The Duke Blue Devils baseball team, according to the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll, is freefalling.
In Monday’s new ranking, Duke came in as the 15th-ranked team in the country after back-to-back losses to North Carolina to end the regular season.
When the rankings were released on April 22, the Blue Devils were ranked sixth. They were 29-11 with 14 games left to play, the second-highest team in the ACC behind Clemson.
Duke lost seven of its last 13 games (one was canceled), including each of its last three conference series against Florida State, Georgia Tech, and the Tar Heels. They picked up a ranked win over East Carolina but dropped a midweek game against Campbell.
The stumble almost assured that Duke won’t host a regional in Durham after seeming like a sure bet for most of the season. D1Baseball released an updated postseason projection with Duke as a No. 2 seed last week, and the Blue Devils went 1-2 after those rankings dropped.
The Blue Devils’ ACC Tournament run begins on May 21 against Virginia Tech.