Baseball is a nearly impossible game to predict, and it becomes especially difficult when rivals like North Carolina (57-10) and N.C. State (49-14) get together in the College World Series. But there are some important (and less important, but still fun) storylines to keep an eye on: Can UNC hit Carlos Rodon? Maybe? There’s only one Tar Heel who’s had success against N.C. State’s ace, and that’s Cody Stubbs. The senior is 5-for-12 against Rodon in his career and he’s the only Tar Heel with more than one hit against him this year (he’s 2-for-6). But Stubbs is fifth in UNC’s batting order, and the top of the order is 3-for-27 against him this season. Rodon did show mortality in his last start against Rice, allowing 11 hits and three earned runs to the Owls. But there’s no doubt that he’ll be fired up to face the Tar Heels, and this moment won’t be too big for him. The key for UNC will be to get Rodon’s pitch count up, as it’s the best chance of getting him out of the game early. Rodon will routinely go 120-130 pitches, but he won’t go much more than that. But Carolina is hitting a paltry 8-for-60 (.133) this year against Rodon. The Tar Heels hit the other Wolfpack pitchers at a .308 clip (24-for-78), but seven of the nine earned runs UNC has scored in three games against the Wolfpack have come against pitchers not named Rodon. Wondering why the Tar Heels won two of three games this year, then? Read on ... If no one can hit Rodon, will it matter? It might not. In Rodon’s four starts against UNC in his career, N.C. State has won one (Game 2 of the series in Raleigh this year). In his other three starts against UNC, he’s allowed a total of one earned run. His teammates, however, scored a combined seven runs in those three games. And that includes a 9-6 loss to UNC in Rodon’s first start against the Tar Heels as a freshman. In this year’s postseason, Rodon’s been dominant. But in his last three starts, his teammates have provided him with a total of three runs of support (one in each game). That’s not going to cut it against the Tar Heels, no matter how great Rodon’s stuff is. The N.C. State bullpen has been pretty reliable in the postseason. N.C. State hasn’t needed a lot of relievers, but it has been able to spread the load out fairly evenly among eight or nine arms, and all of them should be pretty fresh coming into this weekend. UNC has scored 12 earned runs against N.C. State in three games, and a quarter of those (three) came in one-third of an inning against starter Ryan Wilkins in Game 1 of the regular-season series. The six bullpen arms that have faced UNC have allowed four earned runs between them in three games. Can Kent Emanuel return to form? Emanuel started this season with a 9-1 record after a win at N.C. State on April 26. Since then, he’s started five games and is 2-2 in that span with one no-decision (against South Carolina). He also has two relief appearances in the NCAA Tournament (one save). And in that span -- seven appearances over 33 2/3 innings -- Emanuel has allowed more earned runs (23) than he did in his first 12 appearances over 92 1/3 innings (17). Emanuel also has a 2.0 strikeout-to-walk ratio in his last seven appearances compared to 3.9 in his first 12. And that ratio drops to just 1.5 in the NCAA Tournament and 0.5 in his last three games. Before the Tar Heels left for Omaha, Emanuel told reporters that he had to correct control issues he noticed from film study. If Emanuel gets back to form, he might be able to find the groove he was in during his only start against the Wolfpack this season. And considering he struck out nine and N.C. State scored just one earned run off of him (on 7-for-30 hitting), he would probably take that. (Also worth noting: N.C. State’s best hitter, sophomore Trea Turner, is one of only two starters without a career hit against Emanuel -- he’s 0-for-5. The top of the N.C. State order is 4-for-22 against Emanuel.) Even if he doesn’t, can N.C. State hit the UNC bullpen? North Carolina has used four bullpen arms against N.C. State this year, and they have allowed one earned run between them. The best -- and arguably, most reliable -- of those arms has been freshman Trent Thornton. He had played a closer role for the Tar Heels, but he’s been the first guy that head coach Mike Fox has gone to when a UNC starter has struggled in the postseason, even if it’s in the middle innings. N.C. State hasn’t hit Thornton either. He’s made two appearances against N.C. State this year and the Wolfpack are 1-for-25 against him with nine strikeouts. Fox will almost certainly go to Thornton at some point -- whether it’s to close out the game after a solid Emanuel outing or to relieve a struggling Emanuel, Thornton’s certainly proven the postseason stage isn’t too big for him. As for UNC’s bullpen in general? Of the 36 earned runs the Tar Heels have allowed in the NCAA Tournament, the bullpen is responsible for just 11. UNC’s primary two bullpen arms, Thornton and Chris McCue, have given up five combined. Will we get more great Twitter wars like McCreery vs. Russell? It started with this fairly benign Tweet from American Idol winner Scotty McCreery, which was promptly answered by UNC shortstop Michael Russell: All right, that got a little testy. And it really escalated here: BOOM! More of that, please. Great stuff from both sides.
