ACC Weekly Recap
No. 5 Louisville vs. No. 11 Florida State: The Seminoles took 2-of-3 from the Cardinals, winning 12-7 in Game 1, falling 7-1 in Game 2 and clinching the series with a 16-5 thrashing in Game 3. Dylan Busby hammered his first career grand slam in the rubber match and Taylor Walls finished 3-6 with a double and 2 RBI in the series win. FSU sits atop the Atlantic Division at 9-2 while Louisville is second at 10-5.
No. 13 N.C. State vs. Wake Forest: The Wolfpack clinched the series with wins in the opening two games, 11-7 and 3-2 and looks for the sweep Monday. Preston Palmeiro’s walk-off single in the 10th of Game 2 secured the series win for the Pack. Josh McLain and Joe Dunand added three hits each in Game 2 while adding an addition two hits in the series opener including Dunand’s first long ball of the season.
No. 16 Clemson vs. Duke: The Blue Devils delivered a setback to the Tigers after taking 2-of-3 over the weekend. Duke won the opener and rubber match of the series, 5-3 and 2-1 respectively, while falling 3-2 in Game 2. Sophomore Peter Zyla matched a career-high three hits in Game 1 while adding 2 RBI and a run in the win. Clemson’s Chris Okey provided the late inning heroics for the Tigers with a game-winning two-run triple in the ninth of Game 2 to even the series at 1-1. Duke bounced back in the rubber match behind graduate student Brian McAfee’s second complete game of the season. The righty scattered six hits over the outing while allowing only one unearned run. He struck out six and walked three in the Blue Devils first series win over the Tigers since 2010.
No. 2 Miami vs. Notre Dame: Thanks to Mother Nature, only one game was played in this series, but Miami continued its hot start to ACC play with a 10-2 victory Sunday. Michael Mediavilla moved to 6-0 on the season after working six strong innings in the bitterly cold South Bend, Indiana conditions. The sophomore allowed one earned run on four hits. He also struck out three while issuing three free passes. Carl Chester led the Hurricanes at the plate, going 3-4 with three runs. Zack Collins finished 3-5 with 5 RBI and scored three runs of his own. The junior smacked a three-run homer in the sixth and laced a two-run double in the third.
No. 12 UNC vs. Virginia Tech: The Heels secured the series win after a 6-0 win Friday and 4-1 win Saturday, but failed to complete the sweep after falling 4-3 in the finale Sunday afternoon. Zac Gallen set the tone to open the series as the junior tossed his second career complete game while striking out a career-high 13 in the win. The Hokies managed only four hits. Tyler Ramirez led the way for UNC in the series, finishing 5-8, scoring five runs, drawing five walks, clubbing a home run, a double and driving in two. J.B. Bukauskas followed Gallen’s stellar outing with one of his own in Game 2, taking a no-hitter into the sixth in a 4-1 win. The sophomore worked 7 1/3 innings, striking out 13 while allowing only two hits.
Standout Performers
Pitcher of the Week: Zac Gallen of UNC had a career performance in the Heel’s 6-0 win over Virginia Tech. The junior faced just four more than the minimum, retiring 10 straight at one point of the game and fanning the side in the ninth to record his 200th career punchout. The righty struck out a career-high 13 batters in his second career complete game.
Hitter of the Week: Tyler Ramirez of UNC after a 5-8 performance in the series with VT. Ramirez hammered a homer in the series opener, added a double in Game 2 while tallying five walks over the weekend. The junior also plated five runs and drove in a couple over the three-game stand.
Preview of the Week's Matchups
The new No. 1 team in the nation, Miami, heads to Duke for a matchup with the red-hot Blue Devils who just took 2-of-3 from Clemson. Florida State heads to Wake Forest while UNC travels to Virginia. Louisville looks to bounce back against Clemson after the Cardinals dropped 2-of-3 to surging Florida State.
Other games include Boston College at Notre Dame, N.C. State heads to Georgia Tech, and Pitt travels to Virginia Tech.
Conference Series of the Week
Clemson at Louisville: The Tigers sit only two games behind the Cardinals in the ACC Atlantic Division while both are looking up at division leader Florida State. Both teams come in losers of their last series and need to make up some ground. Seth Beer and Chris Okey will look to lead the Tigers in the Derby City. Beer leads the team with a .417 average including 13 home runs and Okey is at a .347 clip with six doubles and 30 RBI. Attacking the Cardinals’ hitters from the bump will be the trio of Alex Eubanks, Clate Schmidt and Charlies Barnes. Schmidt leads the way with a 5-1 mark in eight starts.
For the Red Birds, they will turn to Nick Solak and Colby Fitch at the plate as both are hitting over .400. Fitch is second on the team with five home runs and leads the team in slugging with an .807 mark. Louisville will send the trio of Drew Harrington, Brendan McKay and Kade McClure to the bump, with Harrington’s ERA coming in at a staggering 1.22.
Just as tough as the Cardinals have been at home, the Tigers have had their share of road woes. Louisville is 19-1 at Jim Patterson Stadium while Clemson is 8-7 away from the friendly confines of Doug Kingsmore Staduim.
