By Joseph Ochoa, WRAL multiplatform producer, and Brian Murphy, WRAL
The Atlantic Coast Conference's 2025 baseball tournament will look very different.
The league announced that it is moving to a single-elimination tournament to decide its baseball champion. for this year's event at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The tournament starts Tuesday, May 20. The championship game is scheduled for Sunday, May 25.
The ACC has 16 baseball-playing members. Syracuse and SMU do not have baseball teams.
Since 2006, the ACC's postseason baseball event has involved pool play or a round-robin format. It led to certain games not meaning anything in determining a champion, creating confusion.
"Today's announcement will bring an improved championship experience for our student-athletes, coaches and fans alike," ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said in a statement.
North Carolina and NC State reached the College World Series last season. The ACC and SEC each had four teams in the eight-team event. UNC (No. 6), Duke (No. 11) and NC State (No. 13) are among the top teams in the DIBaseball.com preseason rankings.
Teams that finish ninth through 16th in the regular season will play in Tuesday's four-game first-round. The winner will advance to Wednesday to face seeds No. 5 through 8.
The top four seeds will receive a bye into the quarterfinals, which will be played Thursday and Friday. Semifinals are set for Saturday.
The event is in Durham for the 14th time overall and the ninth time since 2009. Tickets go on sale on Wednesday, Feb. 12.