ACC Baseball News & Notes

Read Time:2 Minute, 30 Second

The final weekend of baseball in the Atlantic Coast Conference and there is one spot left to be filled for the Championship scheduled for Durham, N.C. on May 21 through 26. Last weekend, the Virginia Cavaliers became the eleventh team to clinch a spot in next week’s championship by taking two out of three from Louisville. This means only one opening is left to be claimed. All eyes will be on Harrington Village in Boston as the Boston College Eagles will entertain the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Boston College needs to win one of the three games scheduled between the two to get in. There is one other way to make the championship. Virginia Tech must lose one at home to Virginia.

Boston College comes into this series at 27-25, 10-17 in league play. They are 17-5 when scoring first. The 27 wins are the most since they won 35 back in 2016 which is the last time the Eagles made the NCAA baseball tournament. On offense, they are led by senior Jake Alu who is hitting .360 entering the series. He has scored a team-high 43 runs, with 15 doubles, and is leading the conference in hits. Cody Morissette’s 18 doubles lead the team. He has a .327 batting average, with 35 runs batted in. Boston College has turned a league-leading 47 double plays which have them ranked twentieth in the county.

Heading into their final ten games of their non-conference schedule, the ACC has a record of 241-94 (.719). The league has really taken care of business during those games which should help when the field of 64 is announced on May 27.

Player of the Week is UNC freshman Aaron Sabato. He collected 12 hits in five games last week. Sabato hit .600 and slugged 1.100. He homered three times, drove in nine runs, and had an on-base percentage of .667. Aaron has hit safely in his last six games and in eight of his last nine.

Pitcher of the Week is also a Tar Heel, Austin Berger. He allowed two hits in eight shutouts innings last Saturday vs Pittsburgh. He walked one and struck out seven. Austin retired 18 consecutive hitters from the third inning through the eighth. Berger raised his record to 5-0 with the win.

This will also be the final weekend on the bench for one of the great coaches in conference history, Florida State’s Mike Martin. He will be stepping down when the Seminoles season comes to an end. He has one thing left to put on his resume, a national championship. The Seminoles have been playing well of late. We will see if the baseball gods are Seminoles fans.

After this weekend, the seeding and pairing will be announced on Sunday. Then, it’s on to Durham, N.C. to find out who will be this year’s ACC Baseball Champion and claim the automatic bid to the NCAA baseball tournament.