Nine ACC Baseball Teams Selected for NCAA Tournament
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Nine Atlantic Coast Conference teams will be among the 64-team field when the 2022 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship gets underway this Friday.
As first announced Sunday night, ACC champion North Carolina will be a regional host, along with Coastal Division winner Virginia Tech, Atlantic Division winner Louisville and Miami. Florida State, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, Virginia, and Wake Forest were also announced as 2022 participants as the completed NCAA bracket was unveiled Monday afternoon.
The ACC’s nine teams in this year’s tournament are tied for most of any conference. No. 4 Virginia Tech owns the ACC’s highest national overall seed, followed by No. 6 Miami, No. 10 North Carolina, and No. 12 Louisville. Each of those teams is seeded first in its respective regional.
The ACC has placed at least six teams in the NCAA tournament for 18 straight years. This is the sixth year since 2010 that at least eight ACC teams have landed spots in the field. This year’s nine teams are the second-most in league history, trailing only the ACC’s 10 selections in 2016.
Two of the ACC teams selected this year rank among the top five nationally for all-time NCAA tournament appearances: No. 2 Florida State (59) and No. 3 Miami (48).
The NCAA Regionals will be played from Friday, June 3 through Monday, June 6.
Florida State (33-23) is making its 44th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament, which is the nation’s longest active streak. The Seminoles face UCLA (38-22) in the first game of the Auburn Regional. Florida State’s 44 straight tournament appearances – from 1978 to present – tie for the longest postseason streak in NCAA baseball history.
Georgia Tech (34-22) is in the postseason for the 34th time in program history and will open play versus Campbell in the Knoxville Regional.
Louisville is making its 13th NCAA postseason appearance during head coach Dan McDonnell’s 15 full seasons and the program’s 14th appearance overall. The Cardinals (38-18-1) have a first-day draw versus Southeast Missouri State (37-20) as they serve as a regional host for the ninth time.
Miami (39-18) will play host to Canisius (29-23) in its NCAA opener. The Hurricanes last hosted a regional in 2016.
North Carolina (38-19) is making its 34th NCAA appearance and welcomes Hofstra (30-25) for its first game on Friday. This will be the 12th time that UNC has hosted a tournament regional, the 11th time since 2006.
Notre Dame (35-14) will face Texas Tech (37-20) in the first game of the Statesboro Regional hosted by Georgia Southern. The Fighting Irish are in the tournament field for the second consecutive year and the 24th time overall.
Virginia returns for the second straight year and 19th time overall. The Cavaliers (38-17) will travel to the Greenville Regional hosted by East Carolina and have a first-day draw versus Coastal Carolina (36-18-1). The game will feature two programs that have each won the College World Series since 2015.
Virginia Tech is making the program’s first NCAA tournament appearance in nine seasons, its third since joining the ACC (2010, 2013) and its first under the leadership of fifth-year head coach John Szefc (his eighth appearance overall). It will be the 11th overall NCAA appearance for the Hokies.
Wake Forest (40-17-1) landed a spot in the NCAA bracket for the 14th time and the first since earning back-to-back berths in 2016 and 2017. The Demon Deacons will face UConn (46-13) in the College Park Regional hosted by Maryland.
The selection of the eight NCAA Super Regional hosts will be announced at www.NCAA.com/mcws on Tuesday, June 7, by approximately 10 a.m. (ET). The 75th Men’s College World Series is slated to begin Friday, June 17, at Charles Schwab Field Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska.
The regional format for the DI baseball championship is a double-elimination tournament format with the winning 16 teams advancing to Super Regionals, which will be held from June 10-13. The top eight teams remaining will host the Super Regionals on-campus in a best-of-three series with the eight winners advancing to Omaha.
At least one ACC team has reached the College World Series each of the previous 15 years in which it has been held, and multiple ACC teams reached the CWS 10 times during that span. The ACC has placed a total of 28 teams in the past 15 College World Series, an average of just under two per season.
Ninety-nine ACC teams have earned NCAA bids in the last 13 tournament years. The 14 current ACC teams have a combined 98 College World Series appearances.
Friday’s opening-day matchups for the nine 2022 NCAA Regionals involving ACC teams are listed below.
Knoxville Regional hosted by Tennessee’
#2 Georgia Tech (34-22) vs. #3 Campbell (40-17), 12 p.m., ESPN+
#1 Tennessee (53-7) vs. #4 Alabama St (34-23), 6 p.m., SECN
Blacksburg Regional hosted by Virginia Tech
#2 Gonzaga (36-17) vs. #3 Columbia (30-16), 1 p.m., ESPN+
#1 Virginia Tech (41-12) vs. #4 Wright St. (30-25), 7 p.m., ACCN
Coral Gables Regional hosted by Miami
#1 Miami (39-18) vs. #4 Canisius (29-23), 12 p.m., ESPN+
#2 Arizona (37-23) vs. #3 Ole Miss (32-22), 7 p.m., ESPNU
Greenville Regional hosted by East Carolina
#1 East Carolina (42-18) vs. #4 Coppin St. (24-28), 1 p.m., ESPN+
#2 Virginia (38-17) vs. #3 Coastal Carolina (36-18-1), 6 p.m., ESPN+
Chapel Hill Regional hosted by North Carolina
#1 North Carolina (38-19) vs. #4 Hofstra (30-21), 2 p.m., ESPN+
#2 Georgia (35-21) vs. #3 VCU (40-18), 7 p.m., ESPN+
Louisville Regional hosted by Louisville
#1 Louisville (38-18-1) vs. #4 Southeast Missouri State (37-20), 2 p.m., ESPN+
#2 Oregon (35-23) vs. #3 Michigan (32-26), 7 p.m., ESPN+
Auburn Regional hosted by Auburn
#2 UCLA (38-22) vs. #3 Florida St. (33-23), 12 p.m., ESPN2
#1 Auburn (37-19) vs. #4 Southeastern La. (30-29), 7 p.m., ESPN+
College Park Regional hosted by Maryland
#2 Wake Forest (40-17-1) vs. #3 UConn (46-13), 1 p.m., ESPNU
#1 Maryland (45-12) vs. #4 LIU (37-19), 7 p.m., ESPN+
Statesboro Regional hosted by Georgia Southern
#2 Notre Dame (35-14) vs. #3 Texas Tech (37-20), 2 p.m., ACCN
#1 Georgia Southern (40-18) vs. #4 UNC Greensboro (34-28), 7 p.m., ESPN+