Postseason college baseball is far different from other competitions. While sports like basketball, football and lacrosse each use single-elimination formats for their conference and NCAA tournaments, baseball uses a mixture of pool play and double elimination. Several of the major conferences use different formats for their tournaments, and the ACC is no different. In recent years the conference has gone to a pool play system. Although the system has been criticized, it will be used once again in 2024.

Here’s how that system works:

Initial Pool Play

The top 12 of the 14 total teams in the ACC regular season standings qualify for the tournament. This year, Notre Dame and Boston College were the odd teams out. The remaining teams are sorted into four pools, with the top four teams each serving as a de facto “No. 1 seed” in their pool. Carolina won the ACC regular-season title and is the No. 1 overall seed. The Tar Heels will be in Pool A with No. 8 Wake Forest and No. 12 Pittsburgh.

Image via ACC

The three teams in each pool will play each other in a round-robin style. After these three games, the team with the best record advances to the semifinals. Should two (or three) teams tie for the best record, the tiebreaker goes to the team with the higher seed, which places a heavy incentive on regular season performance. For example, if the Tar Heels lost to Wake Forest and beat Pittsburgh, but Pittsburgh beat Wake Forest, every Pool A team would finish 1-1 and Carolina – the highest seed – would advance.

Semifinals and Finals

The semifinals and final of the tournament are played in a basic single-elimination format. The winner of Pool A will play the winner of Pool D, and the winner of Pool B will play the winner of Pool C. The winners of the semifinals will play the conference championship the following day, with the winner earning an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.

Carolina will face Wake Forest on Friday night at 7 p.m. for a spot in the conference semifinals.

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