Bad news for our ‘Hoos – UVA Baseball will have to face Duke on Wednesday at the 2026 ACC Baseball Championship, and we all know how Virginia-Duke games in ACC postseason matchups have gone this season.
Duke (26-30, RPI: 84) beat the bejeezus out of NC State (32-22, RPI: 42) on Tuesday, winning 21-12, which, yes, that’s a baseball score.
Duke is the 16 seed in the ACC tourney, which is single-elimination.
Virginia (35-20, RPI: 23) is the 8 seed.
ICYMI
- Duke 27, ‘Hoos 20: Cardiac Cavs rally, force OT, but Duke scores, seals game with INT
- UVA Basketball: #1 Duke takes ACC Tournament title with 74-70 win over #10 Virginia
The two baseball programs did not meet in the 2026 regular season.
I wish they weren’t meeting in the postseason.
Additional storyline to Wednesday – which has a 9 a.m. ET first pitch; you can watch on ACC Network – will be the presence of Chris Pollard, the former Duke coach, in the Virginia dugout.
Pollard left Duke, which he led to within a game of a berth in the 2025 College World Series, to take the job at Virginia last summer.
Kaden Smith, who had eight RBIs in Tuesday’s win, wasn’t one of his guys.
Smith, a Charleston Southern grad transfer, was 3-for-5 with two homers, including a seventh inning grand slam.
Jake Lambdin also had a huge day, going 4-for-6 with a triple, six RBIs, a walk and two runs scored.
Also having a big day: RJ Hamilton (2-for-5, two RBIs, three runs).
Lambdin is a Xavier transfer; Hamilton is a Vanderbilt transfer.
Duke somehow got out of that one only having to use five pitchers.
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Chris Graham
