ACC Nation

After studying the ACC baseball standings for three minutes (it shows below) Sunday afternoon, I believe seven six of the eight spots have been claimed in the ACC Tournament.

(OK, thanks to Jimmy Smith (see comments below) I was figuring something wrong concerning teams with ties. Ties count as half a win. See corrections below in bold.)

FSU and NC State and Wake Forest have spots out of the Atlantic Division, while Miami, North Carolina, Georgia Tech and Virginia are in from the Coastal. That leaves one two spots up for grabs as we head for the final weekend of the regular season.

Per Kristie Le, who handles baseball media relations for the ACC, the eight spots in the tournament are based strictly on winning percentage, even if the teams haven’t played the same number of games. That’s how Wake gets in even if it gets swept by BC this weekend.

So, per Le’s information, I have come up with the only scenarios that can still happen. The only series that matter as far as who gets in the tournament (seedings are also up for grabs this weekend) are Wake at Boston College and Duke at Virginia Tech.

Scenerio one: Wake wins at least one of its three games and Duke sweeps Virginia Tech –  Wake and Duke would claim the final two spots.

Scenerio two: Wake wins at least one of its three games and Virginia Tech beats Duke at least once — Wake and Clemson would be in the ACC Tournament.

Scenerio three: BC sweeps Wake and Duke sweeps VT — Duke and Clemson would claim the final spots.

Scenerio four: BC sweeps Wake and VT beats Duke at least once — Wake and Clemson would qualify for the ACC Tournament.

If Duke sweeps the Hokies, the Blue Devils and Clemson claim the final spots. If Duke doesn’t sweep the series, the Devils are out. That’s pretty simple.

If neither Duke nor BC sweep, then Clemson is in the tournament. Again, simple.

This is where it gets confusing, so stay with me. If BC does sweep Wake and Duke doesn’t sweep Virginia Tech, that would leave BC at 11-19 and Clemson at 11-18-1. Both would have the same winning percentage and I’m not sure if that tie would give the Tigers the advantage. I have another message into Le (I’m sure she hates me) for an answer. Watch the comments and I’ll let you know when I hear from her.

My brain hurts (even more) now, so on with our weekly power rankings:

12. Virginia Tech (5-22, 21-30) — lost to Liberty 7-6, lost two of three against Miami (4-12, 7-6, 2-9)

11. Boston College (8-19, 24-24) — lost to Northeastern 6-3

10. Maryland (9-21, 29-26) — beat Maryland-Eastern Shore 6-0, beat Towson 7-4, lost two of three against NC State (6-2, 1-12, 8-17)

9. Duke (8-17-1, 34-17-1) — won two of two against Longwood (6-4, 10-3), beat Davidson 2-1 (10 inn.), lost three of three at Wake (3-7, 1-3, 4-9)

8. Wake Forest (11-15, 22-27) — won three of three against Duke (7-3, 3-1, 9-4)

7. Clemson (11-18-1, 26-25-1) — lost to FSU 4-2 ((completed three-game weekend series), won at Furman 11-5, lost two of three at GT (1-5, 1-7, 16-6)

6. Virginia (14-13, 34-17) — lost two of three to UNC (3-7, 2-5, 5-4 (7 inn.))

5. N.C. State (17-9, 35-16) - won at Campbell 6-3, lost at UNC-Wilmington 3-2 (11 inn.), won two of three at Maryland (2-6, 12-1, 17-8)

4. Georgia Tech (14-13, 36-15) — won at Georgia 11-1, won two of three against Clemson (5-1, 7-1, 6-16)

3. Florida State (22-5, 43-8) — won at Clemson 4-2 (completed three-game weekend series), lost to Jacksonville 7-6, won three of three against Savannah State (23-4 (7 inn.), 19-2 (7 inn.), 24-4 (7 inn.)

2. North Carolina (20-6, 42-9 ) — won two of two against North Florida (9-2, 11-5), won two of three at UVa. (7-3, 5-2, 4-5 (7 inn.))

1. Miami (22-3, 41-6) — Miami won two of three at VT (12-4, 6-7, 9-2)