Duke baseball gets tough, familiar draw in NCAA Tournament

It was a tough draw for the Duke baseball team after winning its first ACC Tournament Championship in school history. 

Just under 24 hours since the Duke baseball team won its first ACC Tournament Championship in program history, the NCAA Baseball Selection Committee made the Blue Devils wait until the final team called to hear their name in the NCAA Tournament Selection Show on Monday.

Duke earned the No. 2 seed in the Knoxville Regional alongside No. 1 seed Tennessee, No. 3 seed Liberty, and No. 4 seed Wright State.

Tennessee is the No. 3 national seed in the NCAA Tournament, and the Knoxville Regional is paired with the Eugene Regional for a Super Regional matchup.

The Blue Devils, who finished the year on a 12-game winning streak, won their way into the NCAA Tournament and despite being one of the hottest teams in the country will still have a tough, but familiar draw this upcoming weekend.

Duke will face Liberty on Friday at 12:00pm EST in its first NCAA Tournament game.

The Blue Devils and Flames met twice in the regular season. Chris Pollard‘s team defeated Liberty on March 30, 5-4, and on April 20, 7-0.

The first victory against the Flames came at home for Duke, while its largest victory was on the road.

Tennessee, who fell in the SEC Championship Game to No. 1 overall seed Arkansas, has a resume that speaks for itself with a 45-16 record (20-10 SEC).

Wright State is the highest-scoring team in the country and defeated Tennessee on the road in a weekend series in the limited amount of regular-season games last season.

Duke baseball looking to replicate postseason success

In the last two years an NCAA Tournament took place, Duke won its regional and advanced to the Super Regional, where the Blue Devils fell one game short of the College World Series in both seasons.

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Duke was potentially on track to host a regional last season before the season was called off. Then this year, an NCAA Tournament berth was in serious doubt before the Blue Devils caught fire to end the season.

It’ll be an uphill battle for Duke entering a loaded regional, but given the team’s hot streak, it’s difficult not to like the Blue Devils’ chances.