By R.L. Bynum

Carolina will head to Terre Haute, Ind., for NCAA regional play.

Host Indiana State (42–15), No. 23 in the latest D1 Baseball poll, one of 16 regional hosts and the No. 14 overall seed, will welcome No. 3-seed UNC, No. 4 Wright State (39–21) and No. 2 seed Iowa (42–14).

UNC (35–22) will play Iowa in the first game Friday at 7 p.m. (ACC Network), starting either Max Carlson or Jake Knapp. The Hawkeyes lost to Maryland 4–0 in the Big Ten tournament championship game on Sunday in Omaha, Ind.

The series will be played on a turf field. Carolina is familiar with that, having played on turf fields at Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, Charlotte and Virginia Tech.

Carolina is 12–18 against the NCAA tournament field, with Iowa 6–8, Wright State 3–8 and Indiana State 3–9.

Host Indiana State won the Missouri Valley Conference tournament Saturday with a 6–0 win over Evansville in Terre Haute. Wright State won the Horizon League tournament with a 14–0 victory Saturday over Oakland in Dayton, Ohio.

UNC and Iowa have met twice, most recently in 2020, with the Hawkeyes winning 5–4 at the Cambrian Classic in Minneapolis, Minn. The Tar Heels won 5–3 in the other meeting at at the 1990 NCAA Northeast Regional in Waterbury, Conn.

North Carolina and Wright State last met in 2012, and the Tar Heels are 3–0 all-time against the Raiders. UNC has never played Indiana State.

It will be UNC’s 35th NCAA tournament appearance but only their fourth time playing in a road regional since 2006 and first since going to Lubbock, Texas, in 2021.

The Terre Haute regional is paired with the Fayetteville, Ark., region, which features No. 4-ranked and host Arkansas (41–16), Santa Clara (35–18), TCU (37–22) and Arizona (33–24).

UNC won its pool at the ACC tournament at Durham Bulls Athletic Park with an 11–5 victory Tuesday over Georgia Tech and a 10–2 win Thursday over No. 12-ranked Virginia before losing 10–4 to No. 6 Clemson in a semifinal game Saturday.

Junior catcher Tomas Frick (top photo), who made the ACC All-Tournament team, went 8 of 14 with two home runs and nine RBI in the three tournament games.