Virginia Baseball picked to finish second in ACC preseason coaches poll

Virginia was picked to finish second in the Coastal Division in the annual preseason poll of ACC baseball coaches.

The Cavaliers received three votes to be the league’s overall champion, second only to predicted winner, Florida State.

Virginia was picked to finished second in the Coastal Division for the second straight season and has been either first or second in the annual ACC preseason coaches poll in six of the last seven seasons.

The Cavaliers are coming off the program’s fifth College World Series appearance after going 36-27 last season. All five trips to Omaha have come in the last 13 seasons, the second most of any college baseball program in that span.

Virginia is ranked No. 5 in Baseball America’s Top 25 and come in at No. 24 in Collegiate Baseball Newspaper’s preseason poll. Sophomore catcher Kyle Teel is among six starting position players to return from last year’s club. Earlier in the week he garnered preseason All-America honors from D1Baseball.com.

The 2022 season begins on Friday, Feb. 18 in Boiling Springs, N.C., when Virginia takes on Bellarmine in the first game of the Jerry Bryson Classic hosted by Gardner-Webb. The Cavaliers will open a nine-game homestand on Feb. 22 when they host VMI at Disharoon Park.

Full results of the 2021 ACC Baseball Coaches Preseason Poll, with first-place votes in parenthesis:

Overall Champion

Florida State

Atlantic Division

1. Florida State (8) – 88
2. NC State (1) – 76
3. Notre Dame (3) – 70
4. Louisville (2) – 64
5. Clemson – 43
6. Wake Forest – 35
7. Boston College – 16

Coastal Division

1. Georgia Tech (8) – 91
2. Virginia (5) – 77
3. Miami (1) – 71
4. Duke – 60
5. North Carolina – 44
6. Virginia Tech – 25
7. Pitt – 24