ACC’s College World Series History Among Its Most Bizarre Narratives

By David Glenn

With both Wake Forest and Virginia heading to the College World Series this week, the Atlantic Coast Conference will represent one-quarter of the eight-team field in Omaha, giving the league a solid shot at what would be an ACC-record 10 NCAA team championships (see list at bottom) to close the 2022-23 academic year.

What the Demon Deacons and Cavaliers may not realize — perhaps for the better — is that the ACC’s stunning lack of success in Omaha is one of the most bizarre on-field developments, in any sport, in the history of the 70-year-old league.

Generally speaking, when any conference has a bunch of teams that are really good at a particular sport, someone breaks through for a national championship every now and then. It makes sense, right?

For example, in men’s basketball, ACC teams regularly attract elite coaches, sign top recruits (and now elite transfers, too), win lots of games, populate the national Top 25 rankings during the regular season, earn buckets of March Madness bids and send record-setting numbers of players to the National Basketball Association.

Sure enough, such things frequently translate to the highest possible level of on-court success.

Current members of the ACC have won six of the last 14 NCAA Tournaments in men’s hoops, with Duke (2010, 2015), Louisville (2013), UNC (2009, 2017) and UVa (2019) all contributing to that impressive total. No other conference can match that sort of modern-day success.

Similarly, when any conference lacks most or all of the above-mentioned superlatives in a given sport, it rarely or perhaps never breaks through for a national championship in that sport.

For example, all 15 ACC schools sponsor women’s volleyball, but those teams are rarely high in the national rankings, and no ACC team has ever come close to an NCAA title in that sport.

ACC baseball is an anomaly in the sense that, decade after decade, the league has produced lots of great coaches, elite players, highly ranked teams and even a huge number of College World Series participants, yet somehow it has managed only two NCAA champions over its seven decades of existence: Wake Forest way back in 1955, and UVa in 2015.

Quick side note: Miami has won four NCAA titles in baseball, fifth-most nationally behind only Southern California (12), Louisiana State (six), Texas (six) and Arizona State (five), but all four of the Hurricanes’ championships (1982, 1985, 1999, 2001) came before they joined the ACC.

In 2006, the ACC tied the all-time College World Series record by advancing four teams to Omaha: Clemson, Georgia Tech, Miami (a new ACC member in 2004-05) and UNC. The Tar Heels won their bracket and even captured the opener of the CWS championship series (a best-of-3 format matching the two four-team bracket survivors) against Oregon State, but the Beavers then won back-to-back games, including a 3-2 nailbiter in the finale, to take the title.

Such near-miss diamond developments have left the ACC, despite its many baseball accomplishments, far behind the Pac-12, SEC and numerous other leagues in the ultimate team category. Pac-12 teams have won 18 national titles, and SEC teams have captured 14 crowns.

Oddly, the three programs with the most College World Series appearances without ever winning the title are all from the ACC: Florida State with 23 trips, Clemson with 12 and UNC with 11. The Seminoles (three times) and Tar Heels (twice) even have advanced to the final pairing in Omaha before falling just short of the sport’s ultimate prize.

As usual, ACC baseball has been well represented in the NCAA Baseball Championship this year, with eight bids, four of the top nine seeds (#1 Wake Forest, #4 Clemson, #7 Virginia and #9 Miami) and three teams advancing to the Super Regionals, baseball’s version of the Sweet 16. Duke, which knocked #10 Coastal Carolina out of the tournament on the Chanticleers’ home field during regional play, was eliminated by UVa in Charlottesville in the Super Regionals.

While UVa is making its sixth College World Series trip (including the 2015 championship) in the last 14 events under veteran coach Brian O’Connor, this is rarefied air for Wake Forest.

During the regular season, the Demon Deacons led the nation in wins (45), winning percentage (.833) and almost all key pitching statistics, won all 10 of its ACC series, and tied or set all-time program records for victories, conference wins (22) and home attendance (44,650).

However, the Deacons’ first-place ACC regular-season finish was just their fourth ever and their first in 60 years, and in their 14 seasons under coach Tom Walter, this is only their fourth NCAA tournament experience.

Thus far in the 2023 NCAA tournament, Wake has absolutely mauled the competition while going 5-0 on its home field. During regional play, the Demon Deacons dominated George Mason (12-1), Maryland (21-6) and then a rematch against the Patriots (15-1). In the Super Regional, the Deacs swept #16 Alabama, with 5-4 and 22-5 victories.

This year, the ACC again is sending two brilliant NCAA title contenders to Omaha. Unless the Cavaliers or Demon Deacons take the title, though, one of the ACC’s strangest streaks in any sport will continue.

2022-23 NCAA Team Championships

(9 = most in ACC history)

  • Women’s cross country — NC State
  • Fencing — Notre Dame
  • Field hockey — North Carolina
  • Women’s golf — Wake Forest
  • Men’s lacrosse — Notre Dame
  • Men’s soccer — Syracuse
  • Women’s swimming and diving — Virginia
  • Men’s tennis — Virginia
  • Women’s tennis — North Carolina

(featured image via AP Photo/Tony Avelar)

David Glenn (DavidGlennShow.com@DavidGlennShow) is an award-winning author, broadcaster, editor, entrepreneur, publisher, speaker, writer and university lecturer (now at UNC Wilmington) who has covered sports in North Carolina since 1987.

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