ACC Baseball Weekend Roundup

Composite Polls for this week.

FSU took 2 of 3 from Miami in Tallahassee, a big series win for the Noles. From reading through this series I can only say that FSU starting pitching was poor, but their pen held Miami down late in the final two games. Miami's starting pitching was adequate and their bullpen pretty much choked it away. They had good leads late in each of the two games.

Virginia Tech managed somehow to take 2 from Georgia Tech at home. That was the shocker of the weekend. VT has played better and better, and their pitching held the Bumblebees quiet in their two Ws of the set. VT lost 2 of 3 to UVA already.

Virginia pounded on a weak Maryland team to regain the #1 spot in Baseball America. The Cavaliers, who were No. 1 for a six-week stretch earlier in the season, have won their last three series and have still lost only one series all year. They are certainly the most complete team I can recall seeing in College baseball for quite awhile.

The ACC has 3 teams in the Top 10 and 5 in the Top 20.

Boston College outfielder Robbie Anston has been named the Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Player of the Week, while North Carolina’s Matt Harvey received ACC Pitcher of the Week honors.

Recall the Top 8 teams make the ACC Tournament, right now Clemson holds the tiebreaker edge over Virginia Tech.

ATLANTIC DIVISION
School	Conference	Pct.	Overall	Pct.
Florida State	14-7-0	.667	31-10-0	.756
Boston College	12-9-0	.571	23-17-0	.575
Clemson	11-10-0	.524	25-16-0	.610
NC State	9-12-0	.429	26-16-0	.619
Maryland	4-17-0	.190	15-28-0	.349
Wake Forest	4-17-0	.190	12-31-0	.279
COASTAL DIVISION
School	Conference	Pct.	Overall	Pct.
Georgia Tech	16-5-0	.762	34-7-0	.829
Virginia	15-6-0	.714	34-9-0	.791
Miami	15-6-0	.714	29-11-0	.725
Virginia Tech	11-10-0	.524	28-14-0	.667
North Carolina	8-13-0	.381	25-17-0	.595
Duke	7-14-0	.333	23-18-0	.561

Most of the ACC will have the week off and some will have the weekend off as well here at the end of the semester for exams. I probably won't have a weekend roundup next week.

UNC (25-17, 8-13) @ Clemson (25-16, 11-10) Series - UNC won the first game 5-3 behind a 156-pitch CG by Matt Harvey, and split the other two on Sunday, losing 10-6 and winning 4-3.

UNC will have High Point and travel to Charlotte this week and will have next weekend off. They have Elon next Monday before facing Wake Forest the following weekend.

Clemson has the week off and Florida Gulf Coast starting on Saturday in a 4-game set, then Maryland the next weekend. Clemson fell out of 2nd place in the Atlantic to Boston College after this series.

#16 Miami  (29-11, 15-6 ACC) @ #4 Florida State (31-10, 14-7 ACC) Series

Florida State won their midweek game against Charleston Southern 12-4. Miami beat Bethune-Cookman 5-2.

Friday night six Miami Hurricane relievers combined to allow just one run in 5 2/3 innings and Miami came from behind to beat FSU 6-5 in Tallahassee. After pulling to within one after five innings, Chris Pelaez put the `Canes ahead, 5-4, with a two-run double to left-center before Nathan Melendres' sacrifice fly to right moments later gave the `Canes what proved to be their winning run.

Neither staff ace was impressive. UM starter Chris Hernandez allowed four runs - three earned - on four hits while walking three and striking out six in 3 1/3 innings.  FSU's Sean Gilmartin (6-3) suffered the loss, allowing six runs on five hits while walking two and striking out eight.

Florida State needed walk-off HRs to win the last two games of the series. On Saturday, FSU trailed 7-3 in the 8th inning and put up 3 runs in the 8th, and another 2 in the 9th to win it 8-7.

Down two heading into the ninth, Florida State's Tyler Holt got things going with a single to center off Miami closer Daniel Miranda (3-2). Stephen Cardullo followed with a walk, while Mike McGee reached on a fielding error at second base by Frankie Ratcliff. With the bases loaded and no where to put Tapley, the junior from Orlando, Fla., took a 0-1 pitch and sent the ball to deep center, over the drawn in outfield, scoring Holt and Cardullo for the game-winner.

Sunday's game followed a similar pattern. FSU was down 6-4 going into the bottom of the 8th, and managed to win it 7-6 with another 2 run shot by Mike McGee on a 3-2 pitch with 2 outs in the 9th.

Miami UPCOMING - St. Thomas, USF, then Maryland next weekend all in Coral Gables.

FSU UPCOMING - Lemoyne next weekend.

#1 Virginia (34-9, 15-6) @ Maryland (15-28, 4-17) Series

UVA beat Richmond 11-3 and VMI 10-3. MD beat ODU 14-9 and lost to Towson 3-1.

As you would expect, Virginia crushed the Turtles. Danny Hultzen (W, 6-1) allowed a run and a walk with five strikeouts in 7.2IP as he improved to 4-0 in ACC games this season. Tyler Wilson  pitched the final 1.1 innings to notch his third save. Maryland starter Brett Harman (L, 4-6) pitched a solid eight innings and allowed three earned runs, seven hits and three walks while striking out eight in taking the loss as VA won 5-1.

On Saturday, they beat the dogshit out of Maryland 27-4. Virginia racked up 28 hits, with 14 going for extra bases, and batted around in three different innings. VA fell two runs shy of the program record for runs in a game - both overall and in the team's ACC history.

Virginia's 10 doubles and 28 hits each are the most by an ACC team this season. The Cavaliers' 27 runs mark the most by any team in a league game this year. Robert Morey tossed seven innings and allowed two earned runs, three hits and three walks while striking out four. He improved to 6-2 this season with the win.

 Cody Winiarski pitched eight innings of one-run baseball and Virginia racked up 14 hits in an 11-2 rout of Maryland Saturday afternoon. Virginia completed a three-game series sweep and won its 13th straight game in College Park, dating to 2002.

Virginia racked up five doubles Saturday and finished with 19 doubles and 26 extra-base hits in the series.

UVA UPCOMING: A top-10 Coastal Carolina team at home Tuesday, Georgetown, then at Duke.

Maryland UPCOMING: George Mason, James Madison, then at Miami.

 

#18 Virginia Tech (28-14, 11-10) @ #8 Georgia Tech (34-7, 16-5) Series

VT beat Radford 16-6. After sweeping Clemson, GT beat Ga. Southern twice: 6-2 and 18-4.

Ronnie Shaban singled home the go-ahead run in the 11th-inning to give VT the 1st win 3-1. Virginia Tech's Ben Rowen (W, 4-1) retired three of the four batters he faced in the bottom half of the inning, en route to his fourth win of the season. Rowen held the Jackets scoreless on just two hits in 3.0 innings of relief. Justin Wright started the game and went 8 innings, giving up just 3 hits to the powerful GT lineup. GT's Deck McGuire was similarly impressive, giving up a run on 4 hits in 7 innings.

The Hokies put up 4 in the 2nd inning and it was enough, but piled it on to beat GT 10-3 in Saturday's game. Matthew Price went 7 innings, giving up 6 hits and 2 runs, while walking 1 and striking out 8 batters. GT's Brandon Cumpton finally got a loss he has deserved to get for so long with his stratospheric ERA.

Georgia Tech belted four home runs, and held off a late rally by Virginia Tech for a 14-12 win in the series finale Sunday. The 4 homers give GT 90 on the season. The Jackets had 13 hits in the win, after a total of 12 combined in the previous two games. Junior left-hander Jed Bradley (6-2) allowed just three runs on six hits in 6.0 innings Sunday, striking out six in the process. He picked up his sixth win of the season.

The Hokies attempted a strong rally with seven runs in the eighth (three coming on a pinch-hit home run by Anthony Sosnoskie) and two in the ninth, but freshman Luke Bard was able to close the game on the mound to help the Jackets avoid the sweep. Bard registered his second save of the season.

VT UPCOMING: VMI, then Boston College next weekend at home.

GT UPCOMING: UGA at Turner Field then at NC State in a pitcher's worst nightmare.

 

Boston College (23-17, 12-9) @ NC State (26-16, 9-12) Series

BC beat Northeastern for the Beanpot Championship 9-3. NC State beat a pretty good ECU team 8-6.

Then the Eagles, now putting up a serious fight in their ACC schedule after the month-long road trip to start the year, managed to sweep a pretty good hitting NC State team on the road.

Robbie Anston drove in three runs and Taylor Lasko scattered five hits over 4 1/3 innings Friday to lift Boston College past NC State 9-5 in the first game.

BC led for the entire game and relinquished that lead when it gave up a combined five runs in the seventh and eighth innings, but the Eagles scored three times in the top of the ninth to defeat NC State, 10-8, Saturday afternoon. Senior Robbie Anston delivered, singling to center on a 1-2 count to drive in two runs to give BC the win.

BC held a 6-2 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth but NC State battled back for the second time in as many days and scored a run in both the fifth and sixth innings, then put up three runs in the seventh to take a 7-6 lead. NC State put up another three runs in the eighth - all with two outs - to take the lead again, 10-9. Schaeffer and Maynard both walked after the first two batters were retired and then Drew Poulk made it hurt with a double that scored both of them to tie the game again, 9-9. Riggins then chopped a single up the middle to put the Wolfpack up, 10-9.

BC didn't let up, though, and scored two more times in the top of the ninth to seal the sweep. Freshman Philip Miclat drew a leadoff walk when he came on to pinch hit and then a fielder's choice gave NC State the first out of the inning. Junior Garret Smith then pulled an 0-1 pitch to the gap in left to bring Zapenas all the way around to score and tie the game, 10-10. After a strikeout for out number two, Hamlet came up and chopped a single up the middle to give BC the lead for good, 11-10.

BC has now won 8 straight. 

BC UPCOMING - Quinnipiac, Dartmouth, then at Virginia Tech next weekend.

NC State UPCOMING - Elon, then hosting Georgia Tech.

 

Duke (23-18, 7-14 ACC) @ Wake Forest (12-31, 4-17 ACC) Series

Wake lost to Charlotte 6-4 and UNC-Greensboro 13-7. Duke beat Liberty 4-1.

Duke pitcher Marcus Stroman threw a complete game, giving up just three runs, while Will Currier, Jake Lemmerman and Jeremy Gould each homered to lead Duke to a 10-3 win over Wake Forest in the series opener on Friday night. Stroman (5-1) was the story of the game, pitching 9.0 innings, allowing three runs, two earned, and striking out 10 Demon Deacon hitters in his first collegiate start. The Duke righty retired 11 straight batters at one point in the game and had 1-2-3 innings in five of six innings between the third and the eighth.

Wake Forest starting pitcher Austin Stadler gave up just two runs in 6.2 innings, while Mike Murray and Ryan Semeniuk each added four RBIs to lift the Demon Deacons to an 18-3 win Saturday. The Deacs jumped on the Duke pitching staff from the start of the game, scoring in each of the first four innings, including seven runs in the first two frames. Wake finished the game with a season-high 18 runs and the most for the Demon Deacons in an ACC game since May 24, 2005, when Wake Forest defeated Maryland 20-13.

Michael Dimock had the best outing of his career, giving up only one run in eight innings with a career-high 11 strikeouts, as Wake Forest won its first Atlantic Coast Conference series of the year with a 7-1 victory over Duke Sunday. Dimock (2-7) tied a career high with eight innings pitched and gave up one run on five hits with 11 strikeouts and no walks. Dimock is the first Wake pitcher record 10+ strikeouts in a game since Brad Kledzik mowed down 10 Old Dominion batters in 2009.

WF UPCOMING: App State in Boone, then off for a weekend before going to UNC.

Duke UPCOMING: NC A&T, then High Point, then Virginia at home.