CHAPEL HILL — Home series against Atlantic Coast Conference foes Florida State, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech, an exciting road-neutral-home series with East Carolina and three other games in Triple-A parks highlight the 2018 North Carolina baseball schedule, announced Friday. Carolina will face a total of nine teams that competed in last season’s NCAA tournament, including CWS participants FSU and Louisville.
“Our players are excited about the opportunity to compete against one of the toughest schedules I can remember,” head coach Mike Fox said. “We will be traveling more than ever this season. And, as always, our 30 league games will be very challenging as the ACC will once again be one of the nation’s toughest conferences. Playing two games each at BB&T Ballpark in Charlotte and Durham Bulls Athletic Park during the regular season is a first but will be a lot of fun for our team. We look forward to the season.”
The Tar Heels will open the 2018 campaign with a road series at South Florida Feb. 16-18 in Tampa. After hosting UNCW on Tuesday, Feb. 20, for the home opener, Carolina and ECU will meet for three games in three different cities. The series will open Friday, Feb. 23, in Greenville, and continue with a Saturday game at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. UNC will host the Pirates at Boshamer Stadium on Feb. 25 in the series finale.
Carolina’s first full home weekend series will be March 2-4 against Liberty following midweek tilts against High Point (Feb. 27) and St. John’s (Feb. 28). Other midweek home contests include visits from N.C. A&T (March 13), Gardner-Webb (March 14), Maryland (March 20), Coastal Carolina (April 24), Western Carolina (April 25), UNC Asheville (May 1) and Richmond (May 8).
After a midweek game against VCU on March 6, the Tar Heels jump right into league play with a marquee matchup at Louisville March 9-11. This year marks the first time since 2013 in which Carolina will open league play on the road. UNC won three straight games and finished as ACC Championship runner-up at last year’s conference tournament in Louisville.
Carolina hosts three straight ACC opponents after the Cardinals, with Pitt (March 16-18), FSU (March 23-25) and Wake (March 30-April 1) visiting Boshamer Stadium on consecutive weekends.
UNC will return to Charlotte’s BB&T Ballpark to face the hometown 49ers on Tuesday, March 27. One week later, the Tar Heels will continue their border rivalry with South Carolina at the home of the Charlotte Knights. This marks the third game in this neutral-site series, with Carolina winning the first two by a combined score of 35-5.
Following a challenging pair of road series at Miami (April 6-8) and Virginia (April 13-15), the Tar Heels will return to the Triangle to face NC State at Durham Bulls Athletic Park on Tuesday, April 17. The midweek contest with the Wolfpack will mark the first of four scheduled meetings between the teams in 2018. After returning home to host Georgia Tech (April 20-22), Carolina will travel to Raleigh for a three-game set (April 27-29).
UNC resumes play after the annual final exam break against Richmond on May 8 before embarking on a five-game road trip against Coastal Carolina (May 9), Duke (May 11-13) and UNCW (May 15). The Tar Heels close out the regular season at the Bosh against Virginia Tech (May 17-19).
As always, this year’s schedule is subject to change based on the selection of games by the league’s television partners. Any changes to the dates and times of contests will be announced as soon as possible on GoHeels.com.
The 2018 ACC Baseball Championship will be held at Durham Bulls Athletic Park May 22-27. NCAA play begins the following weekend with campus sites hosting regional action June 1-4.
2018 North Carolina Schedule (PDF)
