Duke, Florida State, Louisville & North Carolina moving on
GREENSBORO, N.C. (theACC.com) – Four Atlantic Coast Conference teams have advanced to the final 16 of the 2019 NCAA Baseball Championship and will continue play in the Super Regionals this weekend.
Duke, Florida State and North Carolina all swept through their respective NCAA Regionals last weekend with three consecutive wins. Louisville battled back from a Saturday loss with three straight wins on its home field to punch the ACC’s fourth Super Regional ticket. The Cardinals edged Illinois State 4-3 in Monday afternoon’s deciding regional game.
No. 7 national seed Louisville (47-16) will remain at home this weekend for its best-of-three Super Regional matchup against No. 10 East Carolina (47-16).
No. 14 seed North Carolina (45-17) will also play at home versus Auburn (36-25). It will be one of three ACC-SEC matchups, as Duke (34-25) is set to travel to No.2 Vanderbilt (52-10), while Florida State (39-21) makes a trip to No. 13 LSU (40-24).
The Louisville-East Carolina and Duke-Vanderbilt series are scheduled to begin Friday and run through Sunday if necessary. The UNC-Auburn and FSU-LSU series will open Saturday and continue through Monday if necessary.
This weekend’s eight Super Regional winners will advance to the College World Series, which is slated June 15-25/26 at Omaha, Nebraska.
Florida State’s three-game sweep through the Athens (Georgia) Regional pushed legendary head coach Mike Martin’s NCAA career-leading win total to 2,026. FSU will play in its 17th Super Regional, the most in the 21-year history of the current NCAA format.
This year will mark ACC champion North Carolina’s ninth NCAA Super Regional appearance and second consecutive. The Tar Heels have advanced to the College World Series each of the last seven times that they reached the Super Regionals. UNC is now 40-7 at home in NCAA tournament play under veteran head coach Mike Fox.
Duke, under the direction of head coach Chris Pollard, will be making the second Super Regional appearance in program history and the second in as many years. The Blue Devils reached the Super Regional last season for the first time since the NCAA’s current tournament format was introduced in 1999.
Louisville reached the NCAA Super Regional for the eighth time in 13 NCAA Championship appearances and seeks its fifth College World Series berth. The Cardinals presented head coach Dan McDonnell with a milestone victory while advancing through the regional round, as Sunday night’s 11-2 win over Illinois State marked the 600th of his career. McDonnell now owns a 601-238 record in 13 seasons at the Louisville helm.
The following Super Regionals involving ACC teams will be played Friday, June 7, Saturday, June 8, and Sunday, June 9 (if necessary):
GAMES BEGIN FRIDAY, JUNE 7 - All times are Eastern
Game times and ESPN Network subject to change
No. 10 East Carolina (47-16) at No. 7 Louisville (47-16)
Friday Noon (ESPN2), Saturday 3 p.m. (ESPNU), * Sunday Noon (ESPN2)
Duke (34-25) at No. 2 Vanderbilt (52-10)
Friday 6 p.m. (ESPN2), Saturday 9 p.m. (ESPNU), * Sunday 3 p.m. (ESPN2)
The following best-of-three Super Regionals will be played Saturday, June 8, Sunday, June 9, and Monday, June 10 (if necessary).
GAMES BEGIN SATURDAY, JUNE 8 – All times are Eastern
Game times and ESPN Network subject to change
Florida State (39-21) at No. 13 LSU (40-24)
Saturday 3 p.m. (ESPN), Sunday 6 p.m. (ESPN2),* Monday 8:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Auburn (36-25) at No. 14 North Carolina (45-17)
Saturday Noon (ESPN2), Sunday 11:30 a.m. (ESPN), * Monday1 p.m. (ESPN2)
* - If necessary