Boston College Baseball: Eagles First Team Out In NCAA Bubble Watch

Last weekend, the Duke Blue Devils, who were thought to be on life support  for their NCAA Tournament chances, won two out of three games, dominating Florida State and vaulting themselves back into the ACC playoff picture. After the week, the Devils went from completely out of the race to into a tie with North Carolina for ninth place.

That's a great story for the team, although it came at the expense of Boston College. Baseball America and D1Baseball.com released their weekly bracketology updates yesterday, and both now have Boston College out of the race after the Eagles, idle in ACC play through their exam break, dropped into a tie for 11th place.

Last week, Boston College had been in the NCAA Tournament as one of the last four teams in. This week, they've been shifted to the first team out of the race. Duke replaced them inside the bubble with the ACC again receiving 10 teams in the field of 64, with Baseball America going so far as to consider the Blue Devils a lock for the Tournament by placing them beyond their last four in.

It now opens the door for an unprecedented 11-team NCAA Tournament qualification for the ACC. BC still more than likely has to qualify for the ACC Tournament in order to make the Field of 64, but with North Carolina still teetering at the bottom of the standings, it's entirely possible that they could miss the ACC Tournament and still make the NCAA field because of a ridiculously high RPI rating.

This series this weekend is huge for both BC and Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets are only 12-14 in the league and could conceivably miss the NCAA Tournament if it doesn't go well. Because of the razor thin margin of error where teams could finish anywhere from fifth through 13th, Georgia Tech could potentially also make the tournament while still missing out on the ACC Tournament.

What makes Boston College such an interesting case study for the field is that they struggled against poor ACC teams this year, losing to Pitt and Notre Dame, while dominating the upper ecehlon of the league. They hold series victories over three of the league's top five teams, having lost only one game to the other two (Florida State and Miami). They also hold a series win over Wake Forest (inside the bubble) and could make it six this weekend with Georgia Tech (inside the bubble). The losses to Notre Dame, Clemson, and Pitt, however, are what are right now keeping them outside the hunt.

As always, there's the feeling that it's win or go home, but it's conceivable BC could sneak into the ACC Tournament with just one win, even though it would require massive amounts of help. If that were to happen, they would likely need to win a game or two in the ACC Tournament to assure themselves of a trip to the NCAA Tournament, while also hoping that all mid-major teams hold serve in their conference tournaments.