ACC Baseball News & Notes: Louisville and Wake Forest are the Favorites

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We are at the start of the college baseball regular season. In the ACC, there is a lot to look forward to. As of this writing, nine programs are ranked by D1 Baseball ahead of the season openers. In the preseason coaches poll in the league, the Louisville Cardinals and the Wake Forest Demon Deacons have been tabbed as the favorites heading into the season. Since both of these teams are in the same division, the Atlantic. The differences between the two were very small. Both teams received six votes, however, the Cardinals finished with 89 total points to the Demon Deacons’ 84.

Miami was the clear choice in the Coastal division with ten first-place votes and 93 total points. Virginia was given the other two first-place votes and 75 total points. Once again, the league is getting a lot of attention from the polls, Ten teams have been ranked by at least one poll heading into Friday’s opening games. Nineteen different players have been named to at least one preseason All-American Team. All fourteen teams will get started on Friday with league play set to begin on Friday, March 10. The ACC Baseball Championship Tournament will be held May 23-28 in Durham, North Carolina. at Durham Athletic Park.

Some of the individual players to watch this spring include WF starting pitcher Rhett Lowder. In 16 starts he had an 11-3 record with a 3.08 ERA, 99 IP, 91H, 105 SO, 26 BB, 45 R, and 34 ER. Teams hit just .239 against him. Out of the Demon Deacons bullpen, there is Camden Minacci who had a 2-4 record with six saves and a 2.18 ERA. 45.1 IP, 34H, 59K, 18BB, 17R, 11ER in 30 appearances. The league has a couple of terrific catchers in Louisville Jack Payton who in 2022 hit .350, with 4HR, and 54 RBI. He totaled 89 hits in 254 AB) 29 XBH, 504 slugging, and 429 On-base percentage. He allowed only three passed balls and threw out three of nineteen would-be base runners. Payton was named to the preseason Golden Spikes Award Watch list. Virginia’s Kyle Teel had a .276 BA, six HR, 45 RBI, 21 XBH, slugged .439, and an On-Base percentage of .389. He picked off five base runners last season while allowing 11 passed balls. The pitching staff finished the 2022 season with a team ERA of 3.99.

In the outfield, there is Virginia Tech’s Jack Hurley, another member of the preseason Golden Spikes Award List. Last season he finished with a .375 batting average with an OPS of 1.116. He hit 14 home runs with 55 RBI, and 87 hits in 232 at-bats. He got 38 XBH, slugged .664, had an On-Base percentage of .452, 154 total bases, and grounded into only two double plays in 232 at-bats. He stole 10 bases in 12 attempts. As an outfielder, he had a .989 fielding percentage and made only one error in 94 chances with seven assists.

Boston College’s Travis Honeyman hit .329 in 40 games with six HR and 19 RBI. He slugged .508 with an On-Base percentage of .402. He stole five bases in six attempts. Travis had a 1.000 fielding percentage with zero errors in 49 changes with four assists. These are just a few of the players that you can look forward to seeing play ball this spring.

The ACC will also feature eight Thursday night games beginning on March 16. All eight games will be conference matchups. The first of these games pit #19 Virginia vs #21 North Carolina State. All eight of these games can be seen on the ACC network. In fact, a full schedule of baseball featuring league teams begins on Saturday, February 18, and runs through the two tournament semi-finals on May 27. We will be with you all season long with news and notes from the conference.