ACC Baseball Scores: NCST, UVA, BC, Louisville Complete Sweeps

Virginia Tech baseball

Photo Virginia Tech Athletics

By the time the Saturday games in the ACC concluded, all but one series was decided as six teams found themselves up 2-0 in the fourth weekend of conference play. When Sunday’s games were finished, four ended up as sweeps and the rest finished at a 2-to-1 advantage to a team.

The most dramatic finish came at the hands of the lone series without a clear cut winner yet, as the Virginia Tech Hokies failed to hold on to a 5-1 lead they built up early before an error in the ninth allowed the game tying and game winning run to score and give the Florida State Seminoles the win.

For the Boston College Eagles, a sweep over the Duke Blue Devils helped them triple their conference win total to improve to 4-7 in the ACC.

Strong pitching helped BC all weekend, and Sunday was no exception as the Eagles got six strong innings from John Gorman. In what ended up his third win of the season, Gorman allowed four runs and struck out six and kept the Blue Devils in just enough check to get the win.

The Eagles offense spread the wealth, as seven different players collected hits. A four run second inning put Boston College up enough to secure the victory.

Clemson salvaged a game of their own against Wake Forest, who took two-of-three against their neighbors from the south. The bottom of the order did the damage for the Tigers, with a collective five hits as well as driving in all six runs the team scored.

Eli White hit his first home run of the season, going 2-for-4 with 3 RBIs and a stolen base. Zack Erwin pitched eight innings, striking out seven batters while allowing only two runs (one earned).

The Louisville Cardinals continue to roll in their inaugural season as members of the ACC, their lone blemish in conference play the middle game of their opening series against the Miami Hurricanes. A sweep of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets is their third straight weekend sweep. A further recap of Sunday’s game can be found here.

For the second straight week, the Miami Hurricanes found themselves up 2-0 in a series with an opportunity to get the sweep on Sunday but were unable to, this time against the Tar Heels.

Photo by Joe Bray courtesty UNC Athletics

Photo by Joe Bray courtesty UNC Athletics

After a strong start to the season, Enrique Sosa has seen his share of struggles the last two weeks, only lasting 2 2/3 innings and allowing seven earned runs. Benton Moss threw six innings of three-run (one earned) baseball while getting support from Zach Gahagan (1-4, 4 RBI) and Joe Dudek (2-3, 3 Run, 2 RBI) on the offensive side of things.

Three weeks ago the Pittsburgh Panthers took two-of-three against the highly ranked Tar Heels but in the two weeks since have failed to build off that success. After losing two-of-three against the Blue Devils last week, they were swept by the N.C. State Wolfpack this weekend.

A five-run second inning did the Panthers as the Wolfpack poured it on this weekend. Joe Dunand hit a three-run home run in the big inning to help break things open. Andrew Knizner went 4-for-4 with 2 RBIs and a run scored in the win and Joe O’Donnell pitched 6 1/3 innings while only allowing a lone run and striking out four batters.

The University of Virginia closed out the sweeps over the weekend, as they traveled to South Bend and took all three days. Josh Sborz earned his seventh save of the season by striking out the side in the ninth innings.

Adam Hasely and Pavin Smith each collected three hits for an offense that has trouble at times getting their feet under themselves this season.

About the Author

Anthony Murphy
Anthony was born in Hawaii to a military family and has lived up and down the East Coast until settling in Virginia, where he has lived the majority of his life. He developed his love for baseball watching the Pirates play with his grandfather, soaking up his stories and knowledge of the game. There wasn’t a day during any of his summer break as a kid where he and his brother didn’t have a glove in their hand, even if it was just to play catch. While he has written on several websites about various other sports, baseball is his first true love in the sporting world. Anthony will be covering the University of Virginia and the rest of the ACC for College Baseball Central, and you can follow him on Twitter: A_Murphy88.