Six state schools, led by regular season American Athletic Conference champion East Carolina and newly crowned ACC tournament winner Duke, are among the 64 teams selected to the NCAA Division I baseball tournament on Monday.
NC State, North Carolina, Campbell and Charlotte also earned bids, with double-elimination play beginning on Friday at 16 regional sites across the country.
The Pirates drew the highest seeding of the group at No. 13 nationally and will host a regional at Clark-LeClair Stadium for the third straight NCAA tournament. Coach Cliff Godwin’s team will take on Norfolk State in the opening round with in-state rival Charlotte playing Maryland on the other side of the bracket.
The winner of the event will earn a Super Regional date against the survivor of a regional hosted by No. 4 overall seed Vanderbilt.
The Blue Devils, who enter the tournament on a 12-game winning streak, are headed to Knoxville, where they will be the No. 2 seed in the Tennessee Regional. Coach Chris Pollard’s team will open against Liberty while the host Volunteers — the No. 3 national seed — will meet Wright State.
Should Duke continue its hot streak and advance through the regional, it would be matched in the Super Regionals against the winner of the Oregon Regional.
The Wolfpack, which lost a heartbreaking 1-0 decision to the Blue Devils in Sunday’s ACC Tournament final, will get a chance to salve its wounds as the No. 2 seed in the Louisiana Tech Regional in Ruston, La.
Coach Elliott Avent’s team will take on Alabama in its first game with Rider filling out the field of a bracket whose winner could draw the nation’s top overall seed Arkansas in the Super Regional.
Big South Conference champion Campbell was selected as the No. 3 seed in the Mississippi State Regional, where it will take on second-seeded VCU in the opening round. Samford will take on the host Bulldogs with the regional winner facing Super Regional matchup with a team from the Notre Dame bracket.
UNC, in its first season under new coach Scott Forbes, snuck into the tournament as one of the last four teams in — a status it potentially earned with an ACC tournament win against rival State.
The Tar Heels will play UCLA in the opening round of the Texas Tech Regional in Lubbock while Army will take on the host Red Raiders with the winner advancing to a Super Regional meeting against the winner of the Stanford Regional.
The College World Series will begin on Saturday, June 19 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska.
