6 Takeaways From UNC's 2022 Schedule Release
A stiff slate awaits the Tar Heels in their second year under Scott Forbes
Home series against ACC foes Florida State, Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest, an exciting home-neutral-away series with East Carolina, and the annual game against South Carolina in Charlotte highlight North Carolina’s 2022 schedule, announced Tuesday.
Coming off a 28-27 campaign and an NCAA regional appearance in their first year under head coach Scott Forbes, the Tar Heels will open their 2022 season with a three-game home series against Seton Hall, beginning Feb. 18. Boshamer Stadium will host 36 of the 56 games on UNC’s schedule – which sees the ACC return to 30 conference games after playing 36 last season.
The Tar Heels will play 26 games against 11 teams that qualified for the 2021 NCAA Tournament, including College World Series participants N.C. State and Virginia.
Below are some additional notes and thoughts following UNC’s schedule release.
A familiar foe
The Tar Heels’ season-opening series versus Seton Hall marks the return of one of the most common nonconference opponents in program history to Boshamer Stadium.
Since their first meeting in 1988, UNC has played the Pirates 69 times, going 58-11. Excluding former ACC members Maryland (198) and South Carolina (103), Davidson (114), ECU (88) and UNCW (77) are the only nonconference teams that the Tar Heels have played more.
Under former head coach Mike Fox, UNC opened its season against Seton Hall seven times – five more than any other opponent. The 2022 opener, however, will be the first time the Tar Heels have played the Pirates since opening the 2015 season with a three-game sweep. For UNC fans, Seton Hall’s return to Boshamer Stadium might provide an additional sense of normalcy – and perhaps excitement – ahead of the first Opening Day that they will be able to attend since 2020.
Nonconference showdowns
Four years removed from playing a three-game series that began in Greenville before shifting to the Durham Bulls Athletic Park and then Chapel Hill, UNC and ECU will renew their rivalry with another unique series that will be held in three cities during the final weekend of February.
The series will begin Feb. 25 in Chapel Hill. It will then continue on Feb. 26 at First National Bank Field in Greensboro – where the Tar Heels haven’t played since a 2-2 showing at the 2014 ACC Tournament – before wrapping up on Feb. 27 in Greenville.
As great of a test as that series will be, things won’t get any easier for UNC, which is slated to host fellow 2021 NCAA regional participant Coastal Carolina the following week, March 4-6, in the first-ever three-game series between the two teams.
Featuring three of the sport’s winningest programs since 2001, both series are good for college baseball in the Carolinas. They should also provide a barometer of where the Tar Heels’ revamped pitching staff stands early in the year.
Duke, Miami series could prove critical
UNC’s trips to Greensboro, Greenville and Lynchburg, Virginia, for a midweek game against Liberty on March 8 mark the only three times it will leave Chapel Hill in the first month of the season.
While that 19-game stretch should offer the Tar Heels the chance to build some momentum, it’s followed by back-to-back road series against Duke (March 18-20) and Miami (March 25-27) that might provide valuable insight into how good they will be. UNC posted a 9-17 record away from Boshamer Stadium last season, a mark that it needs to improve on to make a leap in 2022.
Coastal clashes define early ACC slate
For just the third time since the ACC introduced divisions ahead of the 2006 season, the Tar Heels will play all of their Coastal Division foes before the end of April. That could very well not matter. But it’s worth pointing out that, after winning percentage in head-to-head conference game results, the second and third tiebreakers used to break ties among divisional opponents for ACC Tournament seeding are:
Winning percentage in games played against divisional opponents.
Winning percentage against the team(s) within the division occupying the next highest position in the divisional standings and continuing down through the divisional standings until one team gains an advantage or, in the event of a three-or-more team tie, the tie is reduced by one or more teams.
For that reason, there’s an added incentive to getting off to a strong start in ACC play.
Consecutive series vs. CWS participants
An eight-game stretch from late April to early May figures to be the toughest part of UNC’s schedule, as it sandwiches a pair of road series at Virginia (April 22-24) and N.C. State (May 6-8) around home midweek games against Liberty (April 26) and Charlotte (May 3).
The Tar Heels’ exam break happens to fall in the middle of that stretch, and it will be interesting to see if that’s for the better or worse. Should they find success against the Cavaliers and the Flames, might the six days off disrupt their momentum? Or might they provide UNC a much-needed opportunity to rest and recover, as was the case after Notre Dame swept the Tar Heels entering the exam break last season?
The final stretch
UNC was the only team to not play back-to-back home series during ACC play last season, and that seemed to weigh on the young Tar Heels as they navigated the many obstacles that arose during a season disrupted by COVID-19. The exam break and last home series against Louisville allowed them to spend consecutive weekends in Chapel Hill in May, though, and they took advantage, picking up a much-needed sweep of the Cardinals.
In 2022, UNC will have a similar opportunity to pad its NCAA Tournament resume with back-to-back home series against Wake Forest and Florida State to close out the regular season.
2022 UNC BASEBALL SCHEDULE
Feb. 18-20: Seton Hall
Feb. 22: Elon
Feb. 25-27: East Carolina (Chapel Hill, Greensboro, Greenville)
March 1: Longwood
March 2: Winthrop
March 4-6: Coastal Carolina
March 8: at Liberty
March 9: Georgetown
March 11-13: Pittsburgh
March 15: VMI
March 16: Richmond
March 18-20: at Duke
March 22: Appalachian State
March 25-27: at Miami
March 29: UNCW
April 1-3: Virginia Tech
April 5: South Carolina (Charlotte)
April 8-10: at Louisville
April 12: North Carolina A&T
April 15-17: Georgia Tech
April 19: Campbell
April 22-24: at Virginia
April 26: Liberty
May 3: Charlotte
May 6-8: at N.C. State
May 10: Gardner-Webb
May 11: Charleston Southern
May 13-15: Wake Forest
May 17: at UNCW
May 19-21: Florida State
May 24-29: ACC Championship (Charlotte)