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GREENVILLE -- The Chapel Hill Super Regional will feature one of the nation's top pitching staffs squaring off against one of the top hitting lineups in NCAA baseball.

North Carolina's pitching staff has a combined ERA of 3.66, sixth in the nation.

East Carolina's batting average of .341 ranks 13th.

Pirates coach Billy Godwin made the case Wednesday that his hitters can prevail over the Tar Heels (45-16).

"Everybody carries good pitching," Godwin said. "This time of the year, the weather gets hotter and guys log innings. Hitters get more dialed in. Taking away nothing from their arms, it's going to be a tremendous challenge for our hitters. Sure, their guys have the ability of shutting anybody down on any given day. But when you can hit, you're never out of a game."

North Carolina ace Alex White is considered one of the finest pitchers in college baseball, but he hasn't been untouchable lately. White (7-4) has lost his past three decisions and his ERA (4.42) isn't anywhere near the top 100.

"He's got good stuff, good velocity," ECU senior Brandon Henderson said. "He's got a good breaking ball, but we're not going to go in there scared."

It's not as if the Pirates haven't seen good pitching.

Conference USA rival Rice has a 4.07 ERA. But the Pirates lost two of three to the Owls in the regular season, including a 5-4 defeat to Mike Ojala, whom Henderson and second baseman Ryan Wood agreed was probably the best pitcher they've faced this season.

The Pirates (46-18) can draw on some experience from this past weekend, when they faced South Carolina three times, losing the first game to Blake Cooper, who pitched a complete game.

East Carolina's only extra-base hit in the game was a two-run homer in the eighth inning, and the team stranded 12 runners.

"He had a tremendous amount of movement," Pirates hitting coach Link Jarrett said of Cooper. "It was tough to square up. He was in the strike zone, but he threw a variety of off-speed pitches. You're not going to do a lot when you have 13 singles. Eventually, you've got to hit the ball out of a park, you've got to have extra-base hits."

That's one way the Pirates finally got to South Carolina in Monday's come-from-behind victory over the Gamecocks, which clinched the regional title.

The hitters kept battling and eventually cracked the South Carolina bullpen.

Against the Gamecocks' pitching staff in that game, the Pirates struck out only four times but were walked eight times.

"We were pretty selective, and we got into two-strike situations where we were able to foul off some pitches and put the ball in play," Jarrett said. "We put a little pressure on them defensively. We're going to have to do that again. We can't allow them to settle in and get comfortable."