Despite no college baseball team from North Carolina winning the College World Series since 1955, the Tar Heel State has a plethora of talented programs who are regulars in the NCAA Tournament.
NC State came close to winning it in 2021, but lost in the semifinals.
The North Carolina Tar Heels might be its home state’s greatest program to never win a CWS title, despite reaching the CWS 11 times and the finals twice.
Another one of North Carolina’s top collegiate programs is East Carolina University, which has won the AAC (American Athletic Conference) regular-season title the past three years. ECU has reached the NCAA Tournament 33 times and won a regional on seven occasions, but has never reached the CWS.
If you haven’t guessed it already, the Diamond Heels and Pirates are facing off this weekend for a 3-game series. Game One will be Friday, Feb. 23 at 5 p.m. in Chapel Hill, Game Two will be Saturday in Fayetteville, NC and Game Three will be Sunday in Greenville.
These two baseball rivals have played every year since 2016, with the lone exception being the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign. Last year provided three exciting matchups, with each game being decided by one run.
Ahead of Friday’s highly-anticipated game, let’s quickly revisit last year’s matchups.