Championship against Vanderbilt while North Carolina lost to Wake Forest in the quarterfinal round.

North Carolina would go on to beat Long Island University and LSU in the regional round to advance. They then beat West Virginia twice in the super regional round to make the college world series. Tennessee posted a clean record in the regional round beating Northern Kentucky, Southern Miss and Indiana while winning the super regional round against Evansville 2-1.

From a statistical perspective, North Carolina ranks 31st in the country in batting average (.304) while Tennessee ranks 16th (.312). The Volunteers on the other hand have hit 62 more home runs than North Carolina has this season. Defensively, Tennessee holds an edge as their staff has a season ERA of 3.95 which ranks sixth in the country while the Tar Heels rank 14th with a 4.19.

Some key note players to know for both teams are first Tennessee's Christian Moore who has a batting average of .385 with 33 home runs and 72 RBIs on the year. He became just the second player in College World Series history to hit for the cycle in their game against Florida State.

For North Carolina, it's outfielder Vance Honeycutt as he holds a batting average of .307, has 26 home runs, and 66 RBI. He is viewed was one of the top 25 best MLB draft prospects for the upcoming draft.

The College World Series rounds are double elimination so it's not a do-or-die situation for either team on Sunday, but picking up a win in this game would put either team in a fantastic position to make the World Series Championship.

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