The Tar Heels are back, even suffering through a mini-slump with their pitching staff and with their bats. The last three days they got great pitching, and the last two days against Rice, they got some great swings.

Adam Warren went six innings, giving up three hits and three runs while walking three and striking out two in picking up his twelfth of the season, against no losses, which is a North Carolina record for a pitcher with an undefeated record.

Tim Fedroff, Josh Horton, Dustin Ackley, and Seth Williams all had homeruns for the Tar Heels, as Ackley got the average above .400 again, with a 2-for-3 performance, as he now sits at .403. He's definitely busted out of a major slump.

The Tar Heels had eight hits in the game, and all of them seemed huge, scoring runs in the second, third, fourth, and fifth innings.

For Rice, Matt Langwell lasted 3 1-3 innings while giving up two hits, three runs, and a walk while striking out nobody. And we found out after the game that he had a tweaked back that was caused by a nap in the lockerroom before the game, or at least that's what coach Graham talked about.

Bobby Bramhall also struggled, lasting only an inning, giving up three hits, four runs, while walking two. Not too good when you face only eight batters.

It was an interesting press conference after the game, as Rice head coach Wayne Graham made some interesting remarks along with All-American Joe Savery. One of the stranger remarks was when he mentioned what he told his kids after the ballgame.

"I'll told the kids after the game that they shouldn't worry, they won't fire me," Graham said.

Interesting. Then there was Savery's rant about the called strike three that was about a foot outside.

"It's tough to end my career on a strikeout with a pitch six inches outside," Savery said. "I think we had our pitches to hit and we didn't go with it. I refuse to look at my career personally, as any type of disappointment because that's a crime. A lot of people are going to try and make us look like we blew it or we succumbed to pressure, and that's just not true. Yes, it's disappointing to go out like that. But top three in the country ain't bad. It's been a great year."

It continued, but it was more about how God sees everything and it's just a shame that it had to be that way. In reality, he's only a junior, but yes, we know that it's a foregone conclusion that he'll be in the pros next year. I still found that funny.

Coach Graham did praise North Carolina for coming out and beating them in two straight games, which is the same fashion in which they were knocked out a year ago when Oregon State did the same thing. At least this year, for their sake, they put up a total of five runs in the games, instead of being shutout for 23 straight innings.

"You have to realize that North Carolina has a fine, fine ballclub. As far as my team, we only dreamed of having this year 16 years ago. It was a privilidge to work with them, and it's great to have them," Graham said.

As for North Carolina's half of the conference, you can tell these guys are winded, and rightly so.

"I don't know where to start. I think we're all exhaustd and elated to be saying we're playing for the national championship again, is really kind of surreal. I owe a lot to my players for how resiliant they are, because they've done this all year long," coach Fox said.

Plus Fox also talked about his offense and pitching coming together perfectly at the right time.

"I'm not sure where the homeruns came from tonight, they came at a good time. I guess we saved them up. What can you say about our pitching? Adam Warren gave us exactly what we needed," Fox said.

Freshman Dustin Ackley continued about the subject.

"It seemed like everyone's clicking at the same time, we're just hitting the ball hard," Ackley said.

One has to feel for Rice even just a little bit. Watching coach Graham in the third base coach's box while Rice was going 1-2-3 in the ninth made me a little sad to be quite honest. But that's part of the game. For the second straight year they couldnt win one of two games to advance to the finals. Call it a curse if you will, but they just went cold again at the wrong time.

Seeing the same final as last year is a little boring, but there are storylines. The teams arrive there completely differently than they did last season, when Oregon State was the one coming from the loser's bracket, and North Carolina was the undefeated team. This year, they flip-flop. We'll see if the loser's bracket winning the thing continues to be a trend, which is one heck of a tough thing to continue to do, or if the winner's bracket team comes through.

If that's the case, we'll have the first back-to-back champion since 1996 and 1997 when LSU won.

Alright, well that'll do it from Rosenblatt tonight. Nasty weather heading this way, so if you're in town, take cover. We'll be back out here on Friday for the press conferences and practices, so expect some stuff, while the game is slated for 6:10pm Central time on Saturday evening.

For one final time, your final score, North Carolina 7, and Rice 4.

Good night everybody from Omaha.