North Carolina is two wins away from punching ticket to Omaha for the first time since 2018. All that stands in their way is West Virginia, as the Mountaineers are coming to Chapel Hill for the super regional this weekend.
The two teams will face off on Friday and Saturday with a deciding game if necessary on Sunday. With 16 teams, the field will be cut down to eight in the College World Series after this weekend. But where do the Tar Heels rank among the teams left?
Eddie Timanus of USA Today Sports ranked the remaining 16 teams in the NCAA Tournament and checking in at No. 3 is North Carolina:
UNC is the bunch responsible for officially dethroning defending champ LSU, though it was anything but easy as the ‘Diamond Heels’ needed extra innings in a decisive final game in their regional. The Heels boast one of the game’s top defensive outfields, featuring Vance Honeycutt and Casey Cook, a big help for a youthful pitching staff that features ACC all-freshman team selection Jason DeCaro.
West Virginia won’t be a pushover for the Tar Heels as the Mountaineers won the Tuscon Regional which was loaded including Arizona, Dallas Baptist and Grand Canyon.
The Mountaineers were ranked No. 13 in the rankings.
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