USA TODAY Sports gives UNC baseball program a Top-10 ranking in Preseason Coaches’ Poll
While plenty of people will celebrate Valentine’s Day on Friday, February 14, the sports world will also celebrate Opening Day for the 2025 college baseball season.
The North Carolina Tar Heels, coming off their 12th trip to the College World Series, are lucky enough to host an Opening Day game. UNC welcomes Texas Tech, which has four CWS appearances of its own since 2014, on Feb. 14 for a 4 p.m first pitch.
North Carolina will then host the Red Raiders again on Saturday, Feb. 15 at 2 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 16 for a 1 p.m. first pitch.
There’s plenty to be excited about if you’re a Diamond Heels fan. UNC returns one of its deepest pitching staffs in recent memory, headlined by sophomore ace Jason DeCaro. North Carolina will carry arguably the country’s best catcher in Luke Stevenson, who received some offseason MLB Draft attention.
Here’s one more item you should be excited about: in USA TODAY Sports’ Baseball Coaches Poll, released on Tuesday, Feb. 4, the Diamond Heels found themselves ranked eighth.
UNC is one spot behind Oregon State, which beat the boys in baby blue during the 2006 and 2007 CWS finals, but a spot ahead of Georgia, which lost to NC State in the 2024 Athens Super Regional.
| Ranking | Team | Points | Last Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Texas A&M | 724 (17) | 2 |
| 2 | Tennessee | 679 (10) | 1 |
| 3 | LSU | 678 (1) | 24 |
| 4 | Virginia | 649 (1) | 7 |
| 5 | Arkansas | 620 (1) | 12 |
| 6 | Florida State | 573 | 6 |
| 7 | Oregon State | 532 | 11 |
| 8 | North Carolina | 530 | 5 |
| 9 | Georgia | 493 | 10 |
| 10 | Florida | 473 | 6 |
| 11 | Clemson | 459 | 9 |
| 12 | Duke | 408 | 18 |
| 13 | Texas | 369 | NR |
| 14 | Oregon | 341 | 13 |
| 15 | Wake Forest | 294 | NR |
| 16 | North Carolina State | 290 | 8 |
| 17 | Oklahoma State | 266 | 14 |
| 18 | Vanderbilt | 263 | NR |
| 19 | Mississippi State | 186 | 20 |
| 20 | Arizona | 183 | NR |
| 21 | Dallas Baptist | 173 | NR |
| 22 | UC Santa Barbara | 133 | 22 |
| 23 | TCU | 93 | NR |
| 24 | Kentucky | 73 | 3 |
| T-25 | Oklahoma | 40 | 15 |
| T-25 | Troy | 40 | NR |
The Diamond Heels have a golden opportunity to build some early momentum this season, playing 15 of their first 17 games at home. After welcoming Texas Tech to Boshamer Stadium, North Carolina turns right around to host NC A&T on Tuesday, Feb. 18.
Can UNC live up to its preseason ranking or even surpass expectations, like it did a season ago? With a much younger – albeit talented – squad, let’s see how February shapes up for the Diamond Heels.
Follow us @TarHeelsWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of North Carolina Tar Heels news, notes and opinions.
Related
😔 João Palhinha’s Bayern Munich nightmare continues
João Palhinha's 2024/25 season has been marred by injury and the Portuguese midfielder had another setback against Bochum.Palhinha was sent off in the 43rd min
Sports Medicine Report: Sporting heads east to take on D.C.…
Sports Medicine Report is SportingKC.com’s look at the latest health update around the team ahead of upcoming matches and is pre
Which baseball player could excel at another sport? MLB player…
MLB.com and its beat writers surveyed over 100 players asking them which MLB player would excel at another sport and two Cincinnati Reds players ranked in the T
Raiders had no interest in Aaron Rodgers
When tracking down the details of the Raiders’ latest contract with Maxx Crosby on Thursday, I had a question for our sou
