Baseball

The college baseball season is rapidly approaching with opening day on February 13. There’s been a lot of movement among coaching staffs and players within the ACC as the conference ratchets up their efforts to go head-to-head with the SEC. With the NCAA change to when teams can begin practice from 21 to 35 days prior to the first game, Division I players are back in the saddle on Friday, January 9.

Football | The Odds – Miami In The ’26 CFP Championship

Jacob Rudner and Peter Flaherty talked about their picks for top contenders and why on the BA College Baseball Podcast. They also provided a great snapshot of the ACC. Both feel that if power rankings were based upon talent alone the SEC and ACC would dominate the Top 25. The SEC has been on top since 2019 but the ACC, among other conferences has been pouring money and resources into achieving parity.

Among some of the more noteworthy off-season efforts was Florida State extending coach Link Jarrett through 2031 and making him one of the highest paid college baseball coaches at just over $2 million annually, North Carolina became the first college program to add a Trajekt (Facebook – Instagram) machine which allows hitters to train against what an MLB pitcher would throw and Chris Pollard, formerly at Duke moves over to Virginia and brings along some key players.

Podcast | Powering Through ’26 To A Sweet Spot

But, who does Peter Flaherty think will be the team to watch in the conference? Flaherty feels that there will be a “hefty handful” of teams stepping up into a Preseason Top 25 but when all is said and done, Georgia Tech is his pick at the top of the ACC. The wild card for the Yellow Jackets in the past has been pitching and Flaherty notes in the podcast that he has more confidence this year due to some key additions. He also indicates this is a team that can return to the College World Series and then some….alluding to a title run.

Concluding his thoughts on the ACC Flaherty was asked to choose an exciting player from across college baseball that is worth keeping an eye on. He points to CF Lucas Moore of Louisville who has All-America honors, was First Team All-ACC and played on last year’s USA Collegiate Team. He’s a threat at bat and on-base for the Cardinals batting .341 and successfully stealing 53 of 54 attempts.