Golden Era For NCAA Baseball In North Carolina:

For Second Consecutive Season,
NC Puts Most Teams In NCAA Field
(UNC, NC State, ECU Among National Seeds)

By David Glenn
North Carolina Sports Network

For the second consecutive year, North Carolina has more teams in the NCAA Baseball Championship than any other state.

The 64-team NCAA field, which was announced Monday, includes seven squads from North Carolina. That’s the second-most bids ever for the Old North State, behind only last year’s eight, a number that also led the nation.

North Carolina, NC State and East Carolina — the three in-state programs that have been the most consistent NCAA Tournament participants historically (see charts below) — earned much-desired national seeds this year, enabling each to host a regional on its home field later this week.

(The full Friday-through-Monday schedules — including matchups, broadcast times and television/streaming options — for all NCAA regionals involving Atlantic Coast Conference and/or North Carolina-based teams can be found HERE).

The Tar Heels (42-13) are the #4 national seed, the Wolfpack (33-20) is the #10 national seed, and the Pirates (43-15) are the #16 national seed. As one of the top eight seeds in the tournament, UNC also would be guaranteed to host a Super Regional next week if it wins its four-team bracket later this week.

High Point (34-25), the Big South champion, earned the first NCAA Baseball Championship bid in the history of its program, which has played at the NCAA Division One level since 2000.

https://x.com/DavidGlennShow/status/1795179939349602368

Only two states, North Carolina (seven) and Louisiana (six), placed more than four teams in this year’s NCAA Baseball Championship. As usual, the very populous and baseball-rich states of California (four), Florida (four) and Texas (three) also earned multiple bids.

Immediately below is a complete breakdown of the 16 states that have multiple teams in this year’s NCAA Tournament.

2024 NCAA Baseball Championship
(States With Multiple Bids)

7—North Carolina (Duke, ECU, High Point, NC State, UNC, UNCW, Wake Forest)
6—Louisiana (Grambling, Louisiana, LSU, Louisiana Tech, Nicholls State, Tulane)
4—California (Fresno State, San Diego, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara)
4—Florida (Florida, Florida State, Stetson, UCF)
4—New York (Army West Point, LIU, Niagara, St. John’s)
4—South Carolina (Clemson, Coastal Carolina, South Carolina, Wofford)
3—Indiana (Evansville, Indiana, Indiana State)
3—Oklahoma (Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Oral Roberts)
3—Texas (Dallas Baptist, Texas, Texas A&M)
3—Virginia (James Madison, VCU, Virginia)
2—Arizona (Arizona, Grand Canyon)
2—Georgia (Georgia, Georgia Tech)
2—Kentucky (Kentucky, Northern Kentucky)
2—Mississippi (Mississippi State, Southern Miss)
2—Oregon (Oregon, Oregon State)
2—Tennessee (Tennessee, Vanderbilt)

The in-state head coaches who have most consistently led their teams into the NCAA Tournament are UNC’s Scott Forbes (four trips in four seasons), ECU’s Cliff Godwin (8-for-9), NC State’s Elliott Avent (21-for-27), Campbell’s Justin Haire (5-for-9) and Duke’s Chris Pollard (6-for-11). Those numbers exclude the truncated 2019-20 season, when the entire postseason was cancelled for COVID-related reasons.

Avent led the Wolfpack to the College World Series in 2013 and 2021.

All-Time NCAA Baseball Championship Bids
(NC Division One Programs Only)
Bids — School, Conference (Most Recent)

36 — North Carolina, Atlantic Coast Conference (2024)
34 — East Carolina, American Athletic Conference (2024)
34 — NC State, Atlantic Coast Conference (2024)
16 — Wake Forest, Atlantic Coast Conference (2024)
12 — UNC Wilmington, Coastal Athletic Association (2024)
12 — Western Carolina, Southern Conference (2016)
11 — Duke, Atlantic Coast Conference (2024)
7 — Campbell, Coastal Athletic Association (2023)
7 — Charlotte, American Athletic Conference (2023)
6 — Elon, Coastal Athletic Association (2013)
4 — Appalachian State, Sun Belt Conference (2012)
4 — UNC Greensboro, Southern Conference (2022)
2 — North Carolina A&T, Coastal Athletic Association (2018)
1 — Davidson, Atlantic-10 Conference (2017)
1 — High Point, Big South Conference (2024)
1 — UNC Asheville, Big South Conference (2006)
0 — Gardner-Webb, Big South Conference (D1 since 1990)
0 — Queens, Atlantic Sun Conference (D1 since 2022-23)

College World Series Trips
(NC Division One Programs Only)
School, Conference — Trips (Most Recent)

North Carolina, ACC — 11 (2018)
NC State, ACC — 3 (2021)
Duke, ACC — 3 (1961)
Wake Forest, ACC — 3 (2023)

College World Series Titles
(NC Division One Programs Only)
School, Conference — Titles

Wake Forest, ACC — 1 (1955)