The Notre Dame Fighting Irish baseball team spent most of the weekend hoping and wishing that despite losing in the first round of the ACC Tournament, its resume was still good enough to get it into the postseason. After all, few teams were hotter toward the end of the regular season than Shawn Stiffler's squad.
However, as the countdown to the selection shows winds up, most experts are not optimistic that Notre Dame will get in. In fact, most experts are as close to certain as they can get that Stiffler's squad will sit at home for the third straight season.
It's not exactly a surprise. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish baseball team dug itself a hole for the first couple of months of the season. According to Baseball America and D1 Baseball, there were just enough upsets or early exits this weekend to keep the Blue and Gold out of the field.
Notre Dame likely out of the NCAA field, and experts aren’t sugarcoating it
Perhaps the Irish should take some solace in the fact that they aren't the only ACC team that had hopes of making the field of 64 and is expected to miss the postseason after all. Baseball America has the Virginia Cavaliers listed among the First Four Out.
It's even more dire for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish baseball team, which is part of the Next Four Out. Stiffler's squad is sitting there with UTRGV, Jacksonville State, and, most surprising of all, Texas A&M.
D1Baseball doesn't technically do a Next Four Out, instead calling it Four to Watch, but it is essentially the same tier as Notre Dame. The Irish are in the group that comes after "just missing" the tournament, and that site also believes UTRGV and Texas A&M join the Blue and Gold, with SE Louisiana being a new name.
That site also has Virginia in the First Four Out tier, which indicates that the ACC is "only" getting nine teams into the field this year. For most conferences, that would be an impressive number.
However, the Atlantic Coast Conference is a powerful college baseball conference. The talent in the ACC was one of the things the Notre Dame Fighting Irish hoped would help it squeak into the NCAA Tournament.