College Baseball in North Carolina: National-Best 7 NCAA Bids Extend Golden Era
By David Glenn
In the jewelry context, a diamond’s quality is reflected overwhelmingly by its “Four Cs” —carat, clarity, color and cut.
When it comes to high quality on the college baseball diamond, meanwhile, perhaps “BATT” is the best acronym:
- Bids (to the annual NCAA Baseball Championship)
- Appearances (in the NCAA Super Regionals)
- Trips (to the College World Series)
- Titles (national championships)
In that first category, over the last two years, nobody has been better than the state of North Carolina. In fact, nobody has even come close.
Most 2023/2024 NCAA Tournament Bids (Two-Year Total; By State)
15—North Carolina
10—Louisiana
9—Texas
8—California
7—Florida
7—South Carolina
In 2023, the 64-team NCAA Tournament bracket included a whopping eight in-state teams: Campbell, Charlotte, Duke, East Carolina, NC State, UNC, UNC Wilmington and Wake Forest. Those eight entries last year were the most in state history, for a competition first held in 1947, and they were two more than the next most represented state (Texas).
For comparison, the most bids the state has ever had in the similarly sized (68-team) NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament is six, and even that has happened only twice (in 2002 and 2018).
image via UNC Baseball on Twitter
This year, the NCAA Tournament bracket includes seven in-state teams: Duke, ECU, High Point, NC State, UNC, UNCW and Wake Forest. Again, that was the highest number for any state; only Louisiana, with six representatives, is in the same neighborhood this time.
🚨⚾️Most 2024 #NCAABaseball Bids⚾️🚨
(NC = #1 state for 2nd straight year)7⃣*—NC (Duke, ECU, High Point, NC State, UNC, UNCW, Wake Forest)
6⃣—Louisiana
4⃣—California, Florida, New York, South Carolina
3⃣—Indiana, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia*—2nd-most in NC history (8 in 2023) pic.twitter.com/cNp20bT0WS
— David Glenn Show (@DavidGlennShow) May 27, 2024
Importantly, North Carolina-based teams recently have become known for advancing in the NCAA Baseball Championship, too.
When the NCAA expanded its postseason baseball field to 64 teams and implemented its Super Regional format (eight best-of-three series played by the event’s “Sweet 16,” or regional winners) for the first time in 1999, the state of North Carolina advanced only 16 teams to Super Regionals in the first 18 years of that format (1999-2016).
In that same stretch, North Carolina had no representation in the 16-team NCAA Super Regionals in 2000, 2002, 2005, 2010, 2014 and 2015. In effect, during those six years, college baseball season in North Carolina was basically over by the end of May.
The past seven years have created a completely different — and much more fun —story.
Instead of averaging slightly less than one “Sweet 16” team per season, the state of North Carolina has averaged slightly more than two, and there hasn’t been a single season in that seven-year stretch without at least two in-state teams in the Super Regionals.
That may not sound like much of a change, but it’s an enormous difference —more than a doubling of the state’s presence in Super Regionals, which typically extend into mid-June.
NCAA Super Regional Participants
(2017-2023; NC-Based Teams Only)
2023—Duke, Wake Forest* (2)
2022—East Carolina, UNC (2)
2021—East Carolina, NC State* (2)
2020—(no NCAA Tournament/COVID)
2019—Duke, East Carolina, UNC (3 = most in state history)
2018—Duke, UNC* (2)
2017—Davidson, Wake Forest (2)
*—won Super Regional; advanced to College World Series
Such amazing progress leaves only one significant hole in the resume — just a single diamond-related blemish, if you will — for a state that has become such a prominent part of the NCAA baseball postseason: national championships.
The one and only North Carolina-based team ever to win the College World Series, Wake Forest, did so way back in 1955. That was so long ago that the Atlantic Coast Conference, which is now a 71-year-old league, had existed for only two years.
In another stunning sign from those dramatically different times, the Demon Deacons’ title-winning head coach, 47-year-old Taylor Sanford, resigned at midseason the following year (in January 1956), citing money matters and feelings of job insecurity. He never coached again.
This more modern North Carolina success story actually has been building for more than a decade. UNC, whose 36 NCAA Baseball Championship bids are the most of any in-state program (see chart at bottom for the complete 18-team list), got this stitched ball rolling soon after the turn of the century.
Under legendary coach Mike Fox, the Tar Heels advanced to the College World Series six times in an eight-year period (2006-13) and seven times overall. In 2013, the state of North Carolina represented one-quarter of the eight-team CWS, with NC State joining the Tar Heels in Omaha.
To this point, that previously mentioned 2017-18 season may have been the greatest in state history.
North Carolina-based teams collectively earned seven NCAA bids for the first time. As is the case again this year, UNC (#6), ECU (#12) and NC State (#16) earned three of the field’s 16 seeds, meaning the right to host a regional on their home field. Campbell, North Carolina A&T and UNCW claimed automatic bids as conference champions. UNC and Duke advanced to Super Regionals, and the Tar Heels returned to Omaha.
Whether any or several of this year’s North Carolina participants can find similar levels of NCAA postseason success in the coming weeks remains to be seen, but — once again —there is certainly no shortage of high-quality candidates for that exciting challenge.
All-Time NCAA Baseball Championship Bids
(Most Recent Bid In Parentheses)
36 — North Carolina, Atlantic Coast Conference (2024)
34 — East Carolina, American Athletic Conference (2024)
34 — NC State, Atlantic Coast Conference (2024)
16 — Wake Forest, Atlantic Coast Conference (2024)
12 — UNC Wilmington, Coastal Athletic Association (2024)
12 — Western Carolina, Southern Conference (2016)
11 — Duke, Atlantic Coast Conference (2024)
7 — Campbell, Coastal Athletic Association (2023)
7 — Charlotte, American Athletic Conference (2023)
6 — Elon, Coastal Athletic Association (2013)
4 — Appalachian State, Sun Belt Conference (2012)
4 — UNC Greensboro, Southern Conference (2022)
2 — North Carolina A&T, Coastal Athletic Association (2018)
1 — Davidson, Atlantic-10 Conference (2017)
1 — High Point, Big South Conference (2024)
1 — UNC Asheville, Big South Conference (2006)
0 — Gardner-Webb, Big South Conference (D1 since 1990)
0 — Queens, Atlantic Sun Conference (D1 since 2022)
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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