Holy Cross vs North Carolina Odds, Picks & Predictions for CWS

• The North Carolina Tar Heels are massive -1600 favorites over Holy Cross in the NCAA Tournament
• The Tar Heels are hosting an NCAA Regional for the third time in four years
• Get my Holy Cross vs North Carolina picks and predictions below

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The road to the College World Series begins on several fronts Thursday, including the Chapel Hill Regional, where the North Carolina Tar Heels (42-12), the fifth overall seed, take on the Holy Cross Crusaders (31-25), the no. 4 seed in the bracket.

North Carolina is looking for back-to-back trips to the CWS for the first time since 2008-09, and are heavy favorites in the opener on May 30 from Boshamer Stadium in Chapel Hill.

Action gets underway at 12pm ET, with the ACC Network and ESPN+ providing coverage. Let’s break down this matchup below.

Holy Cross vs North Carolina Odds

Not surprising that the Crusaders are massive +850 underdogs on the moneyline, taking on the team voted no. 1 overall heading into the NCAA Tournament. The Tar Heels offer zero value at -1600 odds, and are favored by 5.5 runs on the spread. The total is set at 11.5 runs.

Odds as of May 30 at bet365. Claim the bet365 bonus code to bet on college baseball today. 

The winner of this game goes on to take on the winner of Oklahoma vs Nebraska on Saturday at 6pm ET. The teams that lose will square off in an elimination game at noon on Saturday.

Holy Cross vs North Carolina Picks and Predictions

• North Carolina -5.5 (-115 at Bet365)

The Tar Heels are fresh off their ninth ACC Championship, crushing Clemson 14-4 on May 25.

Having home field advantage is a big plus for the Tar Heels, who finished the regular season at a stellar 25-6 at Boshamer Stadium, and have won their last four openers in an NCC regional on their home turf.

They pump out a healthy 7.7 runs per game, and finished the year Top 6 in the ACC in runs, home runs and RBI.

The offense is buoyed by an outstanding pitching staff, which ranked fourth in the nation in ERA at 3.42 and fifth in WHIP (1.21).

Holy Cross will get a look at the best of that staff Friday, when ACC Pitcher of the Year Jake Knapp gets the start.

He’s a perfect 12-0 on the season, with a 2.17 ERA and 0.83 WHIP over his 87 innings of work. Knapp is limiting opponents to a .188 average, and has struck out 78 batters on the year against just 13 walks.

Knapp will be facing the 2025 Patriot League Champions, who needed extra innings to knock off Army West Point 8-7 to take the best-of-3 series and the title.

The Crusaders led their conference in hitting with a .285 average, and were the only team in the Patriot League to top 400 runs in the season. They didn’t hit a lot of dingers, with 33 on the year, but they put up a ton of hits — their 523 was nearly 70 more than second-place Army West Point — including first in doubles (122) and triples (14).

Righty Danny Macchiarola will get the start for Holy Cross. He was 9-4 with a 3.09 ERA on the year, and won his final three starts of the regular season.

He went 2-0 in the Patriot League Tournament, striking out a career-high 12 in eight innings of work against Lehigh in the semifinals.

Experience should play a factor here as the Crusaders have advanced into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017, and just the second time since 1978.

They haven’t had a lot of big-game experience on the season, either. Holy Cross dropped two of three to Auburn, who are seeded fourth nationally in the tourney. But that was their very first series of the season.

North Carolina has its sights set on big things this season, seeking its first national championship in program history.

Behind Knapp, look for a dominating debut at home Friday.