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.
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.
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).
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, 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. 2 Florida State | 16–8 | — | 36–11 |
| No. 13 N.C. State | 16–9 | ½ | 32–16 |
| Georgia Tech | 17–10 | ½ | 37–15 |
| No. 4 North Carolina | 16–10 | 1 | 37–11 |
| No. 20 Duke | 16–11 | 1½ | 35–16 |
| Virginia | 14–10 | 2 | 30–16 |
| No. 15 Clemson | 15–12 | 2½ | 38–15 |
| Miami | 14–12 | 3 | 30–21 |
| No. 21 Louisville | 14–13 | 3½ | 34–17 |
| Wake Forest | 14–13 | 3½ | 34–17 |
| Notre Dame | 12–15 | 5½ | 29–19 |
| Virginia Tech | 11–16 | 6½ | 29–22 |
| Pittsburgh | 10–17 | 7½ | 26–23 |
| Boston College | 10–17 | 7½ | 25–26 |
| Stanford | 9–18 | 8½ | 25–23 |
| California | 7–20 | 10½ | 20–29 |
Thursday, Friday, Sunday series
No. 13 N.C. State at No. 4 North Carolina: Thursday: UNC 8–1; Friday: NCS 8–5; Sunday game rained out
Friday-Sunday series
No. 20 Louisville at Georgia Tech: Friday: UL 16–2; Sunday (2): GT 6–0, GT 2–1
Pittsburgh at Wake Forest: Friday: WF 12–3; Saturday: Pitt 10–8; Sunday: WF 6–3
Miami at Virginia: Friday: Va. swept 6–1, 10–4 and 8–6
No. 20 Duke at No. 15 Clemson: Friday: Clemson 9–7; Saturday: Duke 15–10; Sunday: Duke 8–4
Bowling Green vs. Notre Dame: ND swept 10–0, 11–1; and 4–0
Florida State at California: Friday: FSU 8–2; Saturday: Cal 5–0; Sunday: FSU 5–1
Grand Canyon at Stanford: Friday: GC 4–3; Saturday: GC 10–6; Sunday: Stanford 16–15, 10 innings
Saturday-Sunday series
Mercer at Virginia Tech: VT swept 2–0 and 6–5
Boston College at UMass-Lowell: BC swept 8–3 and 5–0
Tuesday’s games
UNCW at No. 4 North Carolina, 6 p.m.
Bellarmine at No. 21 Louisville, 6 p.m.
George Mason at Virginia, 6 p.m.
Penn State at Pittsburgh, 6 p.m.
No. 20 Duke at Liberty, 6 p.m.
Wake Forest at High Point, 6 p.m.
Marshall at Virginia Tech, 6 p.m.
Thursday-Saturday series
Georgia Tech at No. 20 Duke, 6, 6, 3
No. 15 Clemson at Pittsburgh, 6, 3, 1
Virginia at Virginia Tech, 6, 3, 1
Stanford at No. 13 N.C. State, 6, 6, 1
Wake Forest at No. 21 Louisville, 6, 6, noon
No. 4 North Carolina at No. 2 Florida State, 7 (ACC Network), 7 (ACC Network), 2
Notre Dame at Miami, 7, 7, 1
Boston College at California, 9, 9, 4
End of regular season
ACC Tournament
May 20–25
Durham Bulls Athletic Park
| Date(s) | Day/ month | Time/ score | Opponent (current rank) | TV */ 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 No. 21 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. No. 20 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. No. 13 N.C. State | 37–11, 16–10 |
| 13 | Tuesday | 6 p.m. | vs. UNCW | |
| 15–17 | Thu.–Sat. | 6, 6, 2 | at No. 2 Florida State | ACCN (Thurs., Fri.) |
| ACC tournament | ||||
| 20–25 | Tue.–Sun. | Single-elimination event | Durham Bulls Athletic Park | |
| 30–31 | Fri.–Sat. | NCAA regionals | Campus sites | |
| June | ||||
| 1 | Sunday | NCAA regionals | Campus sites | |
| 6–8 | Fri.–Sun. | Super Regionals | Campus sites | |
| 18–30 | Wed.–Mon. | College World Series | Omaha, Neb. |
* Unless otherwise indicated, games only stream on ACC Network Extra.
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
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