ACC Baseball News & Notes: Final Weekend of Play

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We have reached the final weekend of college baseball in the ACC. All that is left to be decided is where everyone is going to be seeded for next week’s tournament. It was a solid season of baseball in the league to be sure. Let’s see where we are as the final weekend begins.

As of now, Florida State (1), NC State (2), Georgia Tech (3), and North Carolina (4) will be the teams that received a double-bye into next weekend’s tournament. The advantage to this is, the fewer games you have to play, the better off you are. The league has five teams ranked in this week’s D1 Baseball top 25 poll. Florida State is at #2, UNC at #4, NC State at #13, Clemson at #15, Duke at #20, and Louisville at #21. For the Cardinals, that ranking might take a hit based on a loss earlier this week to Bellemere by a 10-9 score. Both Clemson and NC State have gotten off to good starts with wins on Thursday.

In the RPI rankings, 12 of the 16 teams are ranked inside the top 50, five inside the top 25. In the Diamond Sports Rankings, the news is just as good. 12 teams are inside the top 50, with five inside the top 25. Florida State, North Carolina, and North Carolina State are still being projected as regional hosts for the NCAA Tournament, and 10 teams overall are thought of as tournament teams. The Fighting Irish are listed as “A team to watch.”

This is also the time of year when season-ending awards are being considered. The conference has 10 players in the semi finals for the Dick Howser award. That number is the second highest of any league in college baseball. 12 players have been named to the Golden Spikes Award list. That is also the second most from any conference in the sport. Both the Seminoles and Wake Forest lead with three players apiece.

The big series of the weekend is North Carolina at Florida State. While they may not be a lot on the line this weekend, it could easily be a preview of things to come as we head into June. Virginia and Virginia Tech are also on the radar for the weekend. Both teams are looking at the bigger picture, which is the NCAA tournament. This is also a big in-state rivalry as the “Commonwealth Clash” will be decided.

Boston College, which is 2-0 on a season-ending five-game road trip, makes its first trip to the University of California for a big three-game series. The Eagles are looking for a series win to hopefully move them up in the league standings. A “Bubble team” for sure, BC may need to string a few together to give themselves a chance at the “Field of 64.”

The ACC Player of the Week is Florida State’s Drew Faurot. He tied a Seminoles record for consecutive at-bats with a hit at 12. He was 4-for-4 in back-to-back games, then in the series opener at Cal, he went 4-for-5. The 12 hits included five home runs, three doubles, four singles, two walks, and no RBI. His streak was two shy of the NCAA record of 14 straight at-bats with a hit. His batting average jumped 49 points from .286 to .335. For the week, which was a 3-1 week for the team, Faurot hit .529 with three HR, four doubles, nine RBI’s, 22 total bases, and a 1.294 slugging percentage.

The ACC Pitcher of the Week is Georgia Tech’s Brady Jones. On Sunday, he threw a complete game shutout against Louisville. The one-hit gem was the first thrown by a Yellow Jacket pitcher since 2021, and the first thrown against a ranked team since 2000. It was Jones’ first complete game, and the seventh consecutive game in which he had gone at least five innings. He has five strikeouts in the outing. He is now tied for the team lead in strikeouts with 65.

Next week, it’s Tournament time in the ACC