Doucette's ACC Baseball Notes 4/10/18

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ACC Baseball Notes

Spring is finally here, and so too is the college baseball season. Let’s jump right in and see what is happening in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

This past weekend marks the halfway point of the conference season. At this point, your division leaders are North Carolina State at 9-3 in the Atlantic. They have a one-game lead in the loss column on the Clemson Tigers. And in the Coastal division, Duke is on top also with a 9-3 record. They too have a one-game lead in the loss column over the North Carolina Tar Heels. In both divisions heading into last weekend play, five games separate the first place team from the last place team.

WOLFPACK WINS!!!! #Swiney gets a called strikeout to end it, as #Pack9 defeats No. 11 Louisville in the rubber game of the series, 10-3 #STATEment 💯✅ pic.twitter.com/3p0CsxPYot

— #Pack9 ⚾️ (@NCStateBaseball) April 8, 2018

The Duke Blue Devils, are heading into their series finale on Monday night vs Wake Forest playing some great baseball. They are ranked in the top 15 in four majors polls, and heading into this three-game set with the Demon Deacons have scored in double-digits in each of their last three games. This includes a combined 24 runs in two home mid-week wins over Richmond and Campbell.

The Blue Devils, are not just swinging hot bats, they are also pitching great as well. Duke is second in the conference in team pitching sporting a team ERA of 3.39 in twelve league games. The team inning pitch to strikeouts ratio is outstanding with 109 innings pitched with104 strikeouts. They average almost nine punchouts per nine innings so far in league play. They have only given up five home runs in that span while collecting five saves. They have two pitchers in the top twenty in the individual pitching categories. Sophomore, Adam Lackey, has a 2.88 ERA while owing a 3-0 record. Teammate, Senior Mitch Stallings, is ranked twentieth and he checks in with a 1-1 record and an ERA of 3.60.

RECAP | @C_proctor23 broke a tie game with a 3-run double, @ethandecaster turned in 3.0 scoreless innings in relief & @JackLabosky earned his sixth save of the season in a 7-4 victory over Wake Forest

📰 | https://t.co/qwBGJuDvKR
📊 | https://t.co/fi0h4RxHcr #GoDuke pic.twitter.com/k6uKCGymXc

— Duke Baseball (@DukeBASE) April 8, 2018

The Florida State Seminoles head man, Mike Martin is closing in on history. The Seminoles win last Wednesday night over Jacksonville was the 1,967th of his career. He needs nine more to pass Augie Garrido (1,975) to become college baseball’s winningest head coach. The Seminoles have been scoring runs in bunches this season. In the Jacksonville win, the Noles pushed across five runs in the very first inning. It marked the sixth time this season that Florida State has had an inning where they have scored five runs.

Two members of the North Carolina State Wolfpack have received honors prior to last weekend’s games. Outfielder, Brett Kinneman, and Pitcher Brian Brown were named to the perfect game Midseason All-American team. Kinneman has belted 12 home runs and has driven in 36 runs, to go along with being the total base leader in league play with 87. He was named to the first team. Brown who leads the ACC in pitching with a ridiculous 0.35 ERA, allowing only one earned run in 25.2 innings pitched, was named to the second team. It does make you wonder who was named ahead of him to the first team?

It has been a slow start for the Boston College Eagles, but one area they have performed well in is stealing bases. Freshman Chris Galland has yet to be caught, going a perfect 19-19. He is not alone as sophomore Dante Baldelli is 12-for-13 and senior Jake Palomaki is 11-for-12 in stolen bases for the Eagles.