It appears the next stop is Chapel Hill, N.C.

Widell, a 2015 King Kekaulike High School graduate, verbally committed Sunday to play baseball for the University of North Carolina.

The 6-foot-4 left-hander played for Washington State last season, and is now in Coolidge, Ariz., where he will pitch for Central Arizona College in 2017.

“I had it narrowed down to North Carolina or Arizona State for about a week and a half now,” Widell said. “My dad (Eric Widell) came up to Arizona and after lunch with him and my head coach here at Central Arizona, we just kind of talked it out. To be honest, I was either way.”

Ryley Widell pitched for the Corvallis (Ore.) Knights over the summer, and had an All-Star season for the champions of the collegiate wood-bat West Coast League.

He plans to formally commit to the Tar Heels with a national letter of intent on Nov. 10, the first day of the signing period.

“I’ve already played in the Pac-12, I’ve played on the West Coast for a little while, so I felt like it was a good idea to go experience something else on the East Coast,” Widell said.

Widell signed with Washington State when Donnie Marbut was the head coach, but he was fired and Marty Lees hired before Widell’s freshman season. Widell said he and the new staff reached a mutual decision not to renew his scholarship after a freshman season during which he went 1-2 with an 8.85 ERA in 14 appearances.

“They came in and they kind of wanted their own guys, you could tell,” Widell said. “They actually had big plans for me. I was the weekday starter and then I was going to weekend start, but I was a first-time freshman, I was up and down. I just felt like it wasn’t the best fit for me to be there, they felt the same.”

Widell went 3-1 for the Knights with a 2.17 ERA and 46 strikeouts in 41 1/3 innings. He hopes playing for Central Arizona, in the area where Cactus League spring training takes place, can be a benefit.

“It worked out perfectly,” he said. “Here, I’m just in the center of everything, the center of all the scouts.”

Widell — who said his fastball is reaching 94 mph —  will be eligible for next year’s Major League Baseball draft. Being selected might make him opt against North Carolina.

“Either way, it’s a world-class education and it’s a great baseball program,” Widell said. “So as the draft comes along, if the pros are really serious for me — and that’s what I’ve been hearing — but I can’t really tell you anything right now in the fall. We’ll obviously know more in the spring.”

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com.