Where Notre Dame baseball ranks in RPI after series loss to NC State
Going into the last weekend of April and the first of May, Notre Dame’s formula for making the NCAA Tournament was simple; take two of three games from each remaining ACC opponent and the Fighting Irish would be in. Things got complicated with a series loss to NC State this past weekend.
Notre Dame (26-19, 14-13 ACC) sits at No. 43 in the ratings percentage (RPI), a key determinant in setting the tournament’s field of 64 teams. With several automatic bids up for grabs for teams lower than 43 in the RPI via winning conference tournaments, Notre Dame doesn’t have much wiggle room.
The Irish will also get dinged for facing Akron (17-28) this weekend. The Zips are No. 227 in the RPI. Simply stepping on the field against a team that far down the rankings usually hurts a team’s RPI. Losing even one game in the three-game set would be detrimental to Notre Dame’s own ranking.
The Akron series and Notre Dame’s regular season ACC series at Boston College (30-16) finale is broken up by a game against Northwestern (8-34) at Wrigley Field on May 16. The Irish have never played at the historic venue. They’ll have to solely focus on the Wildcats, though, because dropping that one game would be a costly blow in RPI points. Northwestern is No. 259 in the RPI. The Irish beat the Cats 12-0 on April 4 in South Bend.
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Barring a run in the ACC Tournament, played May 23-28 at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, Notre Dame’s run at qualifying for the NCAA Tournament for what would be the third consecutive year will come down to what happens in Boston from May 18-20. The Eagles rank No. 8 in the RPI despite having the same exact conference record as the Irish. Boston College has lost its last two ACC series in going 2-4 vs. Clemson and Wake Forest.
A 1-2 series loss to Boston College would put Notre Dame at an even 15-15 in conference play. Teams with .500 conference marks have certainly made the tournament field before, and it helps that the ACC is so strong this season. Only two teams, Wake Forest (.783) and Duke (.609) have conference winning percentages of .600 or better. Several teams are floating around .500, and many of them will get in the big dance with the ACC pushing to have as many as 10 teams in the field.
Winning the NC State series would have been a big boost for the Irish, especially after starting it with a 9-7 victory. But the 5-1 and 6-1 losses were not catastrophic. Notre Dame is still pointed at a tournament berth if it can avoid a complete collapse in the final two weeks of the regular season.
