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.
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