UNC Baseball Looks Toward Potential Third-Ranked Spot
Clemson Baseball has been sitting comfortably in a top three spot in the NCAA rankings for weeks now. They’ve got solid wins against ranked teams under their belt, along with a strong in-conference record of 13-9. However, their spot in the top three may be replaced by another ACC team in no time. The North Carolina Tar Heels are on a three-game win streak and climbing the ranks steadily, now sitting in the fourth-ranked spot.
Unlike the Tar Heels, the Clemson Tigers are on a steady decline. Last weekend, they were swept by the NC State Wolfpack in three straight games. Clemson at the time was ranked third in the nation, while the Wolfpack was at the very bottom of the pack in the 25th-ranked spot, new to the rankings. Since their first loss to the Wolfpack on April 24th, the Tigers have been unable to find their way back into the win column. Their schedule graced them with a break from midweek games, but they then fell in extra innings to fifth-ranked FSU on May 2nd.
The Tar Heels are on a roll as they usually find themselves in mid-season. They’ve climbed back into the top five with just a few wins over the past few weeks and have shown no signs of slowing down. A massive 13-4 victory kicked off their week of play against George Mason on April 29th. They then followed that with another double-digit lead against Queen's University on Wednesday. The Heels are not only 7-2 in their last nine games but have also won four of their last nine by double-digit runs.
The boys in Carolina blue are hot and don’t have a weekend series scheduled this week to impact their record. Only one spot behind the Tigers, they have real potential to trade places with Clemson in Monday’s rankings. This series against FSU is crucial for Clemson in more ways than one. Even just one more loss has the potential to drop them at least into that fourth-ranked spot, giving UNC room to sneak right into the top three. Unless the Tigers can find some momentum this weekend, that third-ranked spot might as well go to the Heels now.
