When the ACC Baseball Tournament begins on Tuesday morning in Durham, North Carolina, the format will be different than what teams and fans are used to. Gone is pool play, and it’s now a single-elimination tournament, which has its positives and its negatives.
For teams that are off the NCAA Tournament bubble and safely in the field, the single elimination format is good in terms of saving arms for the following week and weekend. For a team on the bubble that needs to win some games to improve its NCAA Tournament chances, it’s not a great format. One of those teams that needs to win at least a couple of games, if not the tournament, to have a chance to play beyond this week is Virginia Tech.
How to watch the Virginia Tech vs. Stanford ACC Baseball Tournament game
Virginia Tech will begin the ACC Tournament on Tuesday afternoon at 1 o’clock on the ACC Network against Stanford, which is making its debut in the conference postseason tournament. The Hokies are seeded 12th and the Cardinal 13th. After losing another series over the weekend to Virginia, it feels like John Szefc’s team's only path to the NCAA Tournament is running the table in Durham, which is easier said than done.
Once looking like a near lock for the NCAA Tournament and even getting a seed as high as a second seed in a regional in most bracketology, the Hokies once again hit a wall in April, and things spiraled out of control quickly. After series wins over Louisville (2 of 3) and sweeping Wake Forest, things were rolling for Virginia Tech, but they then lost a series at home to Florida State and North Carolina, two National Seeds, when the brackets are released this weekend, and never were able to recover. Now, everything is about the ACC Tournament to save their 2025 season.