ACC Baseball News & Notes: Two Teams heading to College World Series

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For the 15th time in league history, the ACC will be represented in Omaha for the College World Series. This will be the 10th time during that time frame that multiple teams will be there. The North Carolina State Wolfpack and the Virginia Cavaliers will be playing for the sports richest prize. Both ACC teams needed to go three games to get the job done and both series wins were in dramatic fashion. For the Wolfpack, they would take down the tournament number one overall seed, the Arkansas Razorbacks. Virginia needed three games to eliminate Dallas Baptist. Here is a look at how they arrived at this point and what is ahead for both teams.

Give the Wolfpack credit. After they were destroyed 21-2 in game one last Friday night, head coach Elliott Avent and his coaching staff did a great job in reminding their players that it was only one game. The team responded by winning game two on Saturday 6-5. Then in the deciding third game on Sunday, NC State pulled off the series win by getting a home run off the bat of Jose Torres in the ninth off of Razorback closer Kevin Kopps. The win sent North Carolina State (35-18) to the CWS for the third time in program history and the first time since 2013. In their two previous trips to Omaha, the Wolfpack have a record of 3-4. On Saturday, NC State will kick off this year’s event by playing the Stanford Cardinal (38-15). The Cardinal will be making their 17th trip to the College World Series, and their first since 2008. They got to this moment by going on the road last weekend and sweeping Texas Tech. It was the first road series win over a Top-10 opponent since winning at Arizona State on May 3 thru 5 of 2013. The starting duo of Brendan Beck and Alex Williams were outstanding on the mound for Stanford.

The Virginia Cavaliers also found themselves in a tough series with Dallas Baptists last weekend. Each team split the first two games to set up the win or go home game three. Down 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh inning, freshman Kyle Teel drove a 2-2 breaking ball over the wall in center field for a grand slam that gave his team the lead at 5-2. It would be the margin of victory. The home run was Teel’s ninth of the season which ties him for the team lead. The grand slam was the team’s fourth of the season, tied for the most in a single season in program history. Overall, the team has hit 14 long balls this tournament season. Virginia will be making their fifth trip to the College World Series, and their first since winning the National Championship back in 2015. Having their backs up against the wall is something the Cavaliers have been good at this postseason. They have gone 6-0 in elimination games so far. Virginia will be in action on Sunday when they face Tennessee (50-16). The Vols will be making their first trip to Omaha in 16 years after taking out conference foe LSU on Sunday. This marks the third time in program history that Tennessee has reached the 50 win mark and the first time since 1995. Andrew Abbott should get the baseball on Sunday for Virginia. He will enter his start with 152 strikeouts which lead the ACC. The Cavaliers are 12-8 all-time in CWS history.