North Carolina and NC State have a history of playing epic extra inning battles in the ACC baseball tournament. It took 12 innings to decide a game between the rivals at the 2012 event in Greensboro. A year later in Durham, the Tar Heels and Wolfpack battled it out for 18 dramatic innings before coming to a result. Friday in Louisville, they’ll get the chance to add to their history. Second-seeded UNC and hard-charging State have been paired together in the same three-team pool for this year’s conference tournament at Louisville Slugger Field. Before playing one another on Friday, the Tar Heels and seventh-seeded Wolfpack must first play the other member of Pool B, Boston College. State (33-22, 16-14 ACC) will get the first crack at the 11th-seeded Eagles at 3 p.m. on Tuesday. UNC, which finished the regular season with a school-record 23 ACC wins and a 46-9 overall record, plays BC in the same 3 p.m. time slot on Wednesday. Wake Forest, which earned the league’s No. 3 seed, heads up Pool C along with No. 6 Miami and No. 10 Georgia Tech. The Deacons (38-17, 19-11) begin play on Wednesday at 7 p.m. against Georgia Tech before taking on Miami at 3 p.m. Thursday. Duke, the No. 9 seed, will play in pool D with a 7 p.m. Tuesday date against No. 5 Clemson and an 11 a.m. game against fourth-seeded Virginia on Thursday. The final three-team pool consists of No. 1 Louisville, No. 8 Florida State and No. 12 Notre Dame. Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech did not qualify for the tournament, which was originally scheduled for Durham Bulls Athletic Park but was moved as part of the fallout from North Carolina’s since-repealed House Bill 2. The entire pool play schedule can be found by clicking here. This year’s tournament features a revamped format in which each team will play the other two teams in their pool. The top team in each pool will then advance to a Saturday’s semifinals, with the winners meeting for the championship on Sunday. All 14 games from Tuesday through Saturday will be televised live on Fox Sports Carolinas with Sunday’s title game aired nationally on ESPN2.2017 ACC BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SEEDSMay 23-28 at Louisville Slugger Field, Louisville, KentuckyPOOL A No. 1 Louisville, No. 8 Florida State, No. 12 Notre DamePOOL B No. 2 North Carolina, No. 7 NC State, No. 11 Boston CollegePOOL C No. 3 Wake Forest, No. 6 Miami, No. 10 Georgia TechPOOL D No. 4 Virginia, No. 5 Clemson, No. 9 Duke
