POOLS AND SEEDING

Pool A

Pool B

Pool C

Pool D

ANALYZING THE TOURNAMENT FAVORITES

Louisville Cardinals

The Cardinals enter the ACC Tournament as the #1 overall seed after finishing with a league-best 23-6 record in the ACC. Louisville had several members of their program earn conference awards, with Brendan McKay (1B/P; Jr.) announced as the ACC player-of-the year, teammate Devin Hairston (SS; Jr.) earning ACC defensive P.O.T.Y. honors, and head coach Dan McDonnell winning coach-of-the-year for the second consecutive season. Should the Cardinals win their first match against a scrappy FSU team, they’ll face the winner of UNC vs. NCSU in the semifinals.

UNC Tar Heels

North Carolina has an elite pitching staff in ACC pitcher-of-the-year J.B. Bukauskas and 1st Team All-ACC reliever Josh Hiatt. Bukauskas was a nightmare for opposing batters, tallying an incredible 1.87 ERA on the season. UNC has 4 1st-team All-ACC players on their roster, along with league rookie-of-the-year Ashton McGee.

Wake Forest Demon Deacons

The Demon Deacons were perhaps the biggest surprise in the ACC, finished with the 3rd best conference record and ranked #13 nationally. Wake Forest has 3 1st team All-ACC selections on their roster, along with 5 additional players being selected to the All-ACC 2nd team. Wake Forest is lead in batting-average by Jake Mueller, who is batting .364 on the year. The Demon Deacons also have 5 players on their roster who have hit more than 10 home runs on the year.

Virginia Cavaliers

OF Adam Haseley and 1B Pavin Smith led a talented UVA team to a #11 national ranking, and 4th-seed in the ACC tournament. Haseley and Smith were both 1st team All-ACC selections at their positions. The Cavaliers will face a difficult journey to the ACC championship, as #5 Clemson and #9 Duke will be competing within the same competition pool. Fortunately for UVA, if there’s anything that they’ve proven over the years, it’s that they are more than capable of succeeding on the biggest stages.

Clemson Tigers

After a red-hot start in the ACC, Clemson faded at the end of the season, losing 9 of their last 10 conference games. The Tigers are the defending ACC Tournament champions, however, and they will be eager to defend their crown. Despite their issues in the bullpen, outfielders Seth Beer and Chase Pinder have proven that they can go the distance at any time during a game, and against any opposing pitcher. If Clemson can perform similar to how they performed to start the season, it will be difficult for anybody to slow them down.