No. 1 North Carolina and No. 6 NC State’s series finale scheduled for 7 p.m. Sunday in Raleigh has been canceled due to inclement weather. The game will not be made up.
Game times are switched all the time in order to get games in when bad weather is on the way but ESPNU was scheduled to show the game at 7 so that probably killed any chance the two teams would or could move the game to earlier in the day.
The teams split games on Friday and Saturday so it may come down to the ACC tournament or NCAA tournament to settle things between the two ACC division leading teams.
UNC junior Kent Emanuel allowed one run in eight innings to earn his ninth win of the year Friday night as the top-ranked Tar Heels downed No. 6 NC State, 7-1.
Emanuel (9-1) pitched through the eighth inning for the fourth consecutive outing Friday night as he scattered seven hits and matched a career high with nine strikeouts.
The Tar Heels provided Emanuel plenty of run support as Colin Moran connected on his 11th home run of the year in the first inning. Brian Holberton also hit a home run for UNC, while Michael Russell paced five Tar Heels with two more hits as he connected on three singles.
NC State evened the series with a 7-3 win in front of a record crowd on Saturday night at Doak Field at Dail Park.
The Wolfpack (34-11, 15-8 ACC) drew 3,123 spectators to watch the victory, the largest crowd in Doak Field history. State ran out to a 7-0 lead by the end of the fifth, thanks to one run in the third and three in the fourth and fifth. North Carolina (41-4, 19-3) answered with a three-run homer in the seventh, but could not cut the lead any further.
For the third year in a row, the Pack boasts a win over the top-ranked team in the nation. State defeated No. 1 Florida State in 2012 and No. 1 Virginia in 2011. Wolfpack pitchers struck out Tar Heel batters a combined 11 times, the most strikeouts in a single game against UNC this season.
Carlos Rodon (5-2) accounted for 10 of those strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings of work. Rodon scattered seven hits and left with two runners on base, both scored to put two earned on his final line. In three career appearances against North Carolina, Rodon has allowed three earned in 22 1/3 innings, good for a 1.19 ERA, striking out 29 while walking eight.
– Compiled