NC State and UNC will meet in ACC baseball championship game on Sunday in Charlotte
The two hottest teams in the ACC tournament — teams that happen to be bitter rivals — advanced to the finals with wins on Saturday.
No. 10 N.C. State and No. 8 North Carolina made it through their pools and earned Saturday semifinal wins to become the last teams standing. The Pack and Heels will battle for the ACC title at Truist Field in Charlotte on Sunday at noon.
It will be the first time since 1990 they’ve met in an ACC baseball tournament title game. UNC won that contest, 5-0.
The Tar Heels have won seven titles, their most recent coming in 2019. The Pack has won four championships, but hasn’t held the trophy in 30 years. N.C. State has gone 0-7 in the final since then. Wolfpack skipper Elliott Avent joked and compared himself to Marv Levy, the former Buffalo Bills coach who went 0-4 in the Super Bowl.
“This is an unbelievably good league,” Avent said. “To get to the championship that many times, to get to this game tomorrow, after last year, is a great tribute to these players.”
After their weekend series earlier this month in Chapel Hill in which the Heels took two of three from the Pack, UNC leads the all-time series between the rivals, 55-53.
“A championship going back to N.C. State would be huge,” Wolfpack pitcher Canaan Silver said. “We fell short last year, just to do it for all of Wolfpack nation, that would be huge. Going against Carolina that maybe makes it sweeter if we win that game.”
The two teams met last season in ACC tournament pool play, with the Heels winning, 9-6. N.C. State advanced in pool play anyway, and fell to Duke in the title game.
Both teams went 2-0 in pool play this year. UNC beat Clemson 9-2, then Virginia Tech, 10-0, to make it to the semis on Saturday. N.C. State won Pool C by defeating No. 6 Wake Forest, 11-8, and No. 3 Miami, 9-6.
A month ago, UNC was an NCAA tournament bubble team. After a strong finish and a nice showing in Charlotte, they are set to potentially host a regional.
“If you look at where we were a month ago,” Danny Serreti said. “I don’t think anyone would have believed that we would be hosting a regional, except us. We’ve just been putting our heads down and we knew we had the talent. We just had to get over that hump a little bit.”
Avent had a straight to the point assessment of the Heels.
“They are really good,” he said. “And right now they are really hot. They are playing with a lot of confidence, a lot of emotion, the way it comes when you are playing that well. It’s going to be a great game. We are looking forward to it.”
Both teams have seen their stock rise during the tournament. D1baseball.com currently has the Pack heading to Greenville to take on Wofford. Carolina is projected to play College of Charleston.
HOW TO WATCH
The game will be aired live on ESPN 2 at noon.
ARE YOU A CORD-CUTTER?
If your preferred method of watching games involves streaming, there are options for that, too.
ESPN is available on Hulu, SlingTV, YouTubeTV, DirectTV Stream or FuboTV.
Additionally, you can keep up with the game by following News & Observer reporter Jonas Pope IV (@JEPopeIV) on Twitter. He and photojournalist Ethan Hyman will be on location at Truist Field.
This story was originally published May 28, 2022 at 8:48 PM.
