ACC Baseball Standings (Rankings from Baseball America poll, April 29)
Atlantic Division
#10 Florida State – 35-9 (16-8)
#5 NC State – 34-11 (15-8)
#18 Clemson – 30-14 (15-9)
Maryland – 25-21 (8-16)
Wake Forest – 24-23 (7-17)
Boston College – 8-35 (2-21)
Coastal Division
#1 North Carolina – 41-4 (19-3)
#7 Virginia – 38-8 (17-7)
Georgia Tech – 28-16 (12-12)
Miami – 29-18 (11-13)
#25 Virginia Tech – 27-18 (11-13)
Duke – 25-22 (9-14)
Virginia 15, Virginia Tech 6
Virginia Tech 5, Virginia 3
Virginia Tech 11, Virginia 6
Virginia Tech lost their series opener with Virginia, but swept a Saturday doubleheader to claim a series with their in-state rival and move into the Baseball America Top 25. Brad Markey struggled on the mound Friday for the Hokies, allowing seven earned runs and eleven hits as the Cavaliers claimed a dominating 15-6 win.
The fortunes turned on Saturday, however. A two-run, four-hit rally for the Hokies in the sixth inning gave Virginia Tech a 5-3 lead in the first game of the doubleheader, featuring RBI singles from Chad Morgan and Alex Perez. In the rubber game, Andrew Rash was a double away from hitting for the cycle, going 3-for-3 with a three runs, two RBI, a triple, and a home run to lead the Hokies to an 11-6 victory.
North Carolina 7, NC State 1
NC State 7, North Carolina 3
Game three cancelled due to weather.
Strong pitching performances set the tone in the North Carolina-NC State series through two games. On Friday, Tar Heel Kent Emanuel allowed seven hits and one run over eight innings, striking out nine Wolfpack batters in UNC’s 7-1 win. Saturday’s contest featured NC State’s Carlos Rodon, who recorded ten strikeouts over 6 2/3 innings in the Wolfpack’s 7-3 win. This set the stage for a dramatic series finale between the rivals.
Unfortunately, the rubber game did not come to fruition. While most conference teams were playing Sunday afternoon or had games moved to Saturday to accommodate the threatening weather, UNC-NC State was slated for 7:00 p.m. Eastern for a national television audience on ESPNU. The weather prevented this from happening, leading to North Carolina’s third cancelled game of the season and second ACC cancellation. The discrepancy in played games (UNC has 22 conference games, while most ACC teams have 24 thus far) could play a role in the final regular season standings.
Clemson 11, Georgia Tech 3
Clemson 4, Georgia Tech 3
Georgia Tech 14, Clemson 9
Georgia Tech snapped a six-game losing streak with a win against Clemson, but not before dropping the conference series with the Tigers. Clemson exploded for a five-run seventh inning in the series opener to take a convincing 11-3 victory. The Tigers completed Friday’s doubleheader with a 4-3 win, led by a 2-for-5 outing from shortstop Tyler Krieger that included a double and a run batted in.
Georgia Tech ended the slide with a win Saturday to prevent a Clemson sweep, thanks to a huge offensive outing from Zane Evans. The junior was 6-for-6 with three runs scored, four runs batted in, and two home runs in the 14-9 game.
Boston College 1, Miami 0
Miami 5, Boston College 0
Boston College 3, Miami 2 (11 innings)
After losing its first 20 conference games, Boston College made its way into the win column with two victories against Miami in Chestnut Hill. Chris Diaz continued a string of absolutely rotten luck as the Hurricanes’ Friday starter. The sophomore has allowed just one earned run over the last four weeks (and zero in his three conference starts), yet the Hurricanes have lost three of the four games. Boston College’s lone run in the opener game was in the third inning, when Travis Ferrick scored on a throwing error as Miami attempted a double play.
Miami responded with a win in game two, behind another strong pitching effort from Bryan Radziewski (Nine innings, no runs, eight strikeouts) and a 2-for-2, three RBI, two sacrifice-hit game from outfielder Dale Carey. The finale needed extra innings to determine a winner, where Matt Pare delivered a two-out solo homer in the 11th frame to give the Eagles the win and the series.
Florida State 7, Wake Forest 3
Florida State 8, Wake Forest 6
Florida State 11, Wake Forest 2
Florida State was swept last weekend by Virginia, but returned to their winning ways with three home wins against Wake Forest. Marcus Davis had a particularly strong weekend, batting .545 with two doubles, four runs scored, and seven runs batted in.
The Seminoles also had some strong pitching in the weekend sweep. Freshman Luke Weaver recorded the win on Friday, pitching seven shutout innings and striking out nine Demon Deacons. Senior Scott Sitz added nine strikeouts in the Sunday finale, pitching seven clean innings of his own to outduel Wake Forest’s Austin Stadler.
Maryland 1, Duke 0
Duke 11, Maryland 9
Maryland 4, Duke 1
Maryland claimed its first ACC series win of 2013, taking two of three games against Duke in Durham. The first win of the series was fueled by an ACC Pitcher of the Week outing from Terrapins hurler Jimmy Reed. Reed pitched a complete game shutout, striking out four Blue Devils while walking two and allowing four hits.
Duke bounced back to win game two, rallying from a 7-2 deficit to claim an 11-9 win. This set up Sunday’s finale, which featured another gem from a Maryland pitcher. Sophomore Jake Stinnett allowed five hits while going the distance, striking out four Blue Devils. The Terrapins scored four runs over from the sixth inning onward to claim a 4-1 win and the series.
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