Hokies baseball among four 2023 ACC championship favorites

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Departing soon in defense of its 2022 ACC Coastal Division championship, the Virginia Tech baseball team is one of four favorites that have been identified by the league's head coaches to win the 2023 ACC postseason title, according to Thursday's reveal of the 2023 ACC Baseball Coaches Preseason Poll.
 
Having paced the ACC field last season with its 19-9 league record (clinching the conference tournament's top seed), Virginia Tech received one preseason championship vote in Thursday's poll alongside Clemson, Louisville and Wake Forest. According to D1Baseball's preseason top 25 rankings, the No. 14 Hokies head into the 2023 season ranked second among the class of four ACC championship favorites, trailing No. 6 Wake Forest while leading No. 16 Louisville and unranked Clemson.
 
Among the head coaches' 14 championship votes, Louisville and Wake Forest scooped up six picks apiece while Tech split the remaining two votes with Clemson.
 
Within the divisional polls, Virginia Tech placed fourth in the Coastal Division, receiving 64 points and one first-place vote. The Hokies trailed first-place Miami (93 points), second-place Virginia (75) and third-place North Carolina (72) while leading fifth-place Georgia Tech (45), sixth-place Duke (26) and seventh-place Pitt (17).
 
Of the Coastal Division's 14 first-place votes, 10 were allocated to first-place (No. 22) Miami, two to second-place (No. 19) Virginia and one each to third-place (No. 12) North Carolina and fourth-place (No. 14) Virginia Tech.
 
Across the league, Louisville (89 points) won a narrow race for the Atlantic Division crown, defeating second-place Wake Forest (84) despite the two programs hauling in six first-place votes apiece. NC State (58) and Florida State (58) shared third place with the Wolfpack receiving one first-place vote, Clemson (47) collected one first-place vote in fifth place, Notre Dame (38) finished sixth and Boston College (18) placed seventh.
 
On its 2023 regular season schedule, Virginia Tech will avoid Atlantic Division matchups against first-place Louisville, third-place NC State and sixth-place Notre Dame. The Hokies will contest road series at second-place Wake Forest and at third-place Florida State.
 
Virginia Tech will open ACC play on Friday, March 10, with the first of three games against Boston College at English Field at Atlantic Union Bank Park.
 
The Hokies' 2023 regular season schedule will begin on Friday, Feb. 17, at College of Charleston in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.