Arizona plays at fifth national seed North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament Super Regional that begins on Friday. The Super Regional is the best two out of three. Arizona is playing in its first Super Regional since 2021, when they advanced to the College World Series.
North Carolina will attempt to win its second consecutive Super Regional. The Tar Heels are making their seventh Super Regional Appearance in the last seven NCAA Tournaments. North Carolina entered the NCAA Tournament sixth in the RPI and first in the D1Baseball.Com poll.
North Carolina needed four games to win the Chapel Hill Regional. After a 4-0 win over Holy Cross and 11-5 victory over Oklahoma, North Carolina lost 9-5 to the Sooners before beating them 14-4 to win the regional. Arizona beat Cal Poly 3-2 and 14-0, with a 14-4 victory over Utah Valley in between, to win the Eugene Regional.
North Carolina is third nationally with a 3.39 earned run average. Arizona has allowed 10 runs in their last seven games. The Wildcats bring an eight-game winning streak into the Super Regional. Arizona beat Houston in the final two regular season games and BYU, West Virginia and TCU in the Big XII Tournament.
Arizona versus North Carolina Pitching Matchups
Arizona will continue with the rotation they used in the Eugene Regional. Owen Kramkowski (9-5, 4.73) will start game one versus Jake Knapp (13-0, 1.98), fourth nationally in ERA. Raul Garayzar (2-0, 2.54) starts on Saturday for Arizona Jason DeCaro (9-3, 3.50) for North Carolina.
Freshman Smith Bailey (3-3, 3.97) would start for Arizona on Sunday if a game three is needed, with the North Carolina starter to be determined. Arizona needs quality starts from Kramkowski and Garayzar versus potentially the best top two starters at the top of a rotation nationally.
Arizona versus North Carolina odds
Arizona is +1.5 at +125 and North Carolina is -1.5 and -164 on Friday. Arizona is +255 and North Carolina -350 on the money line. The over/under for runs is 10.5 The over is +104 and the under is -130, per the FanDuel Sportsbook.
Arizona versus North Carolina All-Time Series
Arizona leads the all-time series versus North Carolina 3-2. The Wildcats are 1-1 versus the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill. Arizona won 3-2 in the most recent game against North Carolina in the Carolina Invitational in 1990.
Arizona at North Carolina Super Regional Television and Streaming information
The first two games of the Arizona at North Carolina regional will have first pitch at 9 AM Mountain Standard Time, with both games on ESPN2. The third game, if necessary, would have a game and television to be announced.