ACC

ACC Baseball News & Notes: Teams are on the move

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As we begin the month of April, teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference are starting to make moves in the league and the polls. Three teams stand out as Louisville, Miami, and North Carolina State are making big moves. It will make for an interesting final two months in the league. Let’s see what else is taking place in the ACC.

The Louisville Cardinal (19-5, 6-0) are really playing good baseball right now. They have recorded back-to-back sweeps to begin their conference schedule. Last weekend, the Cardinal took care of Boston College (11-14, 1-8). The sweep of their first two series has allowed Louisville to match their best start in league play which was in 2017. On Sunday, the Cardinal beat up on the Eagles by a 15-1 score. It was the tenth time this year and the sixth time in the last ten games that Louisville has scored double-digit runs. Louisville is third in the league in batting average at .323. A couple of players stand out offensively after the first month and a half. Christian Knapczyk leads in runs scored with 39 in 24 games, is seventh in hits with 36, third in steals with 12, and third in On-Base Percentage at .533. The power in the lineup is supplied by third baseman Ben Metzinger who is this week’s Player of the Week. His ten long balls are third in the home run race. His 34 RBI has him fourth, and he is fourth in total bases with 70. Ben is showing patience at the plate with 26 BBs, good for second in the league. Louisville also leads in both stolen bases with 52, attempts with 62, and caught stealing with 10.

The pitching staff has a 4.62 ERA which has them toward the bottom of the league. Two hurlers who stand out are Riley Phillips with a 3-0 record and a 1.97 ERA. He has allowed seven earned runs in 32 innings pitched, with almost ten strikeouts per nine innings. Jared Poland has a 1-1 record with a 2.08 ERA with six earned runs given up in 26 innings. He averages ten strikeouts per nine innings. The pen leads the league in saves with seven. The Cardinal have bats and a couple of arms that can take them a long way this season.

Miami (17-6, 7-2) has won four in a row and eight of their last ten games. Last week they took care of business vs North Carolina who came to Coral Gables as the #6 team in the country. They also brought with them the second-best team ERA at 2.07. Neither mattered to the Hurricanes, who are off to their best 23-game start since 2016. That season finished with Miami making their 25th trip to the College World Series. What is interesting about the Hurricanes is that their numbers do not stand out. Their team batting average is 12th in the league at .275 while their pitching staff ERA is eighth at 4.24. Edgardo Villegas is the only hitter in the top-20 in batting at .368. He is sixth in On Base Percentage at .507, Of his 21 hits so far, only six have been for extra bases.

On the pitching side of things, Miami does have a couple of go-to guys that are performing well. First, there is Jake Garland 3-1, 1.48 ERA, and opponents are hitting just .190 against him. That is good for 8th in the league pitching stats. Karson Ligon has a 3-1 record with a 1.72 ERA and six earned runs in 31 innings. He is averaging just under 10 punchouts every nine innings. Miami is third in hits allowed per game (7.16).

North Carolina State (15-8,4-4) has been getting it done with pitching. Last weekend’s series sweep of #12 Georgia Tech was the Wolfpack’s first series sweep in the ACC since last May 14-16 when they did it against Pittsburgh. It was the NC State bullpen that became the star of the series. In 13 innings of work, the pen allowed just one run, zero walks, and struck out 20 Yellow Jacket hitters. The Wolfpack’s defense has also helped with the team’s recent success as they lead the league in chances with 897, and in errors with 38. They are third in double-plays turned with 18, and second in stolen base attempts against with 28. The Wolfpack have been playing solid consistent baseball and it is starting to pay off.

Boston College is having a difficult start to its conference season. At 1-8 and in last place in the Atlantic, things have not gone the way the Eagles had hoped. Second baseman Luke Gold is one of the bright spots for the team to this point. He is hitting .360 in 23 games and leads the league in doubles with 11. One of the strengths of this team is its ability to drop down a bunt. They lead the league in sac bunts with 14, in double plays turned with 21, and in fly-out per game with nine.

Metzinger is this week’s ACC Player of the Week, as the senior hit .471 (9-for-19) in a 3-1 week for Louisville. In the three-game sweep of BC, he scored eight runs and drove in five. He went deep in game one of the series last Friday, then on Saturday went 3-for-4 with a double. Metzinger also stole four bases in four games.

The ACC Pitcher of the Week is Florida State lefthander Patrick Messick. In his start vs Duke on Friday night, he went seven innings, allowed two walks, and struck out a career-high 14 batters. The 14 K’s match the league-high for strikeouts in a single game. The sophomore is currently ranked second in the country in punchouts with 65 in 38 innings. He is one strikeout behind the leader.

That’s all for this week. We will be back again next week with more from the ACC.

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