The ACC already knows it will be represented at the College World Series for the 17th consecutive time. How many teams reach Omaha and who they’ll be will be determined by this weekend’s NCAA Super Regionals.

The certainty about the situation comes from the fact that league rivals Virginia and Duke play each other in Charlottesville. Game 1 of their best-of-3 Super Regional is Friday.

This will be only the 3rd time under the current NCAA Tournament format that ACC teams have faced each other in a Super Regional. UVA met Maryland before the Terrapins left for the Big Ten in 2014 while Boston College faced Miami in 2016.

Top-ranked Wake Forest is the other conference team alive after sweeping its regional in impressive fashion. The Deacons are trying to get back to the CWS for the first time since winning the ACC’s 1st national championship in any sport in 1955.

Here’s a look at how the super regionals break down and predictions on how they might turn out:

Virginia vs. Duke

When, where: Friday-Sunday, Charlottesville, Va.

The Cavaliers are the No. 7 overall seed and are coming off a regional sweep in which they showed an ability to win games in different ways by pounding Army 15-1 in their opener before beating East Carolina the next day in a 2-1 pitchers’ duel.

Coach Brian O’Conner’s team will be heavily favored against a Duke team with a patchwork pitching staff and a key hitter playing with a torn ACL.

But the Blue Devils recovered from a late-season slump to get through their regional at Coastal Carolina and advance to their 3rd Super Regional since 2018. That’s tied with North Carolina for the most by an ACC team during that stretch.

Duke also took 2 out of 3 at UVA during a regular-seasons series – sandwiching 17-5 and 7-3 wins around a 10-2 Cavaliers victory in late April. 

MJ Metz, the MVP of the Blue Devils’ regional despite his injury, went 7-for-13 in the 3 games with a homer, 4 RBIs and 4 runs scored. Teammate Alex Stone also had 7 hits with 2 homers and 5 RBIs.

While ACC Player of the Year had a good series, going 5-for 13 with 5 runs driven in, Duke’s thin pitching staff did a good job of keeping the rest of the Cavaliers’ powerful lineup in check.

Whether they’re able to duplicate the feat will depend entirely on the durability of the arms in the Blue Devils’ bullpen. Alex Gow started 2 of the 4 regional games in Conway but didn’t pitch more than 4 innings in either. He is backed by the committee of Charlie Beilenson, Fran Oschell III, Owen Proksch, Adam Boucher, Andrew Healy and Aaron Beasley, all of whom saw time on the mound in multiple regional games.

UVA will have a decided advantage in starting pitching with ace Connelly Early, who is 11-2 with a 3.35 ERA and Kyle Parker having beaten the Blue Devils once already and coming off a strong 7-inning performance against ECU.

Prediction: UVA in 3.

Wake Forest vs. Alabama

When, where: Saturday-Monday, Winston-Salem, NC

The Deacons are the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and they looked every bit the part in sweeping through their regional last weekend. 

Their biggest challenge, as it turned out, was dealing with the weather. But even though they had to wait out a 5-hour rain delay before playing their 2nd-round game against Maryland, they still managed to ring up 21 runs and win handily.

In 3 games over 3 days, all attended by raucous sellout crowds at David F. Couch Ballpark, coach Tom Walter’s team outscored its opposition by a whopping 48-7 margin, topping things off with a clinching 15-1 beatdown of George Mason.

Alabama, the No. 16 overall seed, also made it through its regional without a loss, but it had to work a lot harder to do it. 

It took a run in the 7th and a walk-off single in the bottom of the 9th by Jim Jarvis to avoid an opening-round upset against Nicholls State, the lowest seeded team in the regional bracket. One night later, it dug itself out of an even deeper hole by scoring 4 in the 9th to beat Troy.

The Crimson Tide (43-19) have done a remarkable job of keeping their focus in the wake of coach Brad Bohannon’s midseason firing for his alleged role in a gambling scandal.

They feature a powerful lineup that has pounded 105 home runs this season. Colby Shelton leads the team with 22 long balls, followed by Andrew Pinkney with 17. They have the potential to do some serious damage in the Deacons’ home-run friendly ballpark.

But to do that they’ll have to solve a Deacons pitching staff that features the nation’s best ERA and can trot out 3 elite starters in ACC Pitcher of the Year Rhett Lowder, Josh Hartle and Seth Keener, who struck out a career-high 13 to set the tone for the regional in its opening game.

They’re backed by a bullpen anchored by closer Camden Minacci, a finalist for college baseball’s Stopper of the Year award.

Alabama’s pitching, led by weekend starters Luke Holomon and Jacob McNary, isn’t nearly as formidable and will have its hands full against a deep, potent Wake lineup that has piled up 117 homers and is hitting .308 as a team behind the bats of Brock Wilken, Nick Kurtz and regional MVP Justin Johnson.

If the Deacons play like the Deacons, they shouldn’t have any trouble punching their ticket to Omaha.

Prediction: Wake in 2.