Boston College Baseball: ACC Playoff Race, Update #5

Last weekend was a virtual disaster for teams looking to break away in the race for Durham and the ACC Tournament.

Both Miami and Louisville blew golden opportunities at the expense of one another. As Louisville was losing two out of three to Boston College, Miami lost a chance to distance themselves for the top seed in the league by losing two out of three to Virginia. The same could be said about Louisville at Miami's losses, as the Cardinals blew a chance with the Canes losing.

Both teams wound up staring up at Florida State, who used the opening to sweep Notre Dame and slide into the top slot in the ACC. And that was just the beginning.

Notre Dame's sweep loss dropped the Fighting Irish from fifth to eighth because Georgia Tech won two against Clemson. The Yellow Jackets, tied for eighth with Pittsburgh entering the weekend, wound up flying into fifth place.

But the biggest shockers come from Wake Forest and North Carolina when the Demon Deacons swept the Tar Heels. Wake Forest went from out of the postseason in a tie for 11th to seventh, a half game behind Georgia Tech for a guaranteed spot in pool play. And the Tar Heels fell from a tie for sixth place with Virginia to potentially out of the postseason altogether.

Think about this for a second. As of right now, three teams are tied for the final playoff spot - Clemson, North Carolina, and Duke. Last week, one iconic league powerhouse program (Clemson) stood on the bubble. Now stands to reason that two iconic league powerhouses (Clemson and UNC) could miss the postseason altogether.

As for Boston College, the Eagles kept pace with the rest of the league. BC is still in what amounts to 13th place, but taking two out of three from Louisville kept them from virtually falling out of the race altogether. Had the Eagles been swept, they would've been virtually out of it this week, possibly in a race to avoid last place with Virginia Tech. Instead, the Eagles are still in the hunt, about a game out of the final playoff spot.

BC is tied in the loss column with the three teams tied for 10th, but they still need a big weekend or some help in order to pass them. The Eagles can pass all of them with a +1 weekend, meaning they can give themselves the inside track potentially with a big weekend.

There's a couple of series to scoreboard watch this weekend. For starters, Clemson hosts first place Florida State while Duke travels to fourth place NC State. North Carolina is idle this weekend altogether, as is Wake Forest.

In non-conference play, Georgia Tech plays an incredibly fun series against Coastal Carolina, a 30-plus win team that's a perennial power house out of Myrtle Beach. But because the Yellow Jackets and Panthers don't play league games this weekend, they both stand to be just as jammed up next weekend with Notre Dame (who also doesn't play league games this weekend) as they are this weekend. Clemson and Duke stand to lose ground if they don't win games with those teams not playing.

The majority of the league plays non-conference games this weekend, opening a window for the Eagles at home if they can take care of business against the Hokies:

Virginia Tech at Boston College
St. John's at Louisville (non-conference)
Ohio at Notre Dame (non-conference)
Duke at NC State
Florida A&M at Miami (non-conference)
Coastal Carolina at Georgia Tech (non-conference)
Virginia at Pittsburgh
Florida STate at Clemson
Wake Forest off
North Carolina off