By R.L. Bynum
North Carolina is a season-high No. 3 in the D1 Baseball Top 25 poll, and multiple outlets project the Tar Heels as a national seed in the NCAA tournament.
The Tar Heels, who won two of three games at Florida State, moved up one spot in the poll after being ranked No. 4 the previous three weeks. It’s their highest ranking since they were No. 3 on March 4, 2019. The Seminoles slipped four spots to No. 6.
UNC moved up one spot in the Baseball America poll to a season-high No. 2. That’s the Tar Heels’ highest ranking in that poll since they were No. 1 on May 6, 2013. That team was the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament, made the College World Series and finished 59–12.
In NCAA tournament projections, UNC (39–12) is On3’s No. 3 seed, D1 Baseball’s No. 4 seed and USA Today’s No. 8 seed. That would make the Tar Heels a national seed, meaning that they would host regionals and, should they advance, Super Regionals. On3’s Chapel Hill Regional field includes Arizona, UConn and Long Island, while D1 Baseball projects the other teams to be Florida, Rhode Island and Rider and USA Today has Oklahoma, Kansas State and Yale headed to Chapel Hill.
Carolina, No. 7 in the RPI with a schedule strength ranked 41st, is 8–5 against teams in the RPI top 25, 15–7 against teams that are 26 to 50 in the RPI, and 16–0 against all other teams.
The ACC tournament opens Tuesday at Durham Bulls Athletic Park with UNC as the No. 3 seed after finishing a half-game back of the Yellow Jackets. UNC doesn’t play until the final quarterfinal game at 7 p.m. Friday, when it will face Virginia, Notre Dame or Boston College.
Other ACC teams in the D1 Baseball poll are No. 14 Clemson (up one spot), No. 16 Georgia Tech (wasn’t ranked the previous week), and No. 22 N.C. State (down nine spots after losing two of three at home last weekend against Stanford.
Duke, which was No. 20 last week, dropped out after losing two of three at home against the Yellow Jackets. Louisville was No. 21 last week but dropped out after losing to Ballarmine, then dropping two of three against Wake Forest.
D1 Baseball Top 25
| Rank | Team | Record | Previous |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LSU | 42-13 | 1 |
| 2 | Texas | 42-11 | 3 |
| 3 | North Carolina | 39-12 | 4 |
| 4 | Oregon | 41-13 | 5 |
| 5 | Arkansas | 43-12 | 8 |
| 6 | Florida State | 37-13 | 2 |
| 7 | Oregon State | 41-12-1 | 7 |
| 8 | Auburn | 38-17 | 6 |
| 9 | Vanderbilt | 39-16 | 9 |
| 10 | Georgia | 42-14 | 10 |
| 11 | Coastal Carolina | 44-11 | 11 |
| 12 | Southern Miss | 41-13 | 19 |
| 13 | UCLA | 39-15 | 14 |
| 14 | Clemson | 41-15 | 15 |
| 15 | Florida | 37-19 | 23 |
| 16 | Georgia Tech | 39-16 | NR |
| 17 | Ole Miss | 37-18 | NR |
| 18 | Dallas Baptist | 38-14 | 24 |
| 19 | Northeastern | 45-9 | 25 |
| 20 | UC Irvine | 39-13 | 12 |
| 21 | Tennessee | 41-15 | 17 |
| 22 | N.C. State | 33-18 | 13 |
| 23 | Alabama | 40-15 | 18 |
| 24 | TCU | 37-17 | NR |
| 25 | Kansas | 42-14 | NR |
ACC tournament
At Truist Field in Charlotte
Buy tickets here.
Tuesday’s first round
No. 16 Duke 21, No. 9 N.C. State 12
No. 12 Stanford 11, No. 13 California 4
No. 10 Notre Dame 5, No. 15 Clemson 4
No. 14 Pittsburgh 16, No. 11 Louisville 8
Wednesday’s second round
No. 8 Virginia 6, Duke 4
No. 5 Miami 11, Stanford 2
No. 7 Virginia Tech 17, Notre Dame 10
Pittsburgh 7, No. 6 Wake Forest 4
Quarterfinals
Thursday’s results
No. 1 (No. 3 ranked) Georgia Tech 16, Virginia 10
Miami 8, No. 4 Boston College 2
Friday’s results
No. 2 (No. 2 ranked) North Carolina 10, Virginia Tech 4
Pittsburgh 8, No. 3 (No. 11 ranked) Florida State 6
Saturday’s semifinals (ACC Network)
Georgia Tech 9, Miami 3
North Carolina 13, Pittsburgh 5
Sunday’s championship
Georgia Tech 13, North Carolina 6
ACC standings
| League | GB | Overall | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No. 3 Georgia Tech | 25–5 | — | 45–9 |
| No. 2 North Carolina | 22–8 | 3 | 43–10–1 |
| No. 11 Florida State | 19–11 | 6 | 38–15 |
| No. 23 Boston College | 17–13 | 8 | 36–20 |
| Wake Forest | 16–14 | 9 | 38–18 |
| Miami | 16–14 | 9 | 36–17 |
| Virginia Tech | 15–15 | 10 | 29–23 |
| Virginia | 14–16 | 11 | 35–20 |
| N.C. State | 14–16 | 11 | 32–21 |
| Stanford | 13–17 | 12 | 27–25 |
| Notre Dame | 13–17 | 12 | 30–21 |
| Louisville | 13–17 | 12 | 30–26 |
| California | 12–18 | 13 | 29–25 |
| Pittsburgh | 11–19 | 14 | 30–23 |
| Clemson | 10–20 | 15 | 31–25 |
| Duke | 10–20 | 15 | 24–29 |
Thursday-Saturday series
Notre Dame at Pittsburgh — Pitt, 6–3; ND, 6–4; ND, 21–10 (7)
Virginia at Louisville — Va., 8–3; UL, 12–2; UL, 10–5
Miami at No. 11 Florida State — FSU, 7–6 (11); FSU, 11–1; Miami, 7–4
Wake Forest at Duke — WF, 7–2; WF, 7–2; Duke, 7–3
Clemson at Virginia Tech — VT, 5–1; VT, 2–1; Clemson, 10–7
No. 3 Georgia Tech at No. 23 Boston College — GT swept 9–0, 14–1, 15–2 (7)
No. 2 North Carolina at N.C. State — UNC, 9–4; UNC, 17–7 (8); State, 7–2
Stanford at California — Stanford, 7–6; Cal, 4–3; Cal, 2–1
End of regular season
ACC tournament
Tuesday through May 24
Truist Field in Charlotte
| Date(s) | Day/ month | Scores | Opponent (current rank) | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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. 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. 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. | W, 5–2; W, 14–4 (8); L, 5–2 | vs. No. 2 Georgia Tech | 33–7–1, 15–6 |
| 21 | Tuesday | W, 9–2 | vs. High Point | 34–7–1 |
| 23–25 | Thur.–Sat. | W, 3–1; L, 3–1; W, 22–5 (7) | at Duke | 36–8–1, 17–7 |
| 28 | Tuesday | L, 12–2 | vs. Coastal Carolina | 36–9–1 |
| May | ||||
| 3 | Sunday | W, 13–0 (7) (non-conference game) | vs. Duke | 37–9–1 |
| 8–10 | Fri.-Sun. | W, 4–1; W, 12–2 (8); W, 7–3 | vs. Pittsburgh | 40–9–1, 20–7 |
| 12 | Tuesday | W, 13–7 | at UNCW | 41–9–1 |
| 14–16 | Thur.-Sat. | W, 9–4; W, 17–7 (8); L, 7–2 | at N.C. State | 43–10–1, 22–8 |
| ACC tournament | Charlotte | |||
| 22 | Friday | W, 10–4 | Quarterfinal vs. Virginia Tech | 44–10–1 |
| 23 | Saturday | W, 13–5 | Semifinal vs. Pittsburgh | 45–10–1 |
| 24 | Sunday | L, 13–6 | Championship vs. No. 2 Ga. Tech | 45–11–1 |
| NCAA tournament | ||||
| Chapel Hill Regional | ||||
| 29 | Friday | W, 8–0 | VCU | 46–11–1 |
| 30–31 | Sat.–Sun. | W, 7–5; W, 9–3 | East Carolina | 48–11–1 |
| June | ||||
| Chapel Hill Super Regionals | ||||
| 5–7 | Fri.–Sun. | L, 9–5; W, 4–0; W, 4–3 | Southern Cal | 50–12–1 |
| College World Series | Omaha, Neb. | |||
| 12 | Friday | W, 6–2 | No. 18 Ole Miss | 51–12–1 |
| 14, 17 | Sun., Wed. | W, 5–2; W, 12–7 | No. 9 West Virginia | 53–12–1 |
| 20–22 | Sat.-Mon. | L, 9–3; W, 6–2; L, 13–2 | CWS Finals vs. Oklahoma | 54–14–1 |
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
