By R.L. Bynum
Five teams are within 1½ games of first place entering the final week of the ACC baseball season, meaning North Carolina still has work to do to earn one of four double-byes in the ACC tournament.
The Tar Heels (37–11, 16–10 ACC), who stayed at No. 4 in the D1 Baseball poll Monday for the third consecutive poll, split a pair of games with N.C. State, which moved up three spots to No. 13, before the scheduled third game on Sunday was rained out.
Florida State (36–11, 16–8), which stayed at No. 2 in the poll, is alone in first place entering its series with UNC next weekend in Tallahassee, Fla., beginning on Thursday (7 p.m., ACC Network).
UNC’s scheduled Tuesday home game against UNCW was canceled late Monday afternoon.
The single-elimination ACC tournament is set for May 20–25 at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
The latest D1 Baseball NCAA tournament projection, released before the weekend results, has UNC as the No. 7 overall seed, meaning that the Tar Heels would host a Super Regional. The projection has Ole Miss, Iowa and Holy Cross playing in the Chapel Hill Regional.
UNC has fallen to No. 11 in the RPI, but it is still second in the ACC behind No. 9 Florida State. Clemson is No. 14, Louisville is No. 22, Georgia Tech is No. 23 and N.C. State is No. 25.
The Wolfpack (32–16, 16–9) and Georgia Tech (37–15, 17–10) are a half-game back, with the Tar Heels a game back and Duke (35–16, 16–1) 1½ games back.
After taking two of three games at Clemson over the weekend, Duke went from unranked to No. 20, and the Tigers fell six spots to No. 15. Louisville is the only other ACC team in the poll, dropping one spot to No. 21 after losing two of three over the weekend at Georgia Tech.
D1 Baseball Top 25
| Rank | Team | Record | Last week | Previous |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LSU | 40-12 | 2-1 | 3 |
| 2 | Florida State | 36-11 | 3-1 | 2 |
| 3 | Texas | 40-10 | 2-2 | 1 |
| 4 | North Carolina | 37-11 | 2-1 | 4 |
| 5 | Oregon | 38-13 | 5-0 | 5 |
| 6 | Auburn | 36-15 | 3-0 | 8 |
| 7 | Oregon State | 37-12-1 | 3-0 | 10 |
| 8 | Arkansas | 41-11 | 1-2 | 7 |
| 9 | Vanderbilt | 36-16 | 2-2 | 11 |
| 10 | Georgia | 40-13 | 1-2 | 6 |
| 11 | Coastal Carolina | 41-11 | 4-0 | 14 |
| 12 | UC Irvine | 38-11 | 4-0 | 13 |
| 13 | N.C. State | 32-16 | 2-1 | 16 |
| 14 | UCLA | 37-14 | 3-1 | 18 |
| 15 | Clemson | 38-15 | 1-3 | 9 |
| 16 | West Virginia | 40-10 | 1-3 | 12 |
| 17 | Tennessee | 39-13 | 2-2 | 15 |
| 18 | Alabama | 39-13 | 3-1 | 23 |
| 19 | Southern Miss | 38-13 | 3-0 | 21 |
| 20 | Duke | 35-16 | 3-1 | NR |
| 21 | Louisville | 34-17 | 2-2 | 20 |
| 22 | Troy | 37-16 | 3-2 | 19 |
| 23 | Florida | 35-18 | 2-2 | NR |
| 24 | Dallas Baptist | 36-13 | 3-0 | NR |
| 25 | Northeastern | 41-9 | 4-0 | NR |
Dropped out: Oklahoma, Arizona, Ole Miss and Southern Cal.
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
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