By R.L. Bynum
How good is the ACC? No. 7-ranked North Carolina earned the No. 1 seed in the league tournament but will have to play the nation’s No. 8-ranked team in its pool.
When No. 17-ranked N.C. State (32–19, 18–11 ACC) finished a three-game weekend sweep of No. 8-ranked Wake Forest, that earned the Wolfpack the No. 3 seed in the ACC tournament and bumped the Deacons to the No. 8 seed.
That means Wake Forest (36–19, 15–15), likely dropping when the new D1Baseball poll comes out Monday, will be in UNC’s Pool A along with No. 12-seed Pittsburgh (26–27, 10–20). UNC swept both teams during the regular season, beating the Panthers in Chapel Hill 2–1, 7–4 and 6–5 (10 innings) on March 8–10 and topping the Deacons 6–5, 10–6 and 14–10 in Winston-Salem on March 29–31.
In Pool C with the Wolfpack will be No. 11-ranked and No. 6-seed Duke (35–18, 16–14) and No. 10-seed Virginia Tech (32–19, 14–15). In Pool B will be No. 4-ranked and No. 2-seed Clemson (40–13, 20–10), Louisville (32–22, 16–14) and Miami (25–29, 11–19). Pool D will include No. 18-ranked and No. 4-seed Virginia (39–14, 17–12), No. 10-ranked and No. 5-seed Florida State (39–13, 17–11) and No. 9-seed Georgia Tech (30–21, 14–15).
Saturday’s semifinals will match the Pool A winner and the Pool D winner at 1 p.m., with the winner of Pool B facing the Pool C winner at 5 p.m.
The ACC will announce the pool-play schedule on Sunday morning.
As the No. 1 seed, UNC (41–12, 22–8) can pick when it plays its round-robin games at the event.
Pool play for the tournament at Charlotte’s Truist Field is Tuesday through Friday. The ACC won’t announce the schedule until Sunday morning, but UNC coach Scott Forbes said after the Tar Heels’ 14–6 series-clinching victory Saturday over No. 11 Duke that he’ll likely decide to have his team play Thursday and Friday.
Forbes wants to keep his top two starters, freshman Jason DeCaro and junior Shea Sprague, on their regular rest after they pitched Thursday and Friday, respectively, during the Duke series.
“We’re going to do what’s best to make sure our starters have a chance to get back down there and in their best routines,” Forbes said. “Most likely, we’ll pick where we go Thursday, Friday so DeCaro can stay on that routine.”
DeCaro struck out four, giving up six hits and two earned runs in 5⅓ innings in Thursday’s opening-game 5–3 loss to Duke. Sprague went six innings, giving up five hits and four earned runs while striking out three, in Friday’s 6–4 win over the Blue Devils.
If UNC advances to Saturday’s semifinals, junior Aiden Haugh, who gave up four hits and three runs with six strikeouts in 4⅔ innings of Saturday’s 14–6 win over Duke, likely would be the starter in that scenario.
Last season, No. 1 seed Wake Forest decided to play its pool-play games Thursday and Friday. The Demon Deacons already had clinched a semifinal berth before they played that Friday game. Although Wake Forest lost in the semifinals, knowing Friday’s game meant little allowed the Deacs to better prepare their pitching staff for the weekend ahead of their run to the College World Series.
That dynamic isn’t part of Forbes’ thinking.
“Not really,” Forbes said. “For me, it’s more from the pitching side. I want our pitchers ready. We want to try to win the ACC tournament. We’re competitors. We can have them ready for their routine for the next weekend, for Friday, Saturday, Sunday. And the best way to do that is most likely to play Thursday.”
As the No. 7 seed in last season’s ACC tournament in Durham, UNC beat No. 11 Georgia Tech 11–5 on Tuesday and No. 6 Virginia 10–2 on Thursday to advance to the semifinals, where they lost 10–4 to No. 3 Clemson.
ACC tournament
At Durham Bulls Athletic Park
Buy tickets at durhambulls.com or theacc.com/tickets
Tuesday’s first round
No. 16 California 12, No. 9 Miami 2, 8 innings
No. 12 Virginia Tech 7, No. 13 Stanford 4
No. 15 Pittsburgh 13, No. 10 Louisville 11
No. 14 Boston College 5, No. 11 Notre Dame 4, 10 innings
Wednesday’s second round
California 14, No. 8 seed Wake Forest 12
No. 5 Clemson 6, Virginia Tech 1
No. 7 Duke 4, Pittsburgh 3
Boston College 12, No. 6 Virginia 8
Quarterfinals
Thursday’s results
No. 1 seed Georgia Tech 10, California 3
Clemson 7, No. 4 seed N.C. State 6
Friday’s results
No. 2 seed Florida State 14, Duke 7
No. 3 seed North Carolina 7, Boston College 2
Saturday’s semifinals
Clemson 9, Georgia Tech 4
North Carolina 7, Florida State 5
Sunday’s championship
North Carolina 14, Clemson 4
ACC standings
| League | GB | Overall | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No. 16 Georgia Tech | 19–11 | — | 39–16 |
| No. 6 Florida State | 17–10 | ½ | 37–13 |
| No. 3 North Carolina | 18–11 | ½ | 39–12 |
| No. 22 N.C. State | 17–11 | 1 | 33–18 |
| No. 14 Clemson | 18–12 | 1 | 41–15 |
| Virginia | 16–11 | 1½ | 32–17 |
| Duke | 17–13 | 2 | 36–18 |
| Wake Forest | 16–14 | 3 | 36–19 |
| Miami | 15–14 | 3½ | 31–23 |
| No. 21 Louisville | 15–15 | 4 | 35–20 |
| Notre Dame | 14–16 | 5 | 32–20 |
| Virginia Tech | 12–18 | 7 | 30–24 |
| Boston College | 11–19 | 8 | 26–28 |
| Stanford | 11–19 | 8 | 27–24 |
| Pittsburgh | 10–20 | 9 | 27–26 |
| California | 9–21 | 10½ | 22–30 |
Thursday-Saturday series
No. 16 Georgia Tech at Duke: Thursday: GT 7–6; Friday: Duke 14–4 (7 innings); Saturday: GT 8–2
No. 14 Clemson at Pittsburgh: Clemson swept 6–1, 11–2 and 13–6
Virginia at Virginia Tech: Thursday: Va. 12–2; Friday: VT 5–4; Saturday: Va. 3–1
Stanford at No. 22 N.C. State: Thursday: State 7–2: Friday: Stanford 4–3, 10 innings; Saturday: Stanford 6–3
Wake Forest at Louisville: Thursday: WF 14–4; Friday: WF 5–4; Saturday: UL 14–9
No. 3 North Carolina at No. 6 Florida State: Thursday: UNC 8–3: Friday: UNC 11–1, 7 innings; Saturday: FSU 5–4
Notre Dame at Miami: Thursday: ND 3–2; Friday: Miami 15–1, 7 innings: Saturday: ND 12–2
Boston College at California: Thursday: Cal 8–6; Friday: BC 10–9; Saturday: Cal 4–3, 10 innings
UNC scores
| Date(s) | Day/ month | Times | Opponent (current rank) |
|---|---|---|---|
| February | |||
| 13–15 | Fri.-Sat. | 4, noon, 1 | vs. Indiana |
| 17 | Tuesday | 4 p.m. | vs. Richmond |
| 18 | Wednesday | 4 p.m. | vs. Longwood |
| 20–22 | Fri.-Sun. | 4 (Greenville), 2 (DBAP), 2 (CH) | vs. East Carolina |
| 24 | Tuesday | 4 p.m. | vs. N.C. A&T |
| 25 | Wednesday | 4 p.m. | vs. VCU |
| 27–28 | Fri., Sat. | 4 p.m., 2 p.m. | vs. Le Moyne |
| March | |||
| 1 | Sunday | 1 p.m. | vs. Le Moyne |
| 3 | Tuesday | 4 p.m. | vs. Elon |
| 6–8 | Fri.-Sun. | 4, 2, 1 | vs. Virginia |
| 10 | Tuesday | 4 p.m. | vs. Bucknell |
| 13–15 | Fri.-Sun. | 9, 5, 4 | at California |
| 18 | Wednesday | 4 p.m. | vs. UNCG |
| 20–22 | Fri.-Sun. | 8, 2, 1 | vs. No. 8 Louisville |
| 24 | Tuesday | 6:30 | vs. South Carolina in Charlotte |
| 27–29 | Fri.-Sun. | 6:30, 3, 1 | at Notre Dame |
| 31 | Tuesday | 8 p.m. | vs. Campbell |
| April | |||
| 2–4 | Thur.-Sat. | 6, 6, 2 | vs. Boston College |
| 7 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | vs. Charlotte |
| 10–12 | Fri.-Sun. | 6, 2, 12:30 | at No. 19 Clemson |
| 14 | Tuesday | 6 p.m. | vs. UNCW |
| 17–19 | Fri-Sun. | 6, noon, 1 | vs. No. 5 Georgia Tech |
| 21 | Tuesday | 6 p.m. | vs. High Point |
| 23–25 | Fri.-Sun. | 7, 6, 3 | at Duke |
| 28 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | vs. No. 6 Coastal Carolina |
| 29 | Wednesday | 6 p.m. | vs. Queens |
| May | |||
| 3 | Sunday | 2 p.m. (non-conference game) | vs. Duke |
| 6 | Wednesday | 6 p.m. | vs. Winthrop |
| 8–10 | Fri.-Sun. | 6, noon, 1 | vs. Pittsburgh |
| 12 | Tuesday | 6 p.m. | at UNCW |
| 14–16 | Thurs.-Sat. | 7, 6, 1 | at No. 17 N.C. State |
| 19–24 | Tues.-Sun. | ACC tournament | Charlotte |
| 29–31 | Fri.-Sun. | NCAA Regionals | Campus sites |
| June | |||
| 5–7 | Fri.-Sun. | NCAA Super Regionals | Campus sites |
| 12–22 | Fri.-Mon | College World Series | Omaha, Neb. |
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics; graphic courtesy of the ACC
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