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ACC Baseball News & Notes: Busy Weekend for the League

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Happy Easter weekend to all ACC baseball fans. While this is a holiday, it will not stop the league from playing baseball. Some of the conference series began on Thursday, while others get started as usual on Friday. The Coastal Division has a three-way tie for the top spot between Virginia, Miami, and North Carolina all at 8-4 in league play. In the Atlantic, Wake Forest maintains a two-game lead over Boston College. A great weekend of college baseball is straight ahead, so let’s take a look.

The big series of the weekend begins on Friday as the Miami Hurricanes travel to Virginia to meet the Cavaliers. The Hurricanes will bring with them a five-game winning streak having won seven of their last ten games. However, the road has been a bit of a problem for Miami this year as they are 0-3 in the league and 2-6 overall. Virginia, on the other hand, has been unstoppable at home winning their only series so far in the league (3-0), and are a perfect 17-0 at home on the year. The Cavaliers will be trying to bounce back from a tough weekend at Virginia Tech last weekend losing all three games and giving up 33 runs in the process. Miami has taken care of Florida-based teams of late winning mid-week games over Florida International and the University of Central Florida. This was sandwiched around a sweep of Florida State. Miami will have to deal with Virginia catcher Kyle Teel who is tearing it up at the plate. He is still leading the league in hitting with a .440 BA, is second in hits with 51, fifth in RBI with 33, sixth in total bases with 79, second in on-base percentage at .504, and tenth in slugging percentage at .681. Miami will look to last week’s ACC Pitcher of the Week Karson Ligon. Last Friday night vs the Seminoles, he tossed eight scoreless innings allowing three hits. The eight innings were a career-high. He struck out six in a 95-pitch performance. The sweep by Miami over Florida State was the first in 22 years. Ligon is second in the ACC in innings pitched with 42.1, he is averaging six innings per start. He is ninth in opposing batting average and teams are hitting just .208 off him.

Virginia Tech (17-10, 4-8) may find themselves in last place in the Coastal Division, but it has not stopped Jack Hurley from being one of the best hitters in the league and country. Last week Hurley hit .550 (11-for-20) with five home runs in four games for the Hokies. Not only was he named ACC Player of the Week, but he was also named the NCBWA’s Dick Howser Trophy National Hitter of the Week. Hurley drove in 11 runs and slugged 1.400. He tied for the team lead in runs scored with seven. In the field, Hurley played solid baseball in the outfield for VT handling 10 chances without making an error while playing two outfield positions. Hurley is third in the league in home runs with 11, third in total bases with 82, and second in slugging percentages at .774. The team is third in the country in fielding percentage at .986.

The Duke Blue Devils (19-10, 6-6) have won three in a row. They took a series from Pittsburgh last weekend, winning two of three. Junior Jay Beshears is having a fine year at the dish. He is tied for seventh in the nation with 14 doubles. 16th in doubles per game at .48, 25th in runs batted in with 39, and 46th in runs per game at .1.34. The Blue Devils are 14th in the nation with 68 doubles in 29 games. Duke’s fielding percentage is in the top 50 in the country at #47 .977% 24 errors in 29 games. This has been a big help to the pitching staff which ranks 17th in the country with a 3.61 team ERA. The staff strikeouts to walks ratio is 29th in the nation (343 SO to 127 BB, 2.70 ratio). The staff is tied for fifth in shutouts with four.

Former Clemson Tigers head coach Jack Leggett will have his #7 jersey retired on Saturday prior to the team playing host to Notre Dame on Saturday. Leggett was the head coach for 22 years (1994-2015). During his tenure, the Tigers made 21 appearances in the NCAA Tournament and six College World Series trips. Clemson was the seventh-winningest program during his time with the program. His 1,332 wins in 36 total seasons are the 12th most ever in division one baseball.

Georgia Tech (18-11, 6-6) has a big weekend series at home with a team in front of them in the Coastal Division North Carolina (20-9, 6-4). The Yellow Jackets trail the Tar Heels by two games in the loss column. The Tar Heels are pretty good on the road this season with a 4-2 overall record, and 3-1 in conference play. Tech is 14-4 overall at home and 4-2 in league play. Georgia Tech is 12th in the nation with 27 double plays turned in 29 games and they are 24th in double plays turned per game at .93. Walks have been a slight problem for the pitching staff as they have given up 157 in 29 games Sophomore Jackson Finley is tied for 22nd in home runs with 11. Junior Jack DeLeo is fourth in the nation in total bases with 97 in 127 at-bats. GT is 13th in batting average at .320. UNC’s Vince Honeycutt is tied for 13th in walks. The sophomore outfielder has 29 BB in 29 games and his average of one a game is tied for 26th in the country. Junior pitcher Nelson Berkwich is tied for 26th in the country in pitching appearances with 15 and he’s averaged 8.2 innings per appearance. All of those appearances have been in relief. The Tar Heels are 31st in the country with a 4.22 ERA.

Next week we’ll look back at the weekend results in the ACC.

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