Two of the ACC’s premier baseball programs will face off this weekend in Winston-Salem, NC.
The 14th-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels (22-4, 7-2 ACC), winners of their past six games, will play the Preseason Number One Wake Forest Demon Deacons (17-7, 4-5).
12th-ranked Wake Forest has not lived up to its preseason hype, just fourth in the Atlantic Division and already five losses away from equaling its 2023 loss total. UNC is second in the Coastal Division, largely due to nine of its regular hitters mashing over .300.
Despite both teams’ trajectory already this year, the Demon Deacons are projected by all D1Baseball staff writers – but Pat James – to win the weekend series between the two, in-state rivals which kicks off Friday, March 29 at 6 p.m.
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If you recognize James’ name, he used to be a writer for The Daily Tar Heel and GoHeels.
North Carolina’s most recent game – Tuesday against North Carolina A&T – was interrupted by a rain delay. That break in play appeared to be what UNC needed, as it pulled away for a 10-5 victory behind Parks Harber’s 4-RBI night.
The Demon Deacons were playing good baseball throughout February, but something switched when the calendar turned to March. Wake Forest has lost two of its first three ACC series, but rebounded to take two of three from Louisville last weekend.
A sweep is ideal, but if UNC can take two out of three, that’s a major win early on in conference play.
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