The start of conference play in the ACC and Pac-12 delivered some thrilling upsets over the weekend, as reigning champions Virginia Tech and Stanford both lost series. Meanwhile, college baseball no longer has any undefeated teams after having five this time last week.
Here are 14 thoughts on the weekend that was around college baseball.
1. The annual endurance test to be college baseball’s final undefeated team came to an end Friday evening, when Alabama lost to Columbia and North Carolina State fell at Miami. That left Virginia as the last team standing.
The Cavaliers on Saturday ran their record to 14-0 before losing in the nightcap of their doubleheader at North Carolina. It marked the second straight year that Virginia reached 14-0 before losing the series finale of ACC opening weekend on Tobacco Road (last year, that first loss came at Duke).
I wrote on Friday about Virginia’s start to the season, its powerful offense and how its impressive, new-look pitching staff seems to have raised its ceiling. That’s all still true following Saturday’s doubleheader. Catcher Kyle Teel, a first-team Preseason All-American, continues his torrid start and is hitting .518/.597/.732 with two home runs and slugger Jake Gelof, also a highly touted draft prospect, is hitting .339/.408/.712 with five home runs. The Cavaliers have a 2.66 team ERA, third-best in the ACC. Jake Berry (0-0, 0.00, 2 SV) and Jay Woolfolk (1-0, 2.08) anchor the bullpen and the Cavaliers have built a solid rotation.
The challenge now for Virginia is sustaining its hot start through ACC play and winning on the road. The latter was part of the Cavaliers’ downfall in 2022, as they went just 10-14 away from Charlottesville (and three of those wins came on Opening Weekend against a trio of teams with losing records), a mark that ultimately was their undoing. Winning a series over the weekend at UNC could be an important springboard with another tricky series at NC State on deck.
2. One of the biggest surprise stories of the first month of the season is Boston College. The Eagles last year went 19-34 and just 5-25 in ACC play. They won just one series all year (at North Florida) and finished the season on a six-game losing streak. Things weren’t expected to improve this season, as BC was picked to finish last in the Atlantic Division in the ACC preseason coaches’ poll.
BC was blanked on Opening Day at Pepperdine, losing 9-0, and held to just three hits. Since then, however, the Eagles have…
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