Pitcher Seth Whitehill knows that when he gets home, he's going straight to the couch.

Adrenaline will flow into his system a little bit quicker, and the dose will be a little bit stronger, as the Penn State baseball team (1-3) heads down to Chapel Hill, N.C., to face last year's College World Series runner-up and Baseball America's top team.

Getting up for another road trip won't require much effort, but staying awake afterward will. And even if the challenge against No. 1 North Carolina (9-0) during this weekend's three-game series, starting today at 3 p.m., could be considered this season's greatest, Whitehill and his teammates can't see it that way.

Either way, the Tar Heels are just a college baseball team, and they get tired, too. Whitehill will pound the zone instead of trying to blow it by them. UNC can be defeated without a 100-mile per hour effort.

"It's just like any other weekend," Whitehill said. "You can't make them out to be the best players in the world. Just go out there and take it like any other weekend."

Of course, Penn State coach Robbie Wine would like this weekend's matchup more if Penn State had stepped onto a field since a 7-6 win at Centenary on Feb. 18. While the Lions have been practicing, the Tar Heels have collected six wins, and are already in game-shape.

The Tar Heels have swung during 305 at bats to Penn State's 145. Three of UNC's four starters already have two wins, while the Lions' Scott Gaffney, a junior pitcher/shortstop, is their lone winner.

But that one win gives Penn State a little bit more confidence. Last year it took the Penn State baseball team eight games to win a game, and it wasn't until the 26th game that the Nittany Lions came home.

That's life as a member of a Northeastern squad. Homework is harder to finish during the season, and the airport becomes an all too familiar surrounding. And losing became an all-too-familiar feeling in the non-conference season.

Last season, Wine's squad went 4-16 before facing Big Ten competition. This season, Wine said he feels his team can face and beat top teams like UNC.

"A lot of people are wondering if we can win one game, and we think we have a chance of sweeping them," Wine said. "We are going down there with the thought that we are going to win. We are not going to just gain experience, we are going to go down and win some games."

The Tar Heels are sitting rather comfortably. They won't leave Chapel Hill for an away game until March 23. That is a luxury afforded a Southern power like UNC.

But Wine doesn't want his team to get off the plane trying to speed things up or become overly calm about playing the best. He echoed Whitehill when relating this experience back to his playing days in the College World Series.

Wine said he was a "confident and cocky player" at Oklahoma State when his team headed into the Big Eight round of the tournament. A mistake came when he tried to hide his emotions when heading onto the national stage.

He won't let his players fall into the same trap.

"Some guys will try and work too hard and some guys will try and slow things down too much," Wine said. "There's a happy medium, and that's a part of learning. That's part of, if we want to be the best, we have to play the best."