By R.L. Bynum
After making a thrilling run to the Men’s College World Series, North Carolina moved up one spot to a season-high No. 5 in the final D1 Baseball Top 25 released on Wednesday as the honors keep rolling in for junior outfielder Vance Honeycutt.
UNC slipped one spot to No. 4 in the final Baseball America poll and remained at a season-high No. 5 in the final USA Today coaches poll.
Also on Wednesday, D1 Baseball named Honeycutt to its All-America first team and reliever Dalton Pence to its All-America second team and also was named to the NCAA All-Tournament team. Honeycutt became the fifth player in program history to make five All-America teams after making the first teams for the American Baseball Coaches Association, Perfect Game, Baseball America and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.
Carolina is one of five ACC teams in the top 10 in the D1 Baseball poll, with Florida State No. 4 (49–17; up five spots), N.C. State No. 6 (39–23; up five spots), Virginia No. 7 (46–17; up 11 spots) and Clemson No. 9 (44–16; down six spots). Also in the final poll is Duke at No. 24 (40–20; down 12 spots), while Wake Forest (38–22), No. 19 in the previous poll, dropped out.
The Tar Heels (48–16), who were No. 15 in the preseason poll and fell to a season-low No. 20 on March 18, won the most games under fourth-year Coach Scott Forbes and the most since winning 49 in 2017.
LSU (43–23), which UNC beat twice in the Chapel Hill Regional, fell out of the poll after previously being ranked No. 25. West Virginia (36–24), which the Tar Heels swept in the Chapel Hill Super Regional, went from unranked to No. 13 in the final poll.
On Tuesday, the ABCA and ATEC named Forbes the Division I Atlantic Region Coach of the Year, becoming the third UNC coach to earn the honor after Mike Fox won it four times and Mike Roberts won it in 1989.
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Honeycutt hit a career-best .318 while setting school records for home runs (28) and runs (88) with career-highs of 70 RBI and 81 hits. He finished the season ranked third nationally in runs and seventh in home runs while leading the ACC in both categories. Honeycutt ranked third in the conference in stolen bases (28) and total bases (182) and sixth in RBIs and slugging percentage (.714).
Pence, who earned second-team All-America honors from Baseball America and third-team honors from Perfect Game, was 5–1 record with eight saves in an ACC-best 36 appearances, second-most among all Division I pitchers.
D1 Baseball Top 25
| Rank | Team | Record | NCAA tournament Record | Previous |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tennessee | 60–13 | 10–2 | 1 |
| 2 | Texas A&M | 53–15 | 9–2 | 4 |
| 3 | Kentucky | 46–16 | 6–2 | 2 |
| 4 | Florida State | 49–17 | 7–2 | 9 |
| 5 | North Carolina | 48–16 | 6–3 | 6 |
| 6 | N.C. State | 38–23 | 5–3 | 11 |
| 7 | Virginia | 46–17 | 5–2 | 18 |
| 8 | Florida | 36–30 | 7–2 | NR |
| 9 | Clemson | 44–16 | 3–2 | 3 |
| 10 | Oregon State | 45–16 | 3–2 | 7 |
| 11 | Georgia | 43–17 | 4–2 | 10 |
| 12 | Oregon | 40–20 | 3–2 | NR |
| 13 | West Virginia | 36–24 | 3–2 | NR |
| 14 | Kansas State | 35–26 | 3–2 | NR |
| 15 | Connecticut | 35–26 | 3–3 | NR |
| 16 | Evansville | 39–26 | 4–3 | NR |
| 17 | Arkansas | 44–16 | 1–2 | 5 |
| 18 | Oklahoma | 40–21 | 3–2 | 8 |
| 19 | UC Santa Barbara | 44–14 | 2–2 | 13 |
| 20 | East Carolina | 46–17 | 3–2 | 14 |
| 21 | Oklahoma State | 42–19 | 2–2 | 16 |
| 22 | Mississippi State | 40–23 | 2–2 | 17 |
| 23 | UC Irvine | 45–14 | 2–2 | 21 |
| 24 | Duke | 40–20 | 1–2 | 12 |
| 25 | Arizona | 36–23 | 1–2 | 15 |
| Dropped out | ||||
| Wake Forest | 38–22 | 0–2 | 19 | |
| Indiana State | 44–15 | 2–2 | 20 | |
| Louisiana | 42–20 | 2–2 | 22 | |
| Southern Miss | 43–20 | 2–2 | 23 | |
| Date(s) | Day/ month | Times/ scores | Opponent (current rank) | Record/ TV * |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February | ||||
| 13–14 | Fri., Sat. | W, 9–4; W, 12–2 (7); W, 4–3 (11) | vs. Indiana | 3–0 |
| 17 | Tuesday | W, 10–0 (7) | vs. Richmond | 4–0 |
| 18 | Wednesday | W, 5–3 | vs. Longwood | 5–0 |
| 20–22 | Fri.-Sun | W, 10–0 (8); L, 10–3; T, 3–3 | vs. East Carolina | 6–1–1 |
| 24 | Tuesday | W, 9–1 | vs. N.C. A&T | 7–1–1 |
| 25 | Wednesday | W, 13–3 (7) | vs. VCU | 8–1–1 |
| 27–28 | Fri., Sat. | W, 16–3 (7); W, 12–2 (7) | vs. Le Moyne | 10–1–1 |
| March | ||||
| 1 | Sunday | W, 21–1 (7) | vs. Le Moyne | 11–1–1 |
| 3 | Tuesday | W, 5–1 | vs. Elon | 12–1–1 |
| 6–7 | Fri., Sat | L, 13–3 (7); L, 9–2; W, 8–7 (12) | vs. No. 10 Virginia | 13–3–1, 1–2 ACC |
| 10 | Tuesday | W, 13–3 (7) | vs. Bucknell | 14–3–1 |
| 13–15 | Fri.-Sun. | W, 8–1; W, 6–2; W, 10–2 | at California | 17–3–1, 4–2 |
| 18 | Wednesday | W, 8–2 | vs. UNCG | 18–3–1 |
| 20–22 | Fri.–Sun. | W, 11–1 (8); L, 2–0; W, 7–6 | vs. Louisville | 20–4–1, 6–3 |
| 24 | Tuesday | W, 9–1 | vs. South Carolina in Charlotte | 21–4–1 |
| 28, 29 | Sat., Sun | W, 6–5; W, 13–7; W, 15–10 | at Notre Dame | 24–4–1, 9–3 |
| 31 | Tuesday | W, 5–4 (14) | vs. Campbell | 25–4–1 |
| April | ||||
| 2–4 | Thur.-Sat. | L, 6–1, W, 5–2, W, 8–7 | vs. No. 24 Boston College | 27–5–1, 11–4 |
| 7 | Tuesday | W, 8–4 | vs. Charlotte | 28–5–1 |
| 10–12 | Fri.–Sun. | L, 9–5, W, 6–4 (14), W, 12–5 | at Clemson | 30–6–1, 13–5 |
| 14 | Tuesday | W, 14–5 | vs. UNCW | 31–6–1 |
| 17–19 | Fri-Sun. | 6, noon, 1 | vs. No. 2 Georgia Tech | Sat., Sun. ACCN |
| 21 | Tuesday | 6 p.m. | vs. High Point | |
| 23–25 | Thu.-Sat. | 7, 6, 3 | at Duke | Thurs. ACCN |
| 28 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | vs. No. 7 Coastal Carolina | ACCN |
| 29 | Wednesday | 6 p.m. | vs. Queens | |
| May | ||||
| 3 | Sunday | 2 p.m. (non-conference game) | vs. Duke | ACCN |
| 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 N.C. State | Thurs. ACCN |
| 19–24 | Tues.-Sun. | ACC tournament | Charlotte | ACCN (final ESPN2) |
| 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. |
- Games not on TV stream on ACC Network Extra unless otherwise note.
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
