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CHAPEL HILL — Kyle Seager still remembers how anxious and nervous he felt before playing in his first NCAA tournament game at North Carolina. He can only hope the Tar Heels' opponent at this weekend's super regionals is going through that same angst.

Seager's Tar Heels have that been-there, done-that look after three straight trips to the College World Series and another NCAA appearance as a national seed. It would seem to be an advantage heading into the start of Saturday's best-of-three series against East Carolina, a program that has never made it to Omaha and doesn't have a current player who has played in a super regional.

"I'm going to believe it's an advantage because we have it," the junior said Friday. "I think the best team will generally win, but if it comes down to both teams are equally matched and it's in that tight situation, I think that experience will help you not get too worried about what's going on."

No one can blame the Tar Heels (45-16) — the No. 4 national seed — for clinging to that belief. They were only a few outs away from winning the national championship before finishing as the runner-up to Oregon State in Omaha in 2006, then finished second to the Beavers again the following season. Last year, the Tar Heels lost to Fresno State with a trip to the College World Series finals at stake.

In the past four years, they've gone 12-0 in regional play and 6-1 in super regional games at home. Last weekend, they won all three regional games here at Boshamer Stadium by a combined score of 31-8.

At the least, it offers an edge on the Pirates (46-18), who have had plenty of postseason success but have yet to make the kind of deep push that has become almost commonplace in Chapel Hill under 11th-year coach Mike Fox.

"If we do have any advantage at all, that might be considered the only advantage just in terms that we will run some players out there that have been in this situation before," Fox said. "I'm hoping that helps."

East Carolina has reached 10 of the past 11 NCAA tournaments and reached the super regionals in both 2001 and 2004. They just haven't taken the next step, though they did pack a few years worth of drama into last weekend's Greenville regional.

East Carolina won four games in three days, the last coming Monday when the Pirates rallied from a three-run deficit in the bottom of the ninth to beat South Carolina 10-9 in 10 innings.

Coach Billy Godwin said he's been cautioning his players ever since not to be satisfied with that dramatic home win, which is apparently more of a concern to him than North Carolina's past postseason experience.

"All year, people talk about matchups and our opponents and who we're playing," Godwin said. "Our coaching philosophy has always been that we want to prepare our guys to do what they do and not quite worry about the opposition.

"We've played 64 games, we've had a good year. All I can do now is make up a lineup and say an extra prayer and hope they go out and play like I know they can play."

East Carolina doesn't have to look far for proof they can hang with the Tar Heels. They split the regular-season series, losing 3-1 in Chapel Hill in early April before winning 4-0 at home a few weeks later — a victory that ended a nine-game losing streak in the series that dated to 2002.

"They've been here a couple of times," Pirates first baseman Brandon Henderson said. "But I think when it comes time to play, the adrenaline's going to be going so much. I mean, it's not like we haven't played in regionals every year. I don't think we're going to come in here and play scared."