By R.L. Bynum

Entering North Carolina’s big regular-season-ending three-game series at No. 7 Clemson, the Tar Heels still have a shot at winning the ACC Coastal Division title while still being projected as a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament.

The Tar Heels (33–18, 14–11 ACC), who lost at No. 8 Coastal Carolina on Tuesday 8–6 playing without four regulars, would need to sweep the Tigers (36–17, 17–10) and get help to win the division. Additionally, UNC would need Miami (35–21, 16–11), Virginia (41–11, 16–11) and Duke (35–17, 15–11), to each lose once this weekend. The Blue Devils play at Miami and the Cavaliers at Georgia Tech.

At least winning the series against the Tigers, who have won nine consecutive games, would also help the NCAA resume for UNC, which fell one spot to No. 25 in the RPI after Tuesday’s loss.

Junior right-hander Max Carlson (4–1, 5.69 ERA, top photo), coming off a magnificent performance in Friday’s 9–3 victory over N.C. State, will start Thursday’s 6 p.m. opener (ESPN3) against Clemson freshman left-hander Ethan Darden (3–2, 5.44 ERA). Junior right-hander Jake Knapp (4–3, 4.78 ERA), who had his best performance of the season in Saturday’s 12–2 victory over the Wolfpack, starts in Friday’s 6 p.m. game (ESPN3) against sophomore Tigers right-hander Austin Gordon (1–4, 3.60 ERA). It’s UNC’s first visit to Clemson since 2019.

All three bracket projections have Carolina as a No. 2 seed, but the Tar Heels likely still have a shot at being a host if they can have a big weekend at Clemson and do well during next week’s ACC tournament at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

Both D1 Baseball and College Sports Madness have UNC ticketed for Columbia, S.C., with No. 13 South Carolina as the host. Both have Southern Cal as the No. 3 seed, with D1 Baseball projecting Central Connecticut State as the fourth seed and College Sports Madness listing St. Joseph’s as the No. 4 seed.

Baseball America projects Carolina to be headed back to Conway, S.C., with Coastal Carolina as the No. 1 seed, Arizona State as the No. 3 seed and Fairfield as the No. 4 seed.

Clemson, projected by all three to be a host, also hopes to solidify its NCAA resume. After losing their first three ACC series, Clemson has won 14 of its last 15 and 20 of its last 24 games.