By R.L. Bynum
North Carolina tied for its highest ranking of the season at No. 4 in the D1 Baseball Top 25 released Monday morning.
UNC (33–10, 15–9 ACC) was also No. 4 on March 3 after never being ranked higher than No. 5 last season when the Tar Heels made the College World Series.
Carolina remained No. 3 in the Baseball America Top 25.
Carolina won at Pittsburgh 6–0 Sunday behind seven shutout innings from sophomore Jason DeCaro to take two of three games in the weekend series and earn a league series victory for the sixth consecutive weekend.
The Tar Heels go on their exam break and don’t have an ACC series this weekend. They will host George Mason (29–15), one of three teams tied for the Atlantic 10 lead at 14–7, at 4 p.m. Tuesday and Queens College (16–24) at 6 p.m. Wednesday (both streaming on ACC Network Extra).
Carolina, which is No. 7 in the RPI, is tied for third in the ACC, 1½ games behind first-place N.C. State (30–12, 15–6), which swept a home series against Clemson last weekend and leaped 12 spots to No. 13.
The Tigers (36–10, 13–8), who only fell one spot to No. 3, were one of five teams ahead of UNC in last week’s poll to lose a weekend series. That includes second-place Florida State (31–9, 12–6), which fell one spot to No. 5 after dropping two of three at Louisville, which moved up two spots to No. 17.
Georgia Tech (30–14, 15–9) was No. 24 last week but fell out of the poll after losing two of three games in a home series against Virginia (24–16, 11–10).
Carolina has only played two teams currently ranked: beating No. 19 Coastal Carolina 6–4 in 11 innings on March 4 and losing two of three at Louisville in mid-March. The Tar Heels finish ACC play against two ranked teams, though: hosting N.C. State in a four-day, three-game series May 8–11 and visiting Florida State May 15–17.
D1 Baseball Top 25
| Rank | Team | Record | Previous |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Texas | 37–5 | 1 |
| 2 | LSU | 36–9 | 7 |
| 3 | Clemson | 36–10 | 2 |
| 4 | North Carolina | 33–10 | 8 |
| 5 | Florida State | 31–9 | 4 |
| 6 | Oregon | 30–12 | 13 |
| 7 | Oregon State | 32–10 | 3 |
| 8 | UC Irvine | 32–9 | 12 |
| 9 | Georgia | 35–11 | 10 |
| 10 | Auburn | 30–14 | 11 |
| 11 | Arkansas | 37–9 | 5 |
| 12 | Tennessee | 35–9 | 6 |
| 13 | N.C. State | 30–12 | 25 |
| 14 | UCLA | 32–11 | 15 |
| 15 | Vanderbilt | 31–13 | 9 |
| 16 | West Virginia | 37–5 | 17 |
| 17 | Louisville | 30–13 | 19 |
| 18 | Alabama | 35–10 | 18 |
| 19 | Coastal Carolina | 33–11 | 21 |
| 20 | Troy | 31–13 | 20 |
| 21 | Oklahoma | 30–13 | 14 |
| 22 | Southern Miss | 31–13 | 22 |
| 23 | Ole Miss | 31–13 | 23 |
| 24 | Arizona | 30–13 | 16 |
| 25 | Kansas | 35–10 | NR |
Dropped out: Georgia Tech
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 | Scores | Opponent (current rank) | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February | ||||
| 14–15 | Fri.-Sat. | W, 5–1; W, 8–3; W, 4–2 | vs. Texas Tech | 3–0 |
| 18 | Tuesday | W, 12–9 | vs. Kansas State | 4–0 |
| 22–24 | Sat.-Mon. | W, 2–0; W, 11–6; W, 6–4 | vs. East Carolina (DBAP, CH, G’ville) | 7–0 |
| 25 | Tuesday | W, 7–4 | vs. VCU | 8–0 |
| 26 | Wednesday | W, 13–4 | vs. N.C. A&T | 9–0 |
| 28 | Friday | W, 16–2 | vs. Stony Brook | 10–0 |
| March | ||||
| 1–2 | Sat.-Sun. | W, 6–1; W, 9–5 | vs. Stony Brook | 12–0 |
| 4 | Tuesday | W, 6–4 (11) | vs. No. 11 Coastal Carolina | 13–0 |
| 7–9 | Fri.-Sun. | L, 13–9; W, 11–1 (7); L, 7–0 | vs. Stanford | 14–2, 1–2 ACC |
| 11 | Tuesday | W, 7–3 (10) | at UNCW | 15–2 |
| 14, 16 | Fri., Sun. | L, 8–7; W, 6–4; L, 5–0 | at Louisville | 16–4, 2–4 |
| 19 | Wednesday | L, 5–1 | vs. UConn | 16–5 |
| 21–23 | Fri.-Sun. | W, 5–1; L, 3–2; W, 10–0 (7) | at Boston College | 18–6, 4–5 |
| 25 | Tuesday | W, 13–8 | vs. South Carolina in Charlotte | 19–7 |
| 28–30 | Fri.-Sun. | W, 2–0; W, 4–2; L, 4–2 | vs. Miami | 21–7, 6–6 |
| April | ||||
| 1 | Tuesday | W, 11–1 (7) | vs. Gardner-Webb | 22–7 |
| 3–5 | Thur.-Sat. | W, 4–3; L, 9–5; W, 8–7 (14) | vs. Duke | 24–8, 8–7 |
| 8 | Tuesday | W, 12–10 | at Elon | 25–8 |
| 11–13 | Fri.-Sun. | W, 11–1 (7); W, 17–1 (7); W, 3–2 | vs. Wake Forest | 28–8, 11–7 |
| 15 | Tuesday | W, 14–4 (8) | vs. Charlotte | 29–8 |
| 18–20 | Fri-Sun. | W, 9–6; L, 10–6: W, 7–5 | at Virginia Tech | 31–9, 13–8 |
| 25–27 | Fri.-Sun. | W, 15–5; L, 4–2; W, 6–0 | at Pittsburgh | 33–10, 15–9 |
| 29 | Tuesday | W, 13–4 | vs. George Mason | 34–10 |
| 30 | Wednesday | W, 14–3 | vs. Queens | 35–10 |
| May | ||||
| 6 | Tuesday | W, 10–1 | vs. Campbell | 36–10 |
| 8–9 | Thurs.-Fri. | W, 8–1; L, 8–5 | vs. N.C. State | 37–11, 16–10 |
| 15–17 | Thurs.-Sat. | W, 8–3; W, 11–1 (7); L, 5–4 | at No. 7 Florida State | 39–12, 18–11 |
| ACC tournament | Durham | |||
| 23 | Friday | Quarterfinal: W, 7–3 | Boston College | 40–12 |
| 24 | Saturday | Semifinal: W, 7–5 | No. 7 Florida State | 41–12 |
| 25 | Sunday | Final: W, 14–4 | No. 14 Clemson | 42–12 |
| Chapel Hill Regional | ||||
| 30 | Friday | W, 4–0 | Holy Cross | 43–12 |
| 31 | Saturday | W, 11–5 | Oklahoma | 44–12 |
| June | ||||
| 1 | Sunday | L, 9–5 | Oklahoma | 44–13 |
| 2 | Monday | W, 14–4 | Oklahoma | 45–13 |
| Chapel Hill Super Regional | Best-of-3 series | |||
| 6 | Friday | W, 18–2 | No. 21 Arizona | 46–13 |
| 7 | Saturday | L, 10–8 | No. 21 Arizona | 46–14 |
| 8 | Sunday | L, 4–3 | No. 21 Arizona | 46–15 |
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
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