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.

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ACC standings

Coastal Division

	ACC	GB	Overall	Streak
No. 21 Virginia	19–11	—	44–11	W9
No. 11 Miami	18–12	1	37–18	W2
No. 16 Duke	16–13	2½	35–19	L2
North Carolina	14–14	4	33–21	L4
Virginia Tech	12–17	6½	30–21	W1
Georgia Tech	12–18	7	30–24	L4
Pittsburgh	10–18	8	23–30	L3

Atlantic Division

	ACC	GB	Overall	Streak
No. 1 Wake Forest	22–7	—	45–9	L1
No. 7 Clemson	20–10	2½	39–17	W12
No. 22 Boston College	16–14	6½	34–17	W2
Notre Dame	15–15	7½	30–22	L3
N.C. State	13–16	9	34–18	W3
Louisville	10–20	12½	31–24	L2
Florida State	9–21	13½	23–31	W2

Thursday’s results
No. 7 Clemson 14, UNC 7
N.C. State 7, Pittsburgh 2
No. 1 Wake Forest 6, Virginia Tech 3
No. 21 Virginia 12, Georgia Tech 5
Notre Dame 5, Boston College 1
No. 16 Duke 5, No. 11 Miami 3
Louisville 7, Florida State 4
Friday’s results
No. 7 Clemson 5, UNC 4
Boston College 7, Notre Dame 2
Boston College 8, Notre Dame 4
N.C. State 17, Pittsburgh 8
No. 1 Wake Forest 7, Virginia Tech 5
No. 21 Virginia 10, Georgia Tech 6
Florida State 7, Louisville 4
No. 11 Miami 10, No. 16 Duke 8, 11 innings
Saturday’s games
No. 21 Virginia 8, Georgia Tech 7
No. 7 Clemson 3, UNC 1
N.C. State 8, Pittsburgh 2
Florida State 6, Louisville 2
Virginia Tech 14, No. 1 Wake Forest 6
No. 11 Miami 10, No. 16 Duke 1
END REGULAR SEASON
ACC tournament at Durham Bulls Athletic Park
May 23–28

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UNC statistics

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Date	Month/day	Score	Opponent (current rank)	Location	Record
	Feb.
17	Friday	10–8 L	Seton Hall	Home	0–1
18	Saturday	11–2 W	Seton Hall	Home	1–1
19	Sunday	4–2 W	Seton Hall	Home	2–1
21	Tuesday	14–2 W	Radford	Home	3–1
22	Wed.	10–0 W	Longwood	Home	4–1
24	Friday	6–5 L	No. 15 East Carolina	Greenville	4–2
26	Sunday	6–5 L	No. 15 East Carolina	Home	4–3
28	Tuesday	10–4 W	VCU	Home	5–3
	March
1	Wed.	14–10 W	VCU	Home	6–3
3	Friday	3–2 W 11 innings	Stony Brook	Home	7–3
4	Saturday	7–5 W	Stony Brook	Home	8–3
5	Sunday	15–4 W	Stony Brook	Home	9–3
7	Tuesday	8–4 W, 5 innings	Western Carolina	Home	10–3
8	Wed.	15–5 W	Penn State	Home	11–3
10	Friday	7–3 L	No. 11 Virginia	Home	11–4, 0–1 ACC
11	Saturday	8–4 L	No. 11 Virginia	Home	11–5, 0–2 ACC
11	Saturday	6–0 W	No. 11 Virginia	Home	12–5, 1–2 ACC
14	Tuesday	16–3 W	Charlotte	Charlotte	13–5
15	Wed.	16–2 W	High Point	Home	14–5
17, 18	Friday, Saturday	17–7 W	Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh	15–5, 2–2 ACC
21	Tuesday	6–4 W	N.C. A&T	Home	16–5
23	Thursday	6–3 W	Duke	Home	17–5, 3–2 ACC
24	Friday	8–5 L	Duke	Home	17–6, 3–3 ACC
25	Saturday	5–3 W	Duke	Home	18–6, 4–3 ACC
28	Tuesday	12–7 L	No. 9 Coastal Carolina	Home	18–7
31	Friday	10–8 W	Notre Dame	South Bend, Ind.	19–7, 5–3 ACC
	April
2	Sunday	5–2 W	Notre Dame	South Bend, Ind.	20–7, 6–3 ACC
2	Sunday	9–1 L	Notre Dame	South Bend, Ind	20–8, 6–4 ACC
4	Tuesday	5–0 L	South Carolina	Charlotte	20–9
6	Thursday	8–1 W	Georgia Tech	Atlanta	21–9, 7–4 ACC
7	Friday	10–6 W	Georgia Tech	Atlanta	22–9, 8–4 ACC
7	Friday	8–4 L	Georgia Tech	Atlanta	22–10, 8–5 ACC
11	Tuesday	10–6 W	Queens	Home	23–10
13	Thursday	5–4 L	No. 8 Miami	Home	23–11, 8–6 ACC
14/15	Friday, Saturday	9–8 W, 11 inn.	No. 8 Miami	Home	24–11, 9–6 ACC
15	Saturday	4–3 L	No. 8 Miami	Home	24–12, 9–7 ACC
18	Tuesday	5–3 W	Charlotte	Home	25–12
21	Friday	9–8 L, 10 inn.	Boston College	Home	25–13, 9–8 ACC
22	Saturday	9–4 L	Boston College	Home	25–14, 9–9 ACC
23	Sunday	6–2 L	Boston College	Home	25–15, 9–10 ACC
25	Tuesday	18–2 W	UNCW	Home	26–15
28	Friday	7–0 L	Virginia Tech	Blacksburg, Va.	26–16, 9–11 ACC
29	Saturday	12–8 W	Virginia Tech	Blacksburg, Va.	27–16, 10–11 ACC
29	Saturday	13–7 W	Virginia Tech	Blacksburg, Va.	28–16, 11–11 ACC
	May
2	Tuesday	6–5 L	No. 11 Campbell	Home	28–17
3	Wed.	2–1 W	No. 15 East Carolina	Greenville	29–17
9	Tuesday	5–4 W	Gardner-Webb	Home	30–17
11	Thursday	9–8 W	N.C. State	Home	31–17, 12–11 ACC
12	Friday	9–3 W	N.C. State	Home	32–17, 13–11 ACC
13	Saturday	12–2 W	N.C. State	Home	33–17, 14–11 ACC
16	Tuesday	8–6 L	No. 9 Coastal Carolina	Conway, S.C.	33–18
18	Thursday	14–7 L	No. 3 Clemson	Clemson, S.C.	33–19, 14–12 ACC
19	Friday	5–4 L	No. 3 Clemson	Clemson, S.C.	33–20, 14–13 ACC
20	Saturday	3–1 L	No. 3 Clemson	Clemson, S.C.	33–21, 14–14 ACC
			ACC tournament
23	Tuesday	11–5 W	Georgia Tech	Durham	34–21
25	Thursday	10–2 W	No. 11 Virginia	Durham	35–21
27	Saturday	10–4 L	Semifinal vs. No. 3 Clemson	Durham	35–22
	June		NCAA tournament
			Terre Haute Regional
2	Friday	5–4 L	Iowa	Terre Haute, Ind.	35–23
3	Saturday	5–0 W	Wright State	Terre Haute, Ind.	36–23
4	Sunday	6–5 L, 13 innings	Iowa	Terre Haute, Ind.	36–24

Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics Communications