The latest round of preseason college baseball polls was released on Tuesday, with D1Baseball.com ranking UNC at No. 6 to start the 2018 campaign.

Despite having three players taken in the first 36 picks of last summer’s MLB Draft, head coach Mike Fox’s Tar Heels are expected to once again boast elite-level pitching with enough talented young hitters to get the job done.

UNC–which finished last year’s regular season as the No. 2 overall seed for the NCAA Tournament–begins this year just behind the top five in the poll. The Tar Heels are looking up at a group that includes: No. 1 Florida, No. 2 Oregon State, No. 3 Texas Tech, No. 4 Arkansas and No. 5 Florida State.

Rounding out the rest of the top 10 is No. 7 TCU, No. 8 Kentucky, No. 9 Ole Miss and No. 10 Texas A&M.

The SEC leads all conferences with eight teams among the top 25, but the ACC ranks second with five teams in the mix.

Other ranked ACC schools besides Florida State and UNC include: No. 15 Louisville, No. 19 Virginia and No. 25 Duke.

The Tar Heels are scheduled to begin their season with a three-game series at home against South Florida, which is scheduled for Feb. 16-18.

For the full D1Baseball.com Top 25, click here.

 

 

Photo via Jeffrey A. Camarati (UNC Athletics)