UNC still No. 4 in latest poll, projected as national NCAA seed, as it fights for an ACC tournament double-bye

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

RankTeamRecordLast weekPrevious
1LSU40-122-13
2Florida State36-113-12
3Texas40-102-21
4North Carolina37-112-14
5Oregon38-135-05
6Auburn36-153-08
7Oregon State37-12-13-010
8Arkansas41-111-27
9Vanderbilt36-162-211
10Georgia40-131-26
11Coastal Carolina41-114-014
12UC Irvine38-114-013
13N.C. State32-162-116
14UCLA37-143-118
15Clemson38-151-39
16West Virginia40-101-312
17Tennessee39-132-215
18Alabama39-133-123
19Southern Miss38-133-021
20Duke35-163-1NR
21Louisville34-172-220
22Troy37-163-219
23Florida35-182-2NR
24Dallas Baptist36-133-0NR
25Northeastern41-94-0NR

Dropped out: Oklahoma, Arizona, Ole Miss and Southern Cal.


ACC standings

LeagueGBOverall
No. 16 Georgia Tech19–1139–16
No. 6 Florida State17–10½37–13
No. 3 North Carolina18–11½39–12
No. 22 N.C. State17–11133–18
No. 14 Clemson18–12141–15
Virginia16–1132–17
Duke17–13236–18
Wake Forest16–14336–19
Miami15–1431–23
No. 21 Louisville15–15435–20
Notre Dame14–16532–20
Virginia Tech12–18730–24
Boston College11–19826–28
Stanford11–19827–24
Pittsburgh10–20927–26
California9–2110½22–30

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
ScoresOpponent
(current rank)
Record
February
14–15Fri.-Sat.W, 5–1; W, 8–3;
W, 4–2
vs. Texas Tech3–0
18TuesdayW, 12–9vs. Kansas State4–0
22–24Sat.-Mon.W, 2–0; W, 11–6;
W, 6–4
vs. East Carolina
(DBAP, CH, G’ville)
7–0
25TuesdayW, 7–4vs. VCU8–0
26WednesdayW, 13–4vs. N.C. A&T9–0
28FridayW, 16–2vs. Stony Brook10–0
March
1–2Sat.-Sun.W, 6–1; W, 9–5vs. Stony Brook12–0
4TuesdayW, 6–4 (11)vs. No. 11
Coastal Carolina
13–0
7–9Fri.-Sun.L, 13–9;
W, 11–1 (7); L, 7–0
vs. Stanford14–2,
1–2 ACC
11TuesdayW, 7–3 (10)at UNCW15–2
14, 16Fri., Sun.L, 8–7; W, 6–4;
L, 5–0
at Louisville16–4, 2–4
19WednesdayL, 5–1vs. UConn16–5
21–23Fri.-Sun.W, 5–1; L, 3–2;
W, 10–0 (7)
at Boston College18–6, 4–5
25TuesdayW, 13–8vs. South Carolina
in Charlotte
19–7
28–30Fri.-Sun.W, 2–0; W, 4–2;
L, 4–2
vs. Miami21–7, 6–6
April
1TuesdayW, 11–1 (7)vs. Gardner-Webb22–7
3–5Thur.-Sat.W, 4–3; L, 9–5;
W, 8–7 (14)
vs. Duke24–8, 8–7
8TuesdayW, 12–10at Elon25–8
11–13Fri.-Sun.W, 11–1 (7);
W, 17–1 (7); W, 3–2
vs. Wake Forest28–8, 11–7
15TuesdayW, 14–4 (8)vs. Charlotte29–8
18–20Fri-Sun.W, 9–6; L, 10–6:
W, 7–5
at Virginia Tech31–9, 13–8
25–27Fri.-Sun.W, 15–5; L, 4–2;
W, 6–0
at Pittsburgh33–10, 15–9
29TuesdayW, 13–4vs. George Mason34–10
30WednesdayW, 14–3vs. Queens35–10
May
6TuesdayW, 10–1vs. Campbell36–10
8–9Thurs.-Fri.W, 8–1; L, 8–5vs. N.C. State37–11, 16–10
15–17Thurs.-Sat.W, 8–3;
W, 11–1 (7); L, 5–4
at No. 7 Florida State39–12, 18–11
ACC tournamentDurham
23FridayQuarterfinal: W, 7–3Boston College40–12
24SaturdaySemifinal: W, 7–5No. 7 Florida State41–12
25SundayFinal: W, 14–4No. 14 Clemson 42–12
Chapel Hill Regional
30FridayW, 4–0Holy Cross43–12
31SaturdayW, 11–5Oklahoma44–12
June
1SundayL, 9–5Oklahoma44–13
2MondayW, 14–4Oklahoma45–13
Chapel Hill
Super Regional
Best-of-3 series
6FridayW, 18–2No. 21 Arizona 46–13
7SaturdayL, 10–8No. 21 Arizona46–14
8SundayL, 4–3No. 21 Arizona46–15

Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics

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