ACC Baseball News and Notes 5/8/18

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ACC Baseball News and Notes 5/8/18

Just two weeks left in the ACC baseball season before the conference tournament begins in Durham on May 22- 27. Here’s how things look as we head for the home stretch in league play.

Congratulations are in order for Florida State Head Coach Mike Martin. This past Saturday night he became the all-time leader in wins. The 3-2 extra innings victory at Clemson gives Martin 1,976 victories passing the late Augie Garrido to become the winningest coach in NCAA history. All of his wins have come in his 39 years as the head man with the Seminoles.

COLUMN: For nearly four decades, Mike Martin has led @FSUBaseball with the utmost dignity and class. He represents all that’s right about college baseball, and now he’s also the sport’s all-time wins leader:https://t.co/RAqpzuXoRx

— Aaron Fitt (@aaronfitt) May 6, 2018

Heading into this past weekend’s series at Boston College, the Louisville Cardinals became the sixth conference team to notch 30 wins. They did it on the road last Tuesday night with an 8-4 win at Vanderbilt. The game between the two programs is a renewal of the “Battle of the Barrel” series. With the win, the Cardinals have now won three straight years, and have improved to 4-3 since the inception of the Battle of the Barrel in 2012.

When last weekend’s slate of games took place, the ACC was in great shape to have several teams in the NCAA Baseball Tournament with five schools currently ranked in the top 25 in the latest NCAA College Baseball RPI. Those teams are North Carolina at #4, Clemson at#10, Florida State at #11, North Carolina State at #16, and Duke at #23. Louisville sits just outside the top 25 at #27.

Speaking of those Tar Heels, they currently own the league’s best record at 18-6. UNC had last weekend off as their bye. They return to play this week with a couple of mid-week games, before heading down the road to take on the Duke Blue Devils this upcoming weekend.

The team right behind them is the Clemson Tigers. Their mark of 17-7 is just a game behind North Carolina. The Tigers are playing their best baseball at the right time of the year. They have won a season-high eight straight games and nine of 10 before last weekend’s home series vs Florida State. Clemson owns the best overall record in the Atlantic Coast Conference at 34-11.

#ACCBase Player of the Week Logan Davidson hit .500 with seven runs driven in, a .966 slugging percentage and .560 on-base to lead @ClemsonBaseball to a 5-0 week: https://t.co/4pTJa1FLMX pic.twitter.com/r7wiMsJDUz

— ACC Baseball (@ACCBaseball) April 30, 2018

One of the reasons that Clemson has been playing so well of late is the ACC player of the week Sophomore Shortstop Logan Davidson. He led the Tigers to a 5-0 record heading into that series with the Seminoles. He went 11-for-22 with four doubles, two home runs, seven RBI, a .955 slugging percentage, nine runs, three walks, and a .560 on-base percentage He also added two steals, and no errors in 19 fielding chances at SS in five games. Davidson had at least two hits in all five games played against Virginia. He ripped the cover off the baseball by going 7-for-14 with a home run, four doubles, two RBI, and four runs scored in a three-game sweep of the Cavaliers.

The Pitcher of the week is making it for the second time this season. Georgia Tech Sophomore Xzavion Curry matched his career high in strikeouts with 12 in the Yellow Jackets 7-0 shutout of Wake Forest. It was also the first complete game of his career. He allowed only two soft hits and none after the second inning. The Atlanta, Georgia native did not allow a runner past second base for the entire game and closed out the contest by throwing seven hitless innings.

#ACCBase Pitcher of the Week Xzavion Curry threw a complete game shutout with 12 strikeouts and only two hits allowed in @GTBaseball's win over Wake Forest: https://t.co/4pTJa1FLMX pic.twitter.com/jSgC4uLCnv

— ACC Baseball (@ACCBaseball) April 30, 2018

The complete game shutout by Curry was the first by a Tech starter since Josh Heddinger did it in 2013, and the shutout was the first for a Tech pitcher against an ACC opponent since 2016.

The Boston College Eagles, after six unsuccessful tries finally won a one-run ballgame on Sunday vs Louisville. The 2-1 victory in their home finale in ACC play snapped a 0-6 record in those type of games. On a brighter note, the Eagles are one of the better stolen base teams in the league and country. Coming into last weekend, BC was second in the league and 12th in the country with 83 stolen bases. That mark has them tied for third in their own team record book.