ACC champ UNC baseball named NCAA regional host; NC State, Duke open on the road
The Road to Omaha starts in the Triangle for one local baseball program, while the other two head out of town for their NCAA Tournament regionals.
North Carolina earned the No. 5 national seed and the right to host games at Boshamer Stadium in Chapel Hill for the 14th time in program history. UNC was expected to be among the top seeds, but its ranking varied in different bracketology projections.
The Tar Heels earned the ACC’s automatic bid after defeating Clemson, 14-4, in the championship game Sunday afternoon.
“I think that we’re happy to have gotten this done,” second baseman Jackson Van De Brake said of the championship, “but we know that there’s a lot more that we want to do ahead of us.”
Van De Brake said Monday he thought the team was better than a No. 4 seed, but it didn’t matter since the Tar Heels were still among the top eight.
“I think we do, in general, think we are better than a five seed, so I think we can use that as some fuel,” Van De Brake said. “Aside from that, I think it’s a good draw. Whoever it ended up being, we’re gonna take it and we’re confident going into this weekend.”
UNC (42-12) will host Holy Cross (31-25) of the Patriot League, Nebraska (32-27) from the Big 10, and Oklahoma (35-20) of the SEC at its regional. The Tar Heels are 26-5 at home this season. The Tar Heels’ first game against Holy Cross is scheduled for noon Friday on ACC Network. All first-round games are scheduled to be played Friday at the 16 regional sites.
The winner of the Chapel Hill regional will face the winner of the Eugene, Oregon regional, hosted by No. 12 Oregon (42-14).
“They don’t realize, No. 1 how hard it is to make the postseason, No. 2 how hard is to host a regional and how super hard it is to be a national seed,” UNC head coach Scott Forbes said. “There are a lot of college baseball teams in the country. We set the standard high here early on, early in the 2000s and that standard has remained high.”
N.C. State and Duke will play on the road after early exits in the ACC Tournament.
The Wolfpack (33-19) is headed to the Auburn regional. Auburn earned the No. 4 overall seed, with a 38-18 record. Stetson (40-20, ASUN) and Central Connecticut (31-15, NEC) earned the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds at the site. N.C. State had a one-and-done trip to Durham for the ACC Championship after falling to Clemson, 7-6, in the quarterfinals.
“It kind of felt like tonight was like a Super Regional or an Omaha-type game; just two evenly matched clubs, just trading blows, going back and forth,” Clemson head coach Erik Bakich said after playing N.C. State. “The margin in these games is razor thin. It’s one swing, it’s one play, it’s one pitch. This feels like a deep-in-June type of ballgame.”
The Wolfpack opens the NCAA Tournament against Stetson at 2 p.m. on ESPN+.
“It’s definitely a great feeling,” infielder Luke Nixon said after the Wolfpack learned its host site. “Having the opportunity to play more baseball is always great. I love playing with this team; feel like we have a great shot wherever we go to win.”
The Blue Devils (37-19) travel to the Athens regional, hosted by No. 7 seed Georgia (42-15, SEC), which features Binghamton (29-24, America East) and Oklahoma State (28-23 (Big 12). Duke defeated Pitt in the second round of the ACC Tournament before falling to Florida State in the semis. Duke has now earned seven NCAA Tournament appearances in the past nine years.
Duke will play Oklahoma State at 6 p.m. on ESPNU.
East Carolina (33-25) won the American Athletic Conference, earning the league’s automatic bid. It heads to No. 13 Coastal Carolina (48-11), alongside Fairfield and Florida. The Pirates play Florida at noon on ESPN2.
Florida State (38-14) and Clemson (44-16) were the only other ACC teams receiving the right to host. They were considered likely hosts entering championship weekend. Regular-season champion Georgia Tech (40-17) is not hosting. The Seminoles earned the No. 9 national seed, while the Tigers received the No. 11 seed.
The Yellow Jackets are headed to No. 10 Ole Miss (40-19), a regional that also includes Murray State and Western Kentucky.
Forbes complimented all three programs during the ACC Tournament. He said each deserved to be in the national top 16 and would represent the league positively.
“Obviously, I’m biased. I think our league is the best in the country,” Forbes said. “I think we have a great conference. I think we have great players, number one. We have great coaches. Anybody can beat anybody, and that hasn’t always been the case since I’ve been in the ACC. I’m hoping and advocating hard for all of our teams to be as high seeds as they can be.”
Miami (31-24), Louisville (35-21) and Wake Forest (36-20) rounded out the ACC’s NCAA Tournament qualifiers.
The Demon Deacons play Cincinnati (32-24) at 1 p.m. on ESPN+. They are part of the Knoxville regional, hosted by Tennessee.
The remaining regional hosts are as follows: No. 3 Arkansas (43-13), No. 6 LSU (43-14), No. 12 Oregon (42-14), No. 8 Oregon State (41-12-1), No. 16 Southern Miss (44-14), No. 14 Tennessee (43-16), No. 2 Texas (42-12), No. 15 UCLA (42-16) and No. 1 Vanderbilt (42-16).
The NCAA Tournament features 64 teams, of which 16 are regional hosts. The top eight seeds earn the right to host Super Regional games if they advance from the first weekend.
This story was originally published May 26, 2025 at 12:53 PM.
