Inside the Numbers: Virginia has played its way in

Virginia was 4-12 in ACC play on April 1, and on the verge of going from Top 5 preseason to finishing another year without earning an NCAA Tournament bid.

The ‘Hoos have gone 17-8 overall since that day, including a 15-6 mark in ACC games, and that has them on the verge of not only getting an NCAA bid, but maybe actually getting a decent seed.

UVA is projected as high as a two seed, in the DRatings.com projected NCAA field, with Baseball America and D1Baseball.com both tabbing the Cavaliers as three seeds.

From two months of playing for one of the last spots, Virginia (28-22, RPI: 43) will face Notre Dame (29-10, RPI: 10) on Friday for a spot in the ACC Tournament semifinals.

A win over Notre Dame might secure a two-seed line spot for the ‘Hoos.

ACC Baseball Notes

Odd circumstance kind of thing here, but you may remember that when Virginia hosted Louisville back in early April, the Cardinals came to town ranked seventh in the nation.

The 15-10 UL win over Clemson (24-27, RPI: 67) on Tuesday in the ACC Tournament was important for a team that started this week on the NCAA bubble.

Louisville (28-21, RPI: 64) is beset by a non-conference strength of schedule at 209.

Virginia Tech (27-24, RPI: 62) is almost certainly out after the Hokies’ 3-2 loss to Virginia on Tuesday in the ACC Tournament.

That was the seventh loss in a row for Tech, which was effectively eliminated from contention for a semifinal berth with the setback.

This for a team ranked as high as 15th in the polls a month ago.

Pitt (23-19, RPI: 46) seemed a solid bet as recently as three weeks ago, but since coming back from a two-week COVID-19 protocol break that forced cancellations of series with Louisville and Northern Kentucky, the Panthers have gone 3-8, including getting swept in its final two ACC weekend series (N.C. State and Wake Forest).

By virtue of their win over UNC on Tuesday, the Panthers have a chance to advance to the ACC Tournament semis with a win over N.C. State (28-15, RPI: 32) on Thursday.

A loss could be devastating: D1Baseball.com’s latest projected field has Pitt among the last four teams in.

Duke (29-20, RPI: 28) kind of came out of nowhere, like Virginia, winning 12 of its last 14, including a dominating 12-1 win over Florida State (29-22, RPI: 45) today.

Duke was listed among the last four in by both D1Baseball.com and Baseball America before the ACC Tournament.

Now the Blue Devils get a game with Miami (32-17, RPI: 20) on Thursday to shore up whatever it may need to.

Story by Chris Graham