Designated for Assignment

There is no shame in losing - or being swept - at Florida State in baseball. Lots of teams have done that during the Mike Martin era. Geez, the man has over 1,400 wins. But getting swept this weekend was costly for Virginia - and on numerous fronts. The Cavaliers (8-7) not only fell into fourth place in the Coastal Division a game behind Georgia Tech (9-6), but they inched closer to the dreaded ninth spot overall in the league standings. Finish ninth or tied for eighth with a team that you lose the head-to-head tiebreaker with and you watch the ACC Tournament on a computer in your dorm room. Boston College swept Duke (good news since UVa lost its series) this weekend to rejoin the mix and Maryland lost a game at Virginia Tech (more good news), but 11 teams appear alive in the fight for an invite to Jacksonville, Fla.
FSU, Miami and North Carolina are locks. Clemson, Georgia Tech and North Carolina State should be OK, but are jammed in the middle with Virginia and feeling the pressure of the typical also-rans.
Is it time for panic mode in Hooville? No. Not even close. The Cavaliers still have a couple of weekend sets that they will be favored in (at Maryland, vs. Georgia Tech, vs. Wake Forest), but the losses are starting to add up, which could eliminate the slim chance of hosting another regional in the NCAA Tournament.
The bigger issue, at in the eyes of this not-so-qualified critic, deals with the play of the juniors. Freshmen, or whatever Thomas Jefferson wanted them called, are expected to struggle (Hence the reason Brian O’Connor scheduled so many home games early), but the veterans must deliver. Is RHP Jacob Thompson concerned with a payday coming after the MLB Draft in June? Is SS Greg Miclat still hurting? Is 2B David Adams playing tenative? The numbers might support each. It is not uncommon for veteran to develop issues in their third season of college. At this point, all three, including 1B Jeremy Farrell and possibly now RHP Andrew Carraway, are intriguing draft picks, but that will come on a sour note if Virginia is misses the postseason. Left that happen and suddenly, the CBI would not sound so bad.