UNC moves up in Top 25 baseball poll after 27th straight home win

R.L. Bynum

By R.L. Bynum

After North Carolina’s weekend sweep of Notre Dame for its school-record 27th consecutive home victory, the Tar Heels moved up two spots to No. 11 in the latest D1 Baseball Top 25 poll.

The Tar Heels (29–7, 14–4 ACC) lead the ACC Coastal Division by three games over No. 7 Duke (26–10; rank unchanged) No. 10 Virginia (28–8; rank unchanged) and No. 23 Virginia Tech (23–10; down seven spot), who are tied for second place at 11–7.

“We’ve played well in the league,” UNC coach Scott Forbes said after Sunday’s 10–3 win over the Irish. “I’m happy where we are, but we obviously have to keep getting better in all areas. I felt like this weekend we played well. If they made a mistake, we capitalized on it. I feel like we played good defense for the most part, overall.”

UNC is No. 5 in the RPI, second only in the ACC to Clemson at No. 1.

After taking care of Notre Dame (15–18, 2–16), UNC faces much-tougher games this week. The Tar Heels host Coastal Carolina (24–11), which moved up one spot to No. 19, at 6 p.m. Tuesday (ESPN3).

UNC then heads to Raleigh for a three-game series on Thursday at 7 p.m. (ACC Network), Friday at 6 p.m. (ESPN3), and Saturday at 1 p.m. (ESPN3) against N.C. State (20–13, 10–8), which took two of three at Clemson last weekend. The Tigers (29–6, 11–4) fell four spots to No. 6 in the D1 Baseball Top 25.

Other ACC teams in the poll are No. 8 Florida State (30–5, 10–5; up two spots) and No. 12 Wake Forest (24–11, 8–8; up two spots).

Carolina has played two non-conference teams in the poll, losing two of three to No. 9 East Carolina (27–8; rank unchanged) and losing 2–1 last Tuesday in Charlotte to No. 20 South Carolina (25–11; rank unchanged).

D1 Baseball Top 25

RankTeam RecordPrevious
1Texas A&M32–43
2Arkansas30–51
3Kentucky30–58
4Tennessee30–64
5Oregon State29-–55
6Clemson29-–62
7Duke26–107
8Florida State30-–510
9East Carolina27–89
10Virginia28-–811
11North Carolina29-–713
12Wake Forest24–1114
13Vanderbilt26–106
14Louisiana28–919
15Oklahoma State25–1121
16Oregon25–1018
17UC Irvine25–712
18Alabama24–1225
19Coastal Carolina24–1120
20South Carolina25–11NR
21Arizona21–13NR
22West Virginia22-–13NR
23Virginia Tech23–1016
24Georgia27–9NR
25Dallas Baptist26–815

ACC standings

Coastal DivisionLeagueOverall
No. 12 North Carolina17–733–11
No. 11 Virginia14–1033–12
No. 10 Duke14–1030–14
Virginia Tech13–1127–14
Georgia Tech11–1027–15
Miami8–1619–24
Pittsburgh5–1618–22
Atlantic DivisionLeagueOverall
No. 4 Clemson15–634–9
No. 7 Florida State13–834–9
No. 21 N.C. State12–925–16
No. 13 Wake Forest12–1227–16
Louisville10–1125–18
Boston College8–1621–21
Notre Dame7–1722–20

(Unless otherwise indicated, games only stream on ESPN3)
Sunday’s results
Virginia Tech 4, No. 12 North Carolina 3
Notre Dame 8, No. 13 Wake Forest 7
No. 10 Duke 16, No. 7 Florida State 4
Georgia Tech 17, Miami 1
Pittsburgh 5, Bryant 2
No. 20 N.C. State 9, Ball State 3
No. 4 Clemson 17, Louisville 7
Tuesday’s games
UMass Lowell at Boston College, 3 p.m.
UNCW at No. 20 N.C. State, 5 p.m.
Northern Kentucky at Louisville, 6 p.m.
No. 13 Wake Forest vs. Appalachian State in Shelby, 6 p.m.
West Virginia at Pittsburgh, 6 p.m.
No. 11 Virginia at VCU, 6:30
Charlotte at No. 12 North Carolina, 7 p.m.. ACC Network
Wednesday’s games
William & Mary at No. 12 North Carolina, 6 p.m.
No. 13 Wake Forest at High Point, 6 p.m.
Navy at No. 11 Virginia, 6 p.m.
N.C. A&T at Virginia Tech, 7 p.m.

DateDay/
month		Time/
score		Opponent/event
(current ranks)		TV/
record
February
16FridayW, 10–3vs. Wagner1–0
17SaturdayW, 16–5vs. Wagner2–0
18SundayW, 20–6vs. Wagner3–0
20TuesdayW, 8–7vs. Elon4–0
23FridayW, 2–1vs. No. 5 East Carolina5–0
24SaturdayL, 7–4vs. No. 5 East Carolina
in Fayetteville		5–1
25SundayL, 10–9at No. 5 East Carolina5–2
27TuesdayW, 8–2vs. VCU6–2
28WednesdayW, 12–3vs. Longwood7–2
March
1FridayW, 12–2vs. Princeton8–2
2SaturdayW, 11–2vs. Princeton9–2
3SundayW, 13–6vs. Princeton10–2
5TuesdayW, 7–3at Campbell11–2
8FridayW, 2–1vs. Pittsburgh12–2,
1–0 ACC
9SaturdayW, 7–3vs. Pittsburgh13–2,
2–0 ACC
10SundayW, 6–5,
10 innings		vs. Pittsburgh14–2,
3–0 ACC
12TuesdayW, 13–7vs. Rutgers15–2
13WednesdayW, 9–8vs. Rutgers16–2
15FridayL, 14–1at Miami16–3,
3–1 ACC
16SaturdayL, 2–1at Miami16–4,
3–2 ACC
17SundayW, 18–6at Miami17–4,
4–2 ACC
19TuesdayW, 11–0,
7 innings		vs. UNCW18–4
22FridayW, 5–4vs. Georgia Tech19–4,
5–2 ACC
23SaturdayW, 11–5vs. Georgia Tech20–4,
6–2 ACC
24SundayW, 9–2vs. Georgia Tech21–4,
7–2 ACC
26TuesdayW, 10–8vs. N.C. A&T22–4
29FridayW, 6–5at No. 13 Wake Forest23–4,
8–2 ACC
30SaturdayW, 10–6at No. 13 Wake Forest24–4,
9–2 ACC
31SundayW, 14–10at No. 13 Wake Forest25–4,
10–2 ACC
April
4ThursdayL, 14–11at No. 11 Virginia25–5,
10–3 ACC
5FridayL, 7–2at No. 11 Virginia25–6,
10–4 ACC
6SaturdayW, 12–7at No. 11 Virginia26–6,
11–4 ACC
9TuesdayL, 2–1vs. No. 15 South Carolina
in Charlotte		26–7
12FridayW, 13–0,
6½ innings		vs. Notre Dame27–7,
12–4 ACC
13SaturdayW, 7–2vs. Notre Dame28–7,
13–4 ACC
14SundayW, 10–3vs. Notre Dame29–7,
14–4 ACC
16TuesdayL, 5–4vs. Coastal Carolina29–8
18ThursdayL, 9–8at No. 20 N.C. State29–9,
14–5 ACC
19FridayL, 5–4at No. 20 N.C. State29–10,
14–6 ACC
20SaturdayW, 14–3at No. 20 N.C. State30–10,
15–6 ACC
23TuesdayW, 5–2vs. Gardner-Webb31–10
26FridayW, 8–1vs. Virginia Tech32–10,
16–6 ACC
27SaturdayW, 6–3vs. Virginia Tech33–10,
17–6 ACC
28SundayL, 4–3vs. Virginia Tech33–11,
17–7 ACC
30Tuesday7 p.m.vs. CharlotteACCN
May
1Wednesday6 p.m.vs. William & MaryESPN3
7Tuesday6 p.m.vs. CampbellESPN3
10Friday6 p.m.vs. LouisvilleESPN3
11Saturday2 p.m.vs. LouisvilleESPN3
12Sunday1 p.m.vs. LouisvilleACCN
14Tuesday6 p.m.at UNCWFloSports
16Thursday6 p.m.at No. 10 DukeACCN
17Friday6 p.m.at No. 10 DukeESPN3
18Saturday1 p.m.at No. 10 DukeESPN3
21–26Tuesday-
Sunday		TBAACC tournament
in Charlotte		ACCN
31FridayTBANCAA RegionalTBA
June
1–3Saturday-
Monday		TBANCAA RegionalTBA
7–10Friday-
Monday		TBANCAA Super RegionalTBA
14–24Friday-
Monday		TBACollege World Series
in Omaha, Neb.		TBA

Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics

Published by R.L. Bynum

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