North Carolina seen as mecca of college baseball with 7 schools making regionals, 3 host sites
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WTVD) -- The field is set for the 2024 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship, and as expected North Carolina is well represented.
The University of North Carolina snagged the tournament's 4th overall seed. That means the Tar Heels will play all regional and super regional games at its home field of Boshamer Stadium.
UNC will be matched up against LSU, Wofford and Long Island in the regional.
North Carolina State got the 10th overall seed and will play its regional games at the friendly confines of Doak Field at Dail Park. If Georgia, the tournament's 7th seed, loses its regional, NC State would also host a super regional. Otherwise, the team would travel to Athens to take on the Bulldogs.
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NC State will be matched up against South Carolina, James Madison and Bryant in the regional.
Coming off winning the 2024 ACC Baseball Championship, the Duke Blue Devils secured a second seed in the Norman Regional. That regional is hosted by Oklahoma with UConn and Oral Roberts filling out the three and four seeds.
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But the success of baseball in North Carolina doesn't end when you leave the Triangle.
East Carolina University was also selected to host a regional. The Pirates are matched up with Wake Forest, VCU and Evansville.
UNC Wilmington also made the tournament. The team is the second seed in the Athens Regional. Which means if they make it out and NC State wins, those two teams would play in Raleigh for the super regional.
High Point University is another North Carolina school that made the tournament. This is the first time ever that the Panthers have made the tournament. The team is the fourth seed in the Clemson Regional. HPU will look to upset the Tigers, who finished the regular season in second place in the ACC, at 7 p.m. Friday, May 31.
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So there are seven teams from the state of North Carolina who made the tournament. In addition, there are four teams from South Carolina and three teams from Virginia.
As for the conference break down, that's dominated by the SEC and the ACC.
The SEC set a record by getting 11 teams into the tournament. The ACC is not far behind with eight of its own. All of the top 8 seeds, which are the ones guaranteed to host a super regional if they advance, are from either the SEC or the ACC.
The national seeds following Tennessee (50-11) are Kentucky (40-14), Texas A&M (44-13), North Carolina (42-13), Arkansas (43-14), Clemson (41-14), Georgia (39-15) and Florida State (42-15).
Seeds Nos. 9 through 16: Oklahoma (37-19), North Carolina State (33-20), Oklahoma State (40-17), Virginia (41-15), Arizona 36-21), UC Santa Barbara (42-12), Oregon State (42-14) and East Carolina (43-15).
Other notes about the tournament:
- Defending national champion LSU, in danger of missing the tournament six weeks ago after losing 12 of its first 15 SEC games, has won 18 of its past 24 overall and made a run to the conference tournament championship game to earn a No. 2 regional seed at Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
- A total of 19 college players projected to be taken in the first round of the Major League Baseball draft, according to MLB.com, are in the tournament. The group is led by Georgia's Charlie Condon, whose 35 homers and .443 batting average lead the nation.
- Vanderbilt has the longest active streak with its 18th straight appearance. Texas is in the tournament for a record 63rd time. Florida State, which had its record-tying streak of regional appearances end at 44 in 2023, is back in the tournament and will be a host for a Division I-record 36th time.
- UC Santa Barbara will be an intimidating regional host. The Gauchos have won all 25 of their home games this season, the only Division I team to do so, and have the nation's longest overall active win streak at 14.
- Oral Roberts (27-30-1), which made a surprise run to the CWS last year, won the Summit League Tournament title to make it back to the tournament and are the only team in the field with a losing record.
- First-time participants are High Point, Niagara and Northern Kentucky.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
