By R.L. Bynum

CHAPEL HILL — Carolina’s pursuit of a return to the College World Series will start just like last year’s amazing run — at Boshamer Stadium in the Chapel Hill Regional.

For the second consecutive season and the 10th time in program history, No. 3-ranked North Carolina is a national seed in the NCAA baseball tournament, this time as the No. 5 overall seed after being a No. 4 overall seed last season.

UNC (42–12) opens play at noon Friday (ACC Network) against No. 4 regional seed Holy Cross (31–25). No. 2 regional seed Oklahoma (35–20) will face No. 3 regional seed Nebraska (32–27) at 5 p.m. (ESPN+) in the other first-round game of the double-elimination event. None of the other three teams in the Chapel Hill Regional are ranked.

UNC coach Scott Forbes, who says he expects to start ace Jake Knapp against Holy Cross, didn’t want to say it, but appeared to be surprised that his team is a No. 5 seed.

“I think it’s perfect for this team, to be honest with you. This team reminded me of the ’18 team,” Forbes said of that team that made the College World Series as a No. 6 seed. “That team had the no meat, not enough meat, or shirts made. This team will use that the right way, but in the day, we’re a national seed, and we know we’re going to play at home as long as we win, and that’s what we’re most excited about. And the goal still is — it doesn’t matter what your national seed — to be the No. 1 overall team when it all ends.”

A large contingent of Tar Heels fans gathered at Boshamer Stadium to watch the selection show on the big screen after players mingled with fans in the concourse before the show started.

“It’s better to be at home,” Forbes said. “I don’t care how you spin it, because we know we’re going to be here. We can sleep in our own beds. We get to use our own facility. We don’t have to pack, we don’t have to travel. So, hopefully, that will help us and be an advantage.”

Carolina, which beat Clemson 14–4 Sunday at Durham Bulls Athletic Park for the program’s ninth ACC title, is making its 37th NCAA tournament appearance and eighth in a row, the longest active streak in the ACC.

If UNC wins the Chapel Hill Regional, which it has done 10 times, it will host the Super Regionals the following weekend, June 6–9. UNC is hosting for the 14th time and sixth time in the last eight seasons.

Forbes was happy that UNC is playing in the first game because of how bad weather has disrupted the schedule in some seasons.

“We like, personally, to play that first game,” Forbes said. Have a little more recovery, because then after that, you’re playing all night games if you win. You hope you don’t lose the first game. But I’ve seen anything happen.”

The Chapel Hill Regional winner will be matched up in the Supers with the Eugene Regional winner. Playing in Eugene are No. 12 overall seed and No. 1 regional seed Oregon (42–14), Utah Valley (32–27), Cal Poly (41–17) and Arizona (39–18).

UNC, which was 6th in the RPI, is 5–1 against host teams, going 3–1 against No. 9-seed Florida State, and beating No. 11-seed Clemson and No. 13-seed Coastal Carolina in single games.

The top Holy Cross hitter is senior first baseman Chris Baillargeon, who is hitting .386. Sophomore outfielder John LaFleur leads the Crusaders in home runs with seven. The Holy Cross ace is junior right-hander Danny Macchiarola, who is 9–4 with a 3.02 ERA.

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Chapel Hill Regional

At Boshamer Stadium
Friday’s results
No. 1 North Carolina 4, Holy Cross 0
No. 2 Oklahoma 7, No. 3 Nebraska 4
Saturday’s results
Nebraska 4, Holy Cross 1; Holy Cross eliminated
North Carolina 11, Oklahoma 5
Sunday’s results
Oklahoma 17, Nebraska 1; Nebraska eliminated
Oklahoma 9, North Carolina 5
Monday’s result
North Carolina 14, Oklahoma 4
UNC (45–13) advances to Super Regional against No. 21-ranked Arizona (42–18), which won the Eugene Regional on Sunday night with a 14–0 win over Cal Poly. Game 1 of the best-of-3 series is Friday at Boshamer Stadium.

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UNC scores

Date(s)	Day/ month	Scores	Opponent (current rank)	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. N.C. State	37–11, 16–10
15–17	Thurs.-Sat.	W, 8–3; W, 11–1 (7); L, 5–4	at No. 7 Florida State	39–12, 18–11
		ACC tournament	Durham
23	Friday	Quarterfinal: W, 7–3	Boston College	40–12
24	Saturday	Semifinal: W, 7–5	No. 7 Florida State	41–12
25	Sunday	Final: W, 14–4	No. 14 Clemson	42–12
		Chapel Hill Regional
30	Friday	W, 4–0	Holy Cross	43–12
31	Saturday	W, 11–5	Oklahoma	44–12
	June
1	Sunday	L, 9–5	Oklahoma	44–13
2	Monday	W, 14–4	Oklahoma	45–13
		Chapel Hill Super Regional	Best-of-3 series
6	Friday	W, 18–2	No. 21 Arizona	46–13
7	Saturday	L, 10–8	No. 21 Arizona	46–14
8	Sunday	L, 4–3	No. 21 Arizona	46–15

Photo courtesy of the ACC