Since 1999, Scott Forbes has been around ACC baseball. He started as an assistant coach at North Carolina that year, and outside of a three-year stretch at Winthrop from 2003-05, has spent his coaching career in the conference.
This week, Forbes’ Tar Heels are one of four ACC teams heading to Omaha for the College World Series, along with Virginia, Florida State and NC State. It’s been a banner year for the league, which saw eight teams make the NCAA Tournament, including five hosts. That’s why Forbes said it’s perhaps the best season of baseball he’s seen from the ACC during his time in the league.
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“We don’t back down from that,” Forbes said. “We feel like the ACC has continued to improve. I felt like this year out of all my years being involved in the ACC, and I have been involved in them a while now, top to bottom it was the best. If you didn’t play well, you would lose.
“I think some really good ACC teams didn’t even make the NCAA tournament. It’s a testament to our league, testament to how hard the coaches are working to get great players, and then those players obviously are doing the work on the field.”
Inside the numbers of SEC, ACC baseball’s success
The SEC was No. 1 in conference RPI this year, followed closely by the ACC before a sizable gap before the Big 12 checked in at No. 3. They were the two best conferences in the country this year, and it’s all paying off with them converging on Omaha with a national title on the line.
From the SEC, No. 1 overall seed Tennessee leads the charge at the College World Series as the betting favorite to win it all, with No. 2 seed Kentucky, No. 3 seed Texas A&M and Florida joining the Vols from the conference. The Volunteers, Wildcats and Aggies are also the top three teams, respectively, in the RPI.
North Carolina is the highest-ranked ACC team in the RPI at No. 4, followed closely by Florida State at No. 5. Virginia then rounds out the top 10. It’s shaping up to be an exciting week at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha as the CWS gets underway, starting with Scott Forbes and the Tar Heels taking on Virginia Friday afternoon.
The CWS format features two brackets in a double-elimination format starting Friday and Saturday. Then, the final two teams will square off in a best-of-three series starting June 22.
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