No. 11 FSU Baseball Among Top Teams In ACC

The FSU baseball team faced adversity this past weekend, and promptly responded with resilience. Following a Friday night loss to ACC foe Wake Forest, the ‘Noles reeled off back-to-back wins to bounce back and exorcise the Demon Deacons in Sunday’s rubber match. The series victory over the Deacons sees No. 11 FSU improve to 17-4 (5-1 ACC). Wake Forest dropped to 13-8 (3-3 ACC).

The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets swarmed the Duke Blue Devils’ home turf over the weekend and came away with the 2-1 series victory over the Blue Devils. The series saw no team plate over six runs in any given game. That said, the largest margin of victory came in Sunday’s rubber match between the two teams when Tech blanked Duke by a score of 4-0. The victory elevated Georgia Tech to 14-5 (4-2 ACC). The two losses dropped Duke to 14-5 (2-4 ACC).

In what may be a surprise for some, the Pittsburgh Panthers again found themselves earning the “W” against a team that many expected them to fall to. This past weekend the Panthers enjoyed a 2-1 series victory over then-ranked No. 14 UNC at home. Following two consecutive wins over the Tarheels, North Carolina managed to take game three at Charles L. Cost Field in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh’s series victory over the Tarheels would go down as the Panthers’ first weekend series victory of the season. The pair of weekend victories puts the Panthers at just one game below .500 overall with a record of 8-9 (3-3 ACC). Back-to-back upset losses for North Carolina means that the Tarheels are trending in the wrong direction quickly. No. 21 UNC now sits at 12-7 (3-3 ACC) on the season.

The North Carolina State Wolfpack made the trip south to Coral Gables to take on the ‘Canes over the weekend. NCSU gave No. 18 Miami all that they had in Friday’s 3-2 loss to the Hurricanes that was decided in the tenth inning when Miami’s David Thompson enjoyed a walk-off homerun to conclude the game. The two games that followed saw the Wolfpack fall flat as they lost to the ‘Canes by scores of 9-2 and 6-0. The sweep of North Carolina State lifted the ‘Canes to 16-7 (4-2 ACC). NCSU watched its record go to 10-7 (2-4 ACC) with aspirations of getting back to .500 in ACC play with a road trip to Boston College looming.

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No. 13 Louisville did what is was expected to do when Boston College paid a visit to the Cards over the weekend. The Cardinals enjoyed a sweep of the Eagles at Jim Paterson Stadium. The series featured a Saturday doubleheader in which the series was decided following a 13-0 Louisville blanking of Boston College in game two. The sweep elevated Louisville to 14-6 (5-1 ACC) on the early season. For Boston College, the losses continued to pour in as the Eagles found themselves on life support just 17 games into the season with a record of 5-12 (0-6 ACC). The Eagles will attempt to salvage their season when Boston College finally sees its first home games this week against both Bryant University and NC State.

Add a 2-1 Notre Dame series victory in Clemson, South Carolina to what is starting to become a very disappointing season so far for the Clemson Tigers. The Irish imposed their will against Clemson following the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, which saw the Tigers prevail by a score of 6-1. Notre Dame responded with urgency, outscoring Clemson 11-6 in game two of the doubleheader. Sunday’s rubber match saw the Fighting Irish march out to a 5-1 win. Clemson’s fall is notable as the Tigers now stare a 9-9 (2-4 ACC) record in the face just a little over a month into the season. Despite being 3-3 in conference play, the Irish see themselves at an impressive 14-4 on the season.

The once No. 1 ranked Virginia Cavaliers again find themselves in the spotlight for all of the wrong reasons after dropping three straight to rival Virginia Tech. The Hokies made a statement heard around the ACC with a sweep of No. 7 UVA. While the margin of victory was never any more than two runs, the stout Hokies defense prevailed in the weekend affair as they held the Cavaliers to just seven runs the entire series. The improbable sweep brought the Hokies back above .500 with a record of 10-9 (4-2 ACC). The series sweep saw the ‘Cavs implode in their fourth straight game and fall to 12-5 (2-4 ACC).

In what could be one of the Seminoles’ toughest four game stretches of the season, Florida State will travel to Gainesville, FL and Charlottesville, Virginia to take on the Gators and Cavaliers. FSU’s midweek game against UF will be played on Tuesday, March 17th, and aired on the SEC Network with first pitch set for 7:00 p.m.

All rankings taken from USA Today Coaches’ Poll. (March 16th)

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