Wake Forest has been selected as the 2024 Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball preseason favorites by the league’s 14 head coaches.
The Demon Deacons collected 10 of the 14 possible first-place nods from head coaches. North Carolina tallied two votes, while Clemson and Virginia each received one vote.
Wake Forest was also the clear-cut winner of the Atlantic Division, receiving 12 of 14 first place votes. Clemson, who won the 2023 ACC Baseball Championship, picked up the two remaining first-place votes among the teams in the Atlantic Division.
With Wake Forest collecting 95 points to lead the Atlantic, Clemson finished with 79 total points to be slotted in second place. NC State picked up a third-place selection with 68 points, while Florida State (54), Louisville (48), Notre Dame (31), and Boston College (17) rounded out the grouping.
The Demon Deacons finished atop the Atlantic Division in 2023 before making a run to the Men’s College World Series championship series. Clemson won the ACC Baseball Championship and finished the year with 44 wins – the most for the Tigers since 2018.
The Coastal Division was nearly deadlocked between Virginia and North Carolina. The Cavaliers garnered seven first-place nods and 88 total points to inch past the Tar Heels, who received six votes on the top line and a total of 86 points. Duke picked up the final first-place vote among Coastal teams.
The Blue Devils accumulated 71 points to take third in the preseason poll, while Miami finished fourth with 56 points, followed by Georgia Tech (40), Virginia Tech (34), and Pitt (17).
The Cavaliers are coming off of a 50-win season in 2023, including 19 wins in ACC play, which cultivated in a trip to the Men’s College World Series. The Tar Heels won 36 games and made a trip to the Terre Haute Regional, while Duke capped its season one win away from Omaha in the Charlottesville Super Regional.
Wake Forest has been named the preseason No. 1 team in the country by D1Baseball, Baseball America, Perfect Game, and the NCBWA. The USA Today Coaches’ Poll has not yet been released. Six ACC schools – Clemson, Duke, North Carolina, NC State, Virginia, and Wake Forest – have each appeared in all three preseason polls thus far.
The ACC has placed at least one team in each of the last 17 College World Series and at least six teams in each of the last 19 NCAA tournaments.
All 14 ACC teams will open their seasons on Friday, Feb. 16, with conference play set to begin on Friday, March 8. The 2024 ACC Baseball Championship will be held May 21-26 at Truist Field in Charlotte, North Carolina. ACC Network will be on hand for the first five days of the tournament with ESPN2 set to carry Sunday’s championship game.
Full tournament ticket books are on sale now through the Charlotte Knights and the Truist Field box office.
2024 ACC Baseball Coaches Preseason Poll
First-place votes in parenthesis
Overall ACC Champion
Wake Forest (10)
North Carolina (2)
Clemson (1)
Virginia (1)
Atlantic Division
Wake Forest (10) – 95
Clemson (1) – 79
NC State – 68
Florida State – 54
Louisville – 48
Notre Dame – 31
Boston College – 17
Coastal Division
Virginia (1) – 88
North Carolina (2) – 86
Duke – 71
Miami – 56
Georgia Tech – 40
Virginia Tech – 34
Pitt – 17
Atlantic Coast Conference
