64 teams. 16 regionals. Eight College World Series berths and one College World Series title up for grabs.
Welcome to the NCAA Baseball Tournament.
This year’s field ought to be interesting. You have the traditional SEC powers like LSU, Arkansas and Vanderbilt in the field, while other programs, like Wofford, are making their first appearance in nearly two decades.
To sum it up, there’s no clear-cut favorite.
Your North Carolina Tar Heels have one of the NCAA Tournament’s toughest draws – and they’re hosting a Regional as the fourth national seed. UNC opens up Regional Play on Friday, May 31 at 6 p.m. ET against LIU, but will either play LSU or Wofford the following day.
With the exception of a 12th-inning meltdown against Wake Forest on Friday, May 24, the Diamond Heels are playing exceptional baseball. They’re amongst the country’s top hitting teams, with six players hitting a minimum .300, plus pitching is finding ways to be productive.
In D1Baseball’s NCAA Baseball Tournament Preview earlier this week, Kendall Rogers picked North Carolina as one of his eight teams to reach the College World Series.
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Expanding on what we highlighted before, UNC sports one of its best teams in recent years.
Future first-round MLB Draft pick Vance Honeycutt is the most recognizable hitter, but don’t forget about his defense and the likes of Parks Harber, Casey Cook, Colby Wilkerson and virtually every position player. The Diamond Heels boosted their pitching staff big-time in the offseason, with freshman Jason DeCaro and sophomore Matthew Matthijs being the greatest surprises.
These are only a few of many standout players for North Carolina, but a few who had the greatest regular-season impact.
If there was ever a home-field advantage in college baseball, it’ll help UNC big-time in its tough regional. The Diamond Heels are 32-2 at home this season – can they add three more wins at The Bosh?
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