ACC Baseball
As we near the end of the regular season in baseball, lets check in on the ACC. Which conference is having the best year? Looking at this weeks top 20 the standouts are the ACC and the SEC. The SEC has 5 teams in the top 20 with 2 in the top 5 while the ACC has 6, counting Louisville, and 4 in the top 10. As in other sports, there are multiple polls to watch and all have different rankings. College Baseball Insider has a composite poll that combines the 5 primary national polls; Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball, NCBWA, Perfect Game and the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll.
CBI Composite Poll (5/6/13)
1 North Carolina (42-4)
2 Vanderbilt (41-6)
3 LSU (43-6)
4 Cal State Fullerton (39-7)
5 Oregon State (37-8)
6 NC State (37-11)
7 Virginia (39-8)
8 Oregon (37-11)
9 Florida State (38-9)
10 UCLA (31-13)
11 Louisville (37-10)
12 Arkansas (32-16)
13 South Carolina (33-14)
14 Arizona State (30-14-1)
15 Oklahoma (34-14)
16 Indiana (35-9)
17 Mississippi State (36-13)
18 Rice (31-15)
19 Clemson (30-15)
20 Stanford (26-16)
North Carolina has spent 12 consecutive weeks at #1 in the CBI poll. They have faired well in NCAA team stats this season which include 7th in batting avg., 13th in HR, 1st in runs per game at 8.8, 4th in slugging %, and 18th in KO per 9 innings. N. Carolina and Florida St. lead their divisions. The ACC tourney will be held May 22-26 at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, NC.
Louisville has been ranked as high as 8th this season. Struggling in the power game, they have relied on their pitching and speed. They are 3rd in the NCAA in stolen bases with 126 and 1st in KO per game with 478 total KO for an incredible 9.7 KO per 9 innings. Louisville is hoping to host a regional when the post season begins. The Big East tourney will be held May 22-26 at Bright House Field in Clearwater, Fla.
Early projections for baseballs round of 64 has 9 ACC teams making the field led by top ranked North Carolina 44-5 (19-4). Virginia 39-8 (17-7), Florida St 40-9 (16-8) & NC State 38-11 (15-8) are probable national seeds as well. Joining them could be Virginia Tech 31-19 (13-14), Clemson 35-15 (17-10), Miami 33-18 (12-13), Georgia Tech 31-19 (13-12) and Maryland 28-24 (9-18). If you include Louisville, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame, who are the Big East projections, then the ACC dominates the field with 12 current and future members. The SEC has 9 teams projected to make the field while the B1G has 2, Big 12 has 4 and the Pac 12 has 5. The ACC also leads in the conference RPI and are followed in order by the SEC, Pac 12, Big 12, Sun Belt, B1G and the Big East at #8. The ACC continues its domination and only looks to get stronger in the future.
(As Of May 10)
ATLANTIC DIVISION
School Conference Pct. Overall Pct.
Florida State 16-8 .667 40-9-0 .816
NC State 15-8 .652 38-11-0 .776
Clemson 17-10 .630 35-15-0 .700
Maryland 9-18 .333 28-24-0 .538
Wake Forest 7-18 .280 26-24-0 .520
Boston College 3-23 .115 11-37-0 .229
COASTAL DIVISION
School Conference Pct. Overall Pct.
North Carolina 19-4 .826 44-5-0 .898
Virginia 18-7 .720 40-8-0 .833
Georgia Tech 13-12 .520 31-19-0 .620
Virginia Tech 13-14 .481 31-19-0 .620
Miami 12-13 .480 33-18-0 .647
Duke 9-16 .360 25-24-0 .510
The Confidential 