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. 3.
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 Durham Bulls Athletic Park
Buy tickets at durhambulls.com or theacc.com/tickets
Final on ESPN2
All other games on ACC Network
Tuesday’s first round
No. 9 Miami (31–23) vs. No. 16 California (22–30), 9 a.m.
No. 12 Virginia Tech (30–24) vs. No. 13 Stanford (27–24), 1 p.m.
No. 10 Louisville (35–20) vs. No. 15 Pittsburgh (27–26), 5 p.m.
No. 11 Notre Dame (32–20) vs. No. 14 Boston College (26–28), 9 p.m.
Wednesday’s second round
Miami-Cal winner vs. No. 8 seed Wake Forest (36–19), 9 a.m.
VT-Stanford winner vs. No. 5 seed Clemson (41–15), 1 p.m.
Louisville-Pitt winner vs. No. 7 seed Duke (36–18), 5 p.m.
ND-BC winner vs. No. 6 seed Virginia (32–17), 9 p.m.
Quarterfinals
Thursday’s games
Miami, Cal or WF vs. No. 1 seed Georgia Tech (39–16), 3 p.m.
VT, Stanford or Clemson vs. No. 4 seed N.C. State (33–18), 7 p.m.
Friday’s games
UL, Pitt or Duke vs. No. 2 seed Florida State (37–13), 3 p.m.
Virginia, ND or BC vs. No. 3 seed North Carolina (39–12), 7 p.m.
Saturday’s semifinals
Thursday quarterfinal winners, 1 p.m.
Friday quarterfinal winners, 5 p.m.
Sunday’s championship
Semifinal winners, noon
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
| 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 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. No. 22 N.C. State | 37–11, 16–10 |
| 15–17 | Thurs.-Sat. | W, 8–3; W, 11–1 (7); L, 5–4 | at No. 6 Florida State | 39–12, 18–11 |
| ACC tournament | Durham Bulls Athletic Park | |||
| 23 | Friday | Quarterfinal: 7 p.m. | Virginia, BC or Notre Dame | ACCN |
| 24 | Saturday | Semifinal (with win): 5 p.m. | FSU, Duke, Pitt or Louisville | ACCN |
| 25 | Sunday | Final (with win): Noon | ESPN2 | |
| 30–31 | Fri.–Sat. | Likely Chapel Hill Regional | TBA | |
| June | ||||
| 1 | Sunday | Likely Chapel Hill Regional | TBA | |
| 6–8 | Fri.–Sun. | Super Regionals | Campus sites | |
| 18–30 | Wed.–Mon. | College World Series | Omaha, Neb. |
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
tarheeltribune.com 