DURHAM, N.C. — Boomer Biegalski came into the game in the fourth inning and shut the door on NC State’s comeback bid throwing 4.2 of one-hit shut out ball on three days rest to preserve the Seminoles’ 6-2 victory to win the 2015 ACC Baseball Championship at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
It was the Seminoles sixth ACC Championship in the program’s history and first since 2010 when they defeated the Wolfpack 8-3 at NewBridge Bank Park in Greensboro, N.C.
“I’m just very pleased to be a part of this. This team is obviously a young club, but we have great leadership from Sansone and Benny is in his second year, but Boomer is in his first year. And it’s just so gratifying to see Boomer come back on three days and he exceeded the pitch count that I had planned. But he was pitching so well we didn’t want to go get him,” Florida State head coach Mike Martin said.
It was Biegalski’s first relief appearance in 16 outings this season. He was the fifth Florida State player to be named ACC Tournament MVP as he posted a 2-0 record in the tournament and allowed no runs on five hits in 11 innings pitched.
“I felt good going in, I had to let coach that my arm felt good. And just went from there. MVP, I guess it just hasn’t sunk in. Just glad to have won this championship,” Biegalski said.
John Sansone got the scoring started in the third inning with a three-run home run scoring Josh Delph and Taylor Walls to give the Seminoles an early 3-0 lead.
“I was kind of looking for a fastball the whole at bat, there. He threw me the first pitch slider, and ended up throwing the next pitch fastball there, and I just tried to get my foot down and put a good swing on it,” Sansone said.
NC State came right back though in the top of the fourth scoring two runs of their own in the frame. With the bases loaded and one out, the Wolfpack scored their first run on a bizarre and confusing play in which corner umpires called infield fly on a pop up by Jake Fincher. Joe Dunand ran towards home on the dropped pop up and scored as Danny De La Calle did not apply the tag with there no longer a force at home plate due to the infield fly.
“The two corner umpires pointed that it was an infield fly. And the other umpire involved did not see it. He made a good judgment call in that it didn’t look like it was going to be caught. So it was not, to him, an infield fly. That’s a judgment call. When the ball hit the ground and we threw the ball home I didn’t see that we got a force at home, and if I would have seen that we got a force at home I would have never gone out and said, it’s an infield fly,” Martin eloquently explained.
The Wolfpack scored their second run the very next batter on a wild pitch that allowed Bubby Riley to score to cut the deficit to one.
Florida State however extended their lead back to three the very next inning on a Danny De La Calle two-run single that drove in Chris Marconcini and Ben DeLuzio to make it a 5-2 ballgame. Despite the three run lead, the Seminoles were far from relaxed in the dugout and on the mound.
“You can’t really get relaxed. You’ve got a lot of innings to play. So you’ve just got to keep pressing and try and score runs. And just play our type of baseball,” Biegalski said.
DeLuzio concurred saying, “We actually weren’t relaxed. We were in the dugout just talking about how we needed to tack on more runs fight and compete.”
Quincy Nieporte finished the scoring in the seventh inning with an added insurance run on an RBI double scoring Sansone to make it 6-2 Seminoles.
NC State fans came in droves to support their Wolfpack in hopes of seeing them win their fifth ACC Championship and first since 1992. A sell out of 9,759 — third largest crowd in ACC Tournament history came to see NC State play Florida State. Unfortunately for NC State fans it was not to be. Although Wolfpack fans went home disappointed their support and enthusiasm could not be dismissed.
“It seemed like every time NC State was playing, they had the biggest crowds,” Avent said and he was right (the three largest crowds in this tournament were all NC State games). “We have a loyal fan base and I think our fans got drawn into this ball club, not only about how well they play, how hard they play, but over and over how they’re carrying themselves. I think this ball club has earned the respect of all their fans.”
With the win Florida State improves to 41-19 overall this season and have earned the right to host a regional in the NCAA Tournament next weekend. NC State falls to 34-21 on the season and will wait to see where they will be playing next weekend in the regionals.
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