Each day since Feb. 1, and most subsequent days until June, members of the North Carolina baseball team pile into four 15-passenger vans and travel 22 miles east to their temporary home at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary.

While it might be an inconvenience to have to play away from Boshamer Stadium, the Tar Heels’ on-campus facility in Chapel Hill that is undergoing a $25-million renovation this year, UNC coach Mike Fox is unfazed by the daily commute.

“I was [a] Division III [coach] for 15 years. So getting in a 15-passenger van and driving places, that’s old hat for me,” Fox said. “Twenty-two-mile drive, that’s a piece of cake.”

And it beats the alternative. Had the complex at Thomas Brooks Park not opened last June, the Tar Heels likely wouldn’t have had one place to call home in 2008. When asked about that prospect, Fox said he didn’t even he want to think about it.

So Carolina is focused on making Cary home for the year.

One thing they’ll have to adjust to is the field. The dimensions in Cary aren’t much different than those in Chapel Hill. Cary measures 330 feet down the lines and 400 to center field. Boshamer measures 335 down the lines and 400 to center.

But Cary is playing bigger, Fox said.

The Tar Heels didn’t hit any home runs during their fall season at the park, though they have started to see balls travel beyond the outfield walls this spring.

“This park’s bigger than ours. There’s no question about that,” Fox said. “And I think some days, it plays even bigger depending on the wind and the humidity and maybe the time of year. Some balls have jumped out of here in the spring, so we’ve seen a little bit of difference between the fall and spring. Still, it’s a park that plays a lot different than ours does. Whether that becomes an advantage or disadvantage for us, I think it probably depends on who’s in the batter’s box and who’s on the mound.”

By leaving Boshamer for the year, Fox his hopeful his club is not giving up a home-field advantage it has enjoyed recently. Carolina was 74-12 in Chapel Hill the last two years.

“I think for us to say we’re not would be a little shortsighted,” Fox said. “But the more we come over here, the more we’re around it, the more like home it’s going to be.”

North Carolina is coming off its second straight appearance in the College World Series championship series, which it lost both times to Oregon State. The team won a school-record 57 games, the ACC Coastal Division and the ACC tournament titles last year, too.

The Tar Heels are ranked No. 2 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches’ Poll and No. 5 by Baseball America. They feature seven returning field players and the core of a pitching staff that ranked 12th in the nation last year with a 3.52 ERA.

Sophomore first baseman Dustin Ackley, the consensus national freshman of the year in 2007 (.402, 10 home runs, 74 RBIs), junior catcher Tim Federowicz (.333, 65 RBI, 46 runs) and pitchers Adam Warren (12-0, 2.17 ERA, 70.2 IP), Rob Wooten (6-1, 2.35 ERA in nation-leading 47 appearances) and Alex White (6-7, 4.94 ERA, 98.1 IP) have all been named to preseason All-America teams.

Sophomore outfielder Tim Fedroff (.344, 41 RBI, 48 runs) and senior infielder Chad Flack (.247, 46 RBI, 47 runs) add punch to the lineup.

“We’ve got a good nucleus of position players back for us and some talented new guys,” Fox said. “Pitching and defense I hope is going to be the strength of our team, which it needs to be in this ballpark. I really hope people who haven’t made their way to campus will come out.”

If this season is as successful as the last two, the Tar Heels could be in the running to bring postseason games to Cary, too. In 2006, Chapel Hill was a regional site. Last year, the Tar Heels were at home for the regional and super regional before going to the College World Series.

“I hope we do enough on the field to warrant that kind of consideration,” Fox said. “I don’t see any reason why we couldn’t be here. We’ve just got to get it done on the field.”

Heels homecoming

The Carolina baseball team’s season-long stay in Cary is a homecoming of sorts for two members of the team.

Junior Tim Federowicz and freshman Michael Knox are both Apex High alumni.

Federowicz, a catcher, is a preseason All-American and ranked the No. 8 prospect in the ACC by Baseball America. He has appeared in 140 games for the Tar Heels during his first two seasons in Chapel Hill. Last year, he hit .333, with 97 hits and 65 RBIs.

“He’s had two really good years here,” UNC coach Mike Fox said. “He had a terrific year last year. He got 97 hits and he’s one of the top catchers out there in college baseball right now. He’s been highly touted. He’s a terrific kid, very coachable. And he’s got a chance to be a special player. We’re counting on him to do some special things for us.”

Knox, however, will not be on the field at all this year.

He suffered a knee injury during fall ball and he will redshirt his freshman year. Knox has been down this path before. He missed almost all of his junior year at Apex with a stress fracture in his left foot.

The knee injury, in a backwards sort of way, could be something that will help Knox and the Tar Heels down the road. With sophomore Dustin Ackley, the consensus national freshman of the year in 2007, back for his sophomore year, innings at first base were going to be hard to come by.

So Knox will have an additional year to get healthy and stronger without sacrificing a year of his eligibility.

“I don’t know what [Knox’s] situation would have been,” Fox said. “We have seven starters back from last year, so you can’t imagine too many freshman were going to come in and play a great deal. Sometimes, it’s a blessing and guys have to look at it that way. That happens everywhere in life. They look like they’re the worst thing ever, but after you go through them and look back at that time, you’re like, ‘Maybe that wasn’t as bad as I thought.’”