ACC Baseball Tournament: UNC Will Use Recent Hot Streak to Go Deep into Tourney

The North Carolina Tar Heels (42-13, 22-8 ACC) are the hottest team in the ACC coming into the conference tournament, and they'll use their current 13-game winning streak to go deep into this year's bracket. As if the Tar Heels needed more confidence, nine of those 13 wins have come against division opponents.

They won't enter the tournament as the No. 1 seed, though, as that honor belongs to Florida State. But you can bet the Heels have a chip on their shoulder because of it.

UNC has its superior pitching staff to look to for its success. Their team ERA of 2.61 leads the conference, and Miami is a distant second at 2.93.

The future didn't always look this bright for North Carolina, though, as it was swept by the Hurricanes on the weekend of April 8. That was the turning point of its season. UNC went 19-4 following the sweep and has its sights set on an ACC tournament victory.

The one question that the Tar Heels faced for most of the season was of the caliber of their hitting. Their bats seem to have come alive at the perfect time, though, with the offense putting up double figures in three of their final six games.

That must be comforting to skipper Mike Fox, especially because he knows exactly what he's going to get out of his pitching. No matter what level of baseball you are talking about, postseason pitching wins championships, and there's no doubt about it.

Of the six Tar Heels who have pitched in 20 games or more, only two have an ERA over 3.00, and hardly at that. Tate Parrish boasts a 3.38 ERA, and Shane Taylor has pitched to the tune of a meager 3.09 mark. Starters Kent Emanuel and Benton Moss have racked up 1.80 and 2.13 ERAs, respectively. They've also accounted for 14 wins while allowing an opponents' batting average of just .226 combined.

They don't have to worry about ninth-inning drama like other teams because closer Michael Morin has a minuscule ERA of 0.91 and saved 17 games in 2012. Forget about strikeouts per nine innings with this guy. The fact that he's struck out just six fewer batters than have reached base should flat out scare the competition. It's always nice to have a guy who can turn a baseball game into an eight-inning contest.

They also got a shot in the arm in the hitting department late in the year. Third baseman Colin Moran, who hit .384 in the regular season, returned from a rage-induced, boneheaded move in which he broke his hand on a door. He's the heart of the Carolina offense, and I'm sure Fox is hoping nothing of that nature happens again.

There's a long-held sentiment in sports that says the best time to be playing your best ball is heading into the playoffs (you can go ask the San Antonio Spurs about that), and the Tar Heels are doing just that. Look for them to tear through the early stages of the tournament and secure a matchup against another top-tier ACC talent in the later rounds.