The North Carolina to Omaha shuttle has been busy over the past few years. Since 2021, four teams from NC have gone to the College World Series, including a pair—UNC and NC State—last year.
With four N.C. teams ranked in the preseason top 25 and three of North Carolina’s four ACC teams opening their seasons with series sweeps in the first weekend, that doesn’t look likely to change this season.
Here’s a look at the upcoming seasons on the diamond for North Carolina schools.
UNC: The Tar Heels are coming off a trip to the College World Series and open the season as the highest-ranked team in the state, at No. 6. They’re also picked to finish third in the ACC in the league’s preseason poll, behind UVA and Florida State. UNC opened the season with a home sweep of Texas Tech.
The Heels will lean on a pair of players who starred last season as freshmen. Pitcher Jason DeCaro and catcher Luke Stevenson were named freshman All-Americans, and both have received preseason All-America attention this season. Stevenson hit .284 with 14 homers and 58 RBIs, leading the team in walks drawn. DeCaro was 6-1, with a 3.81 ERA and ranked in the top five in the ACC in several pitching categories. Junior RHP Matthew Matthijs is a promising reliever who finished second in the NCAA with 12 wins last season.
NC State: The Wolfpack made their second CWS trip in four seasons last year and opened the season at No. 13. They moved up a spot after a three-game sweep of Fordham.
The strength of the Pack will be in its bullpen. State is led by reliever Jacob Dudan, who is coming off a freshman All-America season and was named a preseason All-American for this year. D1 Baseball has him ranked as the top relief pitcher in all of college baseball. Dudan was 4-2 with a 4.50 ERA and was a postseason hero for the Pack. He’ll get support from Derrick Smith and Cooper Consiglio, both highly-rated relievers as well. State put up 42 runs in the opening three games with a balanced offense that saw 12 batters record RBIs and 13 get a base hit.
Duke: The Blue Devils enter as the defending ACC champions, after winning the conference tournament in Charlotte last year. This year, the tourney will be returning to Durham, just up the road from campus at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Duke opened at No. 11 in the country but lost two of three to Cincinnati at home, dropping the Blue Devils to No. 17.
The Blue Devils have their own version of Shohei Ohtani, with two-way player Kyle Johnson, a preseason All-American. Johnson was the first Freshman All-American two-way utility player for Duke since Marcus Stroman, who is still pitching in the big leagues. He also went 4-1 on the mound and had a batting average 16 points higher than the one he allowed opposing batters. Outfielder A.J. Gracia and third baseman Ben Miller also appeared on preseason All-America lists.
Wake Forest: The Demon Deacons are flying below the radar this year after opening last season at No. 1 in the country, following a 2023 trip to Omaha. The Deacs were No. 14 in the preseason top 25 and swept their first four games over LIU and Marist.
Shortstop Marek Houston and outfielder Ethan Conrad were expected to lead the Demon Deacons, and four games in, they’re living up to their reputations. Houston won ACC Player of the Week after going 10-for-14 with 3 home runs, 11 runs, 13 RBI and 5 walks. His OPS was an other-worldly 2.503. Conrad merely went 8 for 15 with 10 RBIs.
The rest of the state: While the non-ACC teams have gotten most of the attention, North Carolina has some impressive programs outside of that league.
East Carolina was the first team other than Wake Forest to have a player taken in the first round of last year’s MLB draft. They were also the only non-ACC team from the state to get a national seed in last year’s NCAA Tournament. Led by outfielder Ryley Johnson and LHP Ethan Norby, the Pirates took two of three from George Mason to open the season.
High Point made its first trip to the NCAAs last year and followed that up by opening this season 4-0, the first time the Panthers have done that since 2020.
UNCW also made the tournament last year, and the Hawks are the preseason pick to win the CAA this season. They’re led by junior slugger Tanner Thatch. UNCW got a win over No. 4 Georgia in its opening weekend of action.
