How Does Virginia Baseball's Exit in the ACC Tournament Affect Its Postseason Standing?

It looked like Virginia Baseball was going to pull a big upset today in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament. The Cavaliers had No. 3 Georgia Tech on the ropes 9-5 heading into the bottom of the 7th, and a berth in the semifinals was becoming more and more of a reality.

Then the Yellow Jackets showed why they are the top offense in the country and one of the best in college baseball history.

Georgia Tech scored 11 runs in the 7th and 8th innings and beat UVA 16-10 to punch their ticket to the semifinals. The Yellow Jackets are in the mix to be the No. 1 overall national seed in the NCAA Tournament and they showed why they are the favorite to win the conference tournament.

This loss puts Virginia at 36-21 for the season and what once looked like a team that was going to be a lock to host a regional will now be waiting on their fate on Selection Monday in four days.

So how does today's result impact Virginia's postseason outlook?

Truthfully, I don't think it does that much for them.

If they had won, they would have made things interesting and if they had won the ACC Tournament, maybe they could have gotten back in consideration for hosting (doubtful but you never know).

Losing to the No. 3 team in the country is not going to hurt you when it comes to making the field of 64. Before the game today, D1 Baseball released their latest projections for the Tournament and it included Virginia as the No. 2 seed in the Los Angeles, CA regional being hosted by UCLA. Unless there are a number of bid thieves in the conference tournament that knock UVA down a few pegs (it would take a lot), Virginia seems to be pretty secure in the NCAA Tournament, though they are clearly not going to be hosting.

Despite losing today, I think there are some positives to take away, especially when it comes to the bats. This was the most runs scored against an ACC opponent since putting up 20 in a blowout win over Notre Dame on April 12th. With Eric Becker back and leading off, the top of the order of Becker, AJ Gracia, Joe Tiroly, Sam Harris, and Harrison Didawick is really strong. Can they continue their strong hitting next weekend in whatever regional they are sent to? If so, it is not out of the question that they could advance to the super regionals, but they have to prove it.

The big question going forward for UVA is going to be the pitching, particularly the bullpen. At one point in the season that was considered a strength, but the Cavaliers have been imploding recently. While there are no offenses quite like Georgia Tech's, Virginia is going to need more from Lucas Hartman, Noah Yoder, Kevin Jaxel, Christian Lucarelli, Thomas Stewart, and Max Stammel. They were not good enough today and the main reason why the Yellow Jackets did what they did.

Virginia seems like a lock to be included in the field on Monday, but where they land is still a question.

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