College baseball season hasn’t even kicked off yet, but we’re already making projections.
LSU will look to repeat as College World Series champions, but it won’t be easy without Paul Skenes. Wake Forest spent a good portion of last year ranked atop college baseball, only for it to be defeated by LSU in the semifinals.
There’s also a lot of hype in Chapel Hill, as the UNC baseball team sports a re-vamped pitching staff and a talented, returning position player group led by center fielder Vance Honeycutt. The Diamond Heels are one of the greatest programs to never win a College World Series, despite appearing in 11 and making the finals twice (2006, 2007).
If all goes according to plan (which rarely happens in sports), North Carolina will make its seventh-consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Just ahead of Opening Day, where does D1Baseball have UNC in postseason action?
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If you recognize the name Coastal Carolina, it’s because the Chanticleers pulled off one of college sports’ greatest upsets in 2016, going 6-2 in the College World Series and winning the whole thing. Coastal has made the NCAA Tournament 19 times, including last year when it hosted a regional,
Arizona State is a storied program, winning five College World Series titles and making the NCAA Tournament 40 times. The Sun Devils are looking to dance again for the first time since former MLB player Willie Bloomquist, the 1999 Pac-12 Player of the Year at Arizona State, took over as manager before the 2022 season.
Samford University, who plays in the Southern Conference, is one of the better mid-major conference teams in the country. The Bulldogs have made four NCAA Tournament appearances – 2012, 2018, 2021 and 2023 – while also winning the SOCON Tourney each of those years.
While this would be a fun, tough regional to play in, the eventual hope is North Carolina will host a regional of its own.