Expectations will be low for this year's Boston College baseball team, who was picked to finish last in the 2012 ACC Baseball Preseason Coaches Poll. The Eagles received a conference low 14 points. North Carolina was tabbed as the preseason favorite, while Clemson received the nod as the favorite in the Atlantic Division.

Florida State was picked to finish second in the division, followed by N.C. State, Wake Forest, Maryland and Boston College.

In the Coastal, Georgia Tech was picked second, followed by Miami, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Duke.

Same as last year, the Eagles will open the season participating in the Caravelle Resort Tournament in Conway, S.C., facing Virginia, James Madison and host Coastal Carolina. The season opener is February 17 against Virginia.

The Eagles then hit the road for the next 14 games of the season, including three-game series against Central Florida, Florida Gulf Coast, Miami and Clemson as well as games against Florida International, Florida Atlantic and the annual exhibition game with the Boston Red Sox down in Fort Myers (March 3).

BC's home opener is on March 20 against Holy Cross, while the Eagles first home ACC series is on March 23-25 as they host the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

A total of six ACC programs are ranked among the top 23 of the 2012 National Collegiate Baseball Writers preseason poll, including No. 3 North Carolina, No. 9 Georgia Tech, No. 10 Florida State, No. 16 Miami, No. 17 Clemson and No. 23 Virginia. Including 28th ranked UCF and 35th ranked Coastal Carolina, 20 of the Eagles 56 regular season games will be played against teams ranked in the preseason top 35.

Such is life in ACC baseball.

The 2011 ACC Baseball Championship gets underway in Durham today. And for the fourth time in six years of post-expansion ACC baseball, the Eagles are home for the conference's year-end tournament. Good thing the ACC moved that tournament from Fenway to Durham.

My question today is are the Eagles the worst baseball program in the ACC? Other than the dream 2009 season, it's been a fairly forgettable stretch of college baseball for the Eagles in the conference. But BC certainly can't be the worst program, right?

Turns out the Eagles are far from the worst program in the ACC over the last six years. That distinction likely should be given to the Maryland Terrapins, who over the last six years, have amassed a whopping 44-161 record in ACC play (0.215). Duke turns in the second-worst performance, posting a 54-146-1 (ties in baseball?) record over the last six seasons. Virginia Tech has gone 56-134 (.295), while the Eagles rank ninth best in the ACC in terms of winning percentage (64-128), winning a third of games played.

If you want to use ACC Baseball Championship appearances as a measure of suckitude, it's still Maryland. The Terps are the only ACC program to fail to qualify for the ACC Baseball Championship in each of the last six seasons. That's actually a pretty difficult feat to achieve considering the Terps play in the weaker of the conference's two divisions for baseball.

Virginia Tech and Duke have only appeared in one ACC Baseball Championship over the last six years. BC actually has two appearances under its program's belt -- both in 2009 and 2010. Wake Forest has missed the Championship just two years, while N.C. State and North Carolina failed to qualify once. Virginia, Georgia Tech, Florida State, Clemson and Miami are the five ACC programs to make the Baseball Championship field in every year since 2006.

Long story short, it looks like while BC hasn't had the best six year run in college baseball, the honor of worst program in the ACC over the last six seasons probably resides in College Park. But I suppose that's OK, and any Terps fan would tell you they have more important non-revenue sports to worry about come spring. Hey, look over here ... championship-calibre men's and women's lacrosse! A-C-C! A-C-C!

Needing to string together a few wins to improve their ACC Baseball Championship position, the Eagles fell flat in Winston-Salem, getting swept by the Demon Deacons 2-1 (10 innings), 15-5 and 4-3. BC falls to 16-29 overall and just 7-19 in ACC play.

Here's a look at the updated ACC standings:

1. Virginia 20-4
2. Florida State 16-8
3. Georgia Tech 18-6
4. Miami 16-7
5. North Carolina 16-8
6. Clemson 13-11
7. N.C. State 11-13 
8. Wake Forest 10-14
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9. Virginia Tech 9-15 (1 GB of Wake)
10. Boston College 7-19 (4 GB)

Basically, the Eagles' hopes to make this year's ACC Baseball Championship are looking very bleak. BC needs to sweep N.C. State this weekend, have the Deacons lose all six of their remaining ACC games and have the Hokies lose five of last six. Chances of that happening, as Soaring to Glory explains, are very, very slim:

"Without going into a math lecture, the chances of an outcome being repeated three times AND an outcome being repeated six times AND an outcome being repeated five of six times puts us in less-than-1% territory. To put it in more comprehensible terms, you have significantly better odds of walking into 7-Eleven in Cleveland Circle (about half-way between Cityside and Roggie's, of course) and winning money on a scratch-off lottery ticket than BC does of making the ACC Tournament this year. I think, therefore, it's pretty safe to say that the season has all but come to an end for Eagles baseball."

That good, huh?

BC takes a break from ACC play this week as they face LeMoyne on Saturday and Sunday, and St. John's on Tuesday. ACC play wraps up with a three-game series at home against State. The Eagles can be eliminated from the ACC Baseball Championship this weekend with one Wake win over Duke and/or two Hokies wins over Clemson.

Even after stealing a game from the number 1 team in the country, the Eagles have their work cut out for them if they hope to make this year's ACC Baseball Championship in Durham, NC. Here's a look at the current ACC standings:

7. N.C. State 11-13 
8. Virginia Tech 9-15
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9. Wake Forest 7-14
10. Boston College 7-16

Remaining schedules:

N.C. State -- vs. Florida State, at Boston College
Virginia Tech -- vs. Clemson, vs. Georgia Tech
Wake Forest -- vs. Boston College, at Duke, at Maryland
Boston College - at Wake Forest, vs. N.C. State

You can probably write off Duke and Maryland. Both programs sit at 5-19 in ACC play. 

Wake Forest has the easiest road of the teams currently in 7-10 place. The Deacons also have the most remaining games with an extra series in hand. Even with three games against the Eagles, Wake could easily beat up on Duke and/or Maryland and stay ahead of BC in the ACC Baseball Championship picture. Virginia Tech will have a tough go of things though with series against Clemson and Georgia Tech. If the Eagles can go 5-1 or 6-0 down the stretch, they may be able to jump the Hokies and the 'Pack to claim the eighth and final spot in the ACC Baseball Championship. 

Certainly won't be easy, but at least the Eagles have a shot with just two series remaining.

Unsurprisingly, Boston College baseball was swept by the no. 9 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets over the weekend down in Atlanta. I suppose the Eagles playing the Jackets close on Friday and Sunday count as moral victories of sorts. That's the good news.

The bad news is that BC is now on the outside looking in at the ACC Tournament. The weekend sweep, combined with a Hokies sweep of the Terps and a Wake win over Clemson, puts the Eagles in 10th place.

Here's a look at the current ACC standings: 

1. Virginia 18-3 (1st Coastal)
2. Florida State 14-7 (1st Atlantic)
3. Georgia Tech 17-4
4. Miami 15-5
5. North Carolina 13-8
6. Clemson 11-10
7. N.C. State 9-12
8. Virginia Tech 7-14

Wake Forest 7-14
Boston College 6-14
Maryland 4-17
Duke 4-17

The Eagles are battling Virginia Tech and Wake Forest for the eighth and final ACC Tournament playoff spot. I suppose you could throw Maryland in that mix too, as the Terps have a manageable schedule down the stretch. 

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Tuesday afternoon's BC baseball game against Rhode Island has been postponed due to field conditions and impending bad weather.

"After a nor'easter brought rain and snow into the Boston area on Friday, more rain soaked the region Monday. Tuesday afternoon's forecast calls for rain as well."

A rescheduled date and time will be announced at a later date.

Of course, this isn't the first time weather has interfered with this year's baseball schedule. Let us recap the lousy atmospheric conditions that the Eagles baseball team has had to endure already this season:

- March 16 -- at Bryant, Smithfield, R.I. -- Postponed due to inclement weather
- March 25-27 -- Virginia Tech, Chestnut Hill, Ma. -- Series moved to Kingston, R.I. due to weather / field conditions
- April 1 -- Miami, Chestnut Hill, Ma. -- Cancelled
- April 2 -- Miami, Chestnut Hill, Ma. -- Postponed due to snow, doubleheader played on Sunday
- April 5 -- Rhode Island, Chestnut Hill, Ma. -- Postponed due to field conditions / impending bad weather

For those keeping track at home, the weather has forced the Eagles to cancel one home ACC contest, postpone four games and play a "home" ACC series against the Hokies in Rhode Island. The Eagles' host Bryant tomorrow at Shea Field, but what are the chances that game is actually played? Oh, the folly of New England college baseball!

BC has just 13 home dates remaining, including nine ACC contests against Clemson, Virginia and N.C. State. The new Brighton Campus domed stadium can't come soon enough ...

Boston College baseball starts up in a week, when the Eagles travel to South Carolina to take on Coastal Carolina in the Caravelle Resort Tournament down in Myrtle Beach. BC will play its first 19 games on the road this year because, well, it's utterly ridiculous to play baseball in New England in mid-February.

It will likely be a long, long road trip for an Eagles team that loses two of its better hitters Robbie Anston (.314 average) and Mickey Wiswall (.301 average), and weekend ace Pat Dean (5-2, 4.75 ERA, 77.2 innings pitched).

On their opening 19-game road trip, the Eagles will face the no. 1 Florida Gators down in Gainesville for three games, no. 20 ranked Coastal Carolina and open conference play at no. 11 Florida State. The Eagles will also face the Red Sox down in Fort Myers for their annual exhibition game beat down.

BC will be in South Carolina and Florida for the nearly a month before returning to New England to take on Bryant in Smithfield, R.I. on March 16. Then, it's back down to College Park for a weekend series against the Terps, followed by a weekday game at Holy Cross the following week. FINALLY, 19 games and one exhibition game later, and more than a month into the season, BC opens at home as they host Virginia Tech.

I realize BC is a cold-weather college baseball program but a 20-game road trip to start the season seems a bit excessive, no? I guess such is the life of a northern school playing college baseball. They are planning on building a Dome on Brighton Campus for the baseball and softball teams, right?

The 2010 MLB Draft ended yesterday (no one told me the MLB Draft goes on for approximately 150 rounds) with six Eagles getting drafted by Major League clubs. The six BC players were the most ever in a single MLB draft, a testament to what the move to the ACC has done to raise the profile of Boston College baseball.

Congratulations to the following BC baseball players:

102 (3). LHP Pat Dean, Minnesota 
222 (7). INF Micky Wiswall, Seattle
278 (9). RHP Kevin Moran, Chicago White Sox
792 (26). OF Robbie Anston, Seattle
1058 (35). OF John Spatola, Chicago White Sox
1098 (36). RHP John Leonard, San Francisco

It was a record draft not only for BC, but also for the ACC. The ACC had a record 64 players drafted in this year's MLB Draft. Georgia Tech led the way and tied a school record with 10 selections. Virginia followed with 9, Virginia Tech with 8, and Florida State, Clemson and BC each had 6 selections.