ACC awaits 2011 NCAA Baseball Tourney field

Posted by Brandon Rink on May 29, 2011 under ACC Baseball | Read the First Comment

Updated: 10:40 a.m. ET, 5/30

The Seminoles are hoping to stay home all the way to Omaha with a Super Regional bid. (Pic per OrangeandWhite.com)

The ACC got the five regional hosts in Clemson, FSU, Georgia Tech, UNC and Virginia. Now, we wait until the NCAA announces the field at 12:30 p.m. ET.

Will FSU make it three national seeds for the ACC?

Will Clemson get paired with the South Carolina super regional?

Where will Miami and NC State be traveling?

Kendall Rogers of the Perfect Game released his final projections in the early morning hours…He’s not feeling the three national seeds for the ACC and pegs Virginia as the No. 2 seed overall. Rogers is about the only guy who doesn’t see a NC State pairing with South Carolina as he has them going to TCU. Instead, he has Miami headed to Columbia. If the ‘Canes survive there, they could face FSU in the Super Regional.

Baseball America’s Aaron Fitt has the ACC field like…

Charlottesville, Va.

1. (1) Virginia
2. Florida International
3. James Madison
4. Navy

Chapel Hill, N.C.

1. (5) North Carolina
2. East Carolina
3. Charlotte
4. Princeton

Tallahassee, Fla.

1. (6) Florida State
2. Southern Mississippi
3. Troy
4. Bethune-Cookman

Atlanta

1. Georgia Tech
2. Stetson
3. Alabama
4. Georgia Southern

Tempe, Ariz.

1. Arizona State
2. Miami
3. Kansas State
4. Illinois

Clemson, S.C.

1. Clemson
2. Georgia
3. Connecticut
4. Sacred Heart

Columbia, S.C.

1. (3) South Carolina
2. North Carolina State
3. Coastal Carolina
4. Maine

Analysis: Baseball America on the three national seed bandwagon with FSU in at a six seed – they’re paired with Arizona State’s regional, which sets up a possible matchup with Miami if the ‘Canes pull the upset. Clemson and SC are paired for the Supers as well. Fitt has three ACC vs. PAC-10 Super Regionals as well and all against the conference’s national seeds. If that comes to fruition, you wonder if the ACC schools will try to get some early start times to mess with the West Coast teams.

SEBaseball released their final projections in the wee hours of the morning as well…SEBaseball is our last bracket in the gates and they aren’t going for triplet national seeds as FSU is paired up with the Florida Super. Miami hits the road for LA – NC State to the all too familiar South Carolina regional. They’re liking the Clemson-SC Super pairing, which I think would be great. Both national seeds are paired with West Coast teams with UVa v. Oregon St. and UNC vs. UCLA. Them having to travel East is an advantage if the teams can’t get out of their regionals.

Here’s what the ESPN College Baseball Blog thinks…

Charlottesville Regional
No. 2 Virginia
Oklahoma State
James Madison
Maine

Chapel Hill Regional
No. 5 North Carolina
East Carolina
Seton Hall
Charlotte

Clemson Regional
Clemson
UCF
Coastal Carolina
Austin Peay

Tallahassee Regional
Florida State
Florida International
Alabama
Alcorn State

Atlanta Regional
Georgia Tech
Georgia
Georgia Southern
Manhattan

Gainesville Regional
No. 1 Florida
Miami
Jacksonville
Bethune-Cookman

Columbia Regional
No. 4 South Carolina
Stetson
NC State
Sacred Heart

Analysis: Whole lot o’ SEC-ACC with Georgia Tech hosting Georgia and Bama going to FSU – Miami plays at SEC Champ Florida and NC State hits the road to Columbia with SEC regular season champ South Carolina. They have Clemson vs. SC, FSU vs. UF, GT vs. Vandy, Virginia vs. CS-Fullerton and UNC vs. Oregon State in the Super Regionals. I know there’s a ton of SEC and ACC teams in the field, but not seeing this many Southeastern on Atlantic Coast matchups.

Chasing Omaha offers their thoughts…

Charlottesville Regional:

Virginia (1)
Connecticut
James Madison
Maine

Chapel Hill Regional:

North Carolina (4)
East Carolina
Charlotte
Illinois

Tallahassee Regional:

Florida State (6)
Central Florida
Georgia
Alcorn State

Atlanta Regional:

Georgia Tech
Stetson
Mississippi State
Georgia Southern

Clemson Regional:

Clemson
LSU
Baylor
Sacred Heart

Corvallis Regional:

Oregon State
Miami
Seton Hall
Manhattan

Columbia Regional:

South Carolina (5)
North Carolina State
Coastal Carolina
Austin Peay

Analysis: Pretty drastic difference between this one and ESPN’s. FSU grabs the national seed and are paired with the UCLA regional. Like LSU traveling to Clemson – that would be a fun matchup. Poor Miami gets shipped out to Oregon State, but it’s winnable at least.

2011 ACC Tourney Quick Recap: Virginia/FSU

Posted by Brandon Rink on under ACC Baseball | Comments are off for this article

No. 1 Virginia vs. No. 2 Florida State, 1:00 p.m. ET

Final: Virginia 7-2

What Happened: 1) Hoos-run power – Three Blue Monster shots by Virginia put away the ‘Noles for an ACC Championship. UVa catcher John Hicks got Virginia going with a 2-run HR to grab a 2-1 lead in the 1st inning, 3B  Steven Proscia broke a 2-2 tie in the 6th with a 3-run jack and SS Chris Taylor added the insurance with his 2-run HR in the 7th to make it 7-2.

2) FSU waits to see if they’ve done enough for a national seed – Most projections have them right on the edge. They have the RPI and RPI wins, but a competitive national seed bubble with geographic/conference considerations could knock them off.

3) Virginia set for a trip to Omaha now? – The ACC released a nice stat today for ACC Tournament champs. The last five have made the College World Series. We said preseason Virginia would and we’ll see if they can keep the streak up.

Win: Danny Hultzen (10-3, 6 IP/6 H/2 R/2 ER/1 BB/5 K)

Loss: Hunter Scantling (3-2, 5.1 IP/5 H/5 ER/0 BB/3 K)

Top hitters: UVa 3B Steven Proscia – 1/4, 3-run HR; UVa C John Hicks – 2/4, 2-run HR; UVa SS Chris Taylor – 2/4, 2-run HR; FSU SS Justin Gonzalez – 2/4 HR.

Next up: Both teams are gunning for national seeds and a home path to Omaha.

2011 ACC Tourney Quick Recap: Virginia/UNC

Posted by Brandon Rink on under ACC Baseball | Comments are off for this article

No. 1 Virginia vs. No. 4 UNC, 9:20 p.m. ET

Final: Virginia 3-2.

What Happened: 1) ‘Hoos manufactured runs and received clutch pitching – Safety squeezes, sac flies and doubles…Virginia brought across the plate a run in three different innings to  edge out UNC. And with the game tied 2-2 in the 7th, Virginia reliever Whit Mayberry closed the door on the Heels with two in scoring position – the last time UNC had runners in scoring position for the rest of the game.

2) A really entertaining game – Wasn’t exactly a pitching duel, but not a slugfest either – just two really good teams squaring off.

3) Hultzen saved for Sunday – Absolutely love the move to not just stick with the schedule, but save ace lefty Danny Hultzen (9-3, 1.49 ERA) for the championship against Florida State (and you get the win anyway, definition of win-win there).

Win: Whit Mayberry (5-0, 2 IP/0 H/0 R/0 ER/0 BB/5 K)

Loss: Chris Munnelly (6-5, 1 IP/1 H/1 R/1 ER/0 BB/0 K)

Top hitters: UVa SS Chris Taylor – 1/3, 2 RBI; UVa 2B Keith Werman – 0/2, RBI; UVa RF David Coleman – 1/1, R; UNC SS Levi Michael – 1/4, RBI;

Next up: Virginia will play FSU at 1 p.m. in the ACC title game; UNC will find out that they host on Sunday and who they’ll play on Monday.