Charlotte 49ers baseball to open NCAA Tournament vs. Tennessee at Clemson

Charlotte 49ers’ baseball fans won’t have to travel far to see their team play in this weekend’s NCAA Tournament.

The 49ers were placed Monday in the Clemson Regional and will face Tennessee at 6 p.m. Friday in a first-round game. The host Tigers and Lipscomb round out the field at Clemson.

The 49ers are among eight North Carolina schools in the NCAA field. That’s the most of any state. Texas is second, with six qualifiers.

The Tar Heel State’s contingent also includes four ACC schools — Wake Forest, the tournament’s overall No. 1 seed; North Carolina; N.C. State; and Duke — along with East Carolina, UNC Wilmington and Campbell.

East Carolina (45-17) will play in the Charlottesville Regional, hosted by Virginia. UNC Wilmington (34-21) will play in the Conway Regional, hosted by Coastal Carolina. And Campbell (44-13) was assigned to the Columbia Regional, where it will open with N.C. State.

Charlotte (34-26) qualified for the tournament by coming out of the losers’ bracket and winning the Conference USA tournament last week. The 49ers are the No. 3 seed at Clemson. Tennessee is the No. 2 seed.

“We played earlier this season at Doug Kingsmore Stadium and are familiar with it,” 49ers coach Robert Woodard said of Clemson’s stadium.

He said he’s happy that Charlotte fans will be able to see their team without a long trip, and that he expects a healthy contingent of both 49ers’ and Tennessee followers at Friday’s game.

“Our fans will be able to travel there easily,” Woodard said. “We’re playing a really good team in Tennessee. It’ll be two high-caliber teams, with two great fan bases.”

Charlotte is making its seventh appearance in the NCAA baseball tournament and its second in three years with Woodard as coach.

Woodard said his team’s difficult road to the Conference USA championship should help prepare the 49ers for the NCAA regional.

“Losing Game 1, and then having to win five games for the championship was tough,” he said. “We played six games in five days. Now it’s nice to be here.”

Steve Lyttle on Twitter: @slyttle

This story was originally published May 29, 2023 at 5:54 PM.