By R.L. Bynum

North Carolina’s weekend sweep of N.C. State didn’t get the Tar Heels back in the D1 Baseball Top 25, but gave them an outside shot at winning the ACC Coastal Division title entering a week featuring two opponents ranked in the top eight nationally.

UNC (33–17, 14–11 ACC) faces a challenging non-conference game Tuesday (ESPN+) at No. 8 Coastal Carolina (33–17), which comes off a weekend road sweep of South Alabama. The Chanticleers beat UNC 12–7 in a wild game in Chapel Hill on March 28.

Right-hander Connor Bovair (4–2, 4.77 ERA), who exited after getting only one out in Thursday’s win over N.C. State, will start for the Tar Heels against Chanticleers left-hander Bryce Shaffer (4–1, 6.86 ERA). It’s the third start for Shaffer, who pitched a scoreless inning of relief in the first game against UNC.

Coastal designated hitter and first baseman Derek Bender is one of Collegiate Baseball’s National Players of the Week after hitting .429 with three home runs, eight RBI and a .857 slugging percentage in four games last week.

Carolina leads the all-time series with Coastal Carolina 47–21, including 13–7 in Conway, S.C. UNC is 7–1 against common opponents and Coastal is 2–4. The Chanticleers lost to N.C. State (which UNC is 3–0 against), VCU (2–0) and Charlotte (2–0). Coastal won two of three against Campbell, which beat UNC.

Carolina, which has won its last five games, has the toughest ACC series to finish the regular season of the four Coastal contenders, playing at No. 7 Clemson (35–17, 17–10) beginning Thursday, with right-hander Max Carlson (4–1, 5.69 ERA) starting for UNC in the opener. The Tigers have swept their last two league series and have won eight consecutive games. The Tigers swept Louisville in a home series May 5–7 and won three last weekend at Virginia Tech.

Which conference for UNC?

If #UNC left for another league, which one would you prefer?
— R.L. Bynum (@RL_Bynum) May 15, 2023

Bovair will be on a pitch count against Coastal Carolina and also will start against Clemson, likely starting Saturday with right-hander Jake Knapp (4–3, 4.78 ERA) likely starting Friday.

Virginia (41–11) and Miami (34–17) are tied for the Coastal lead at 16–11, with Duke (34–16) a half-game out at 15–11 and Carolina a game out at 14–11.

Virginia plays at Georgia Tech (30–21, 12–15) and would win the Coastal if it finishes tied with Miami. Because of game cancellations earlier this season, a tie between the Cavaliers and Duke or UNC would only be possible if there are cancellations this weekend.

The other two contenders play each other, with Duke visiting Miami.

To win the Coastal, UNC must sweep Clemson ahd have Miami, Virginia and Duke all lose at least one game this weekend.

Carolina is unranked in the D1 Baseball poll for the fourth consecutive week. The Tar Heels were No. 18 before Boston College swept them in a three-game series April 21–23 in Chapel Hill, and they have been unranked since then. UNC also didn’t make the Baseball America ranking but is No. 24 in College Baseball Central’s ranking.

UNC has moved up eight spots in the RPI over the last eight days at No. 24 but will need to keep rising if it hopes to be a regional host in the NCAA tournament. Projections last week had the Tar Heels either playing in South Carolina’s regional in Columbia, S.C., or Coastal Carolina’s regional in Conway.