One year ago at this time, the Virginia Tech baseball team was on a path toward a berth in the NCAA Tournament when things went sideways quickly. Things went so bad that the Hokies went from in the field to missing it with a rough end to April and May.
Flash forward 365 days later and the Hokies are once again looking like an NCAA Tournament team, but once again, they are starting to trend in the wrong direction. After sweeping Wake Forest last month on the road, Virginia Tech went on to win two out of three at Notre Dame before being swept by Florida State and losing two out of three at home to North Carolina this past weekend.
Now let's get this out there, both the Seminoles and Tar Heels are teams that can make a deep run into June and end up in Omaha for the College World Series. They both are loaded with arms and primed to make a lot of noise in the ACC and NCAA Tournaments. However, for Virginia Tech, they need to start piling up wins if they want to get into the 64-team field. Their RPI has slipped lately, but according to one bracketologist, they are still considered an NCAA Tournament team, for now.
After losing the series to UNC, the Hokies, however, have seven wins over ranked opponents this season, including several that were inside the Top 20. Their resume is strong, and barring a major collapse, they should be a postseason team. In On3's latest bracketology, Virginia Tech is a No. 3 seed for the NCAA Tournament.
In Jonathan Wagner's latest projections, he has the Hokies in the Morgantown Regional along with West Virginia, Ole Miss and Oral Roberts. He has Tech matched up with the Rebels from the SEC in the first game. The Hokies return to the field Tuesday night at VCU before a trip to Duke this upcoming weekend for a key ACC series.