ACCT Update – Pack Stays Alive with Miami Win

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Trea Turner's leadoff HR Thursday has been one of the Pack's few offensive bright spots thus far in the tournament.

[Update] – Miami Downs Wake:  The Miami Hurricanes overcame another adventure from their bullpen tonight to down Wake Forest, 6-3.  Let’s take a look at what that Miami win does to our Pool B “needs”….

  • Wake (Eliminated from contention)
  • Carolina (Eliminated from contention)
  • Miami: Must hope for a Carolina win tomorrow.
  • State: Must beat Carolina tomorrow.

Yup.  For the Pack, tomorrow’s game is for a berth in Sunday’s championship game.  For Carolina, the best they can do will be to keep the Pack out.  They should still have incentive to play well and win, however.  A Wolfpack victory over the Heels, especially if that victory is followed up with a championship win on Sunday, could very well allow State to slide into the national seed slot which Carolina now holds on most bracketologists’ current sheets.

That being said, with the conference championship no longer a possibility for them, and with their head coach watching on TV tomorrow, it will be interesting to see what kind of showing the Heels have.   Miami, which lost to State on Wednesday with a bases loaded walk, will now have a fate worse than death (IMHO).  They must now become Carolina fans.

Game time for tomorrow’s tilt with Carolina is 7pm.

 

The Madness that is Pool A

Florida State will not win the 2012 ACC Championship.

The top seeded Seminoles had their hearts broken today by Clemson.  The Tigers entered the bottom of the 9th trailing FSU 7-6, but a walk off 3 run HR gave them the shocking come from behind victory and keeps their own hopes alive to beat the odds and emerge from Pool A to Sunday’s championship game.  FSU, now 0-fer in their two games in Greensboro, is eliminated from contention.

Conversely, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets continue to surprise.  Earlier today, the Jackets took Virginia behind the woodshed, beating the Cavs up 17-5 and invoking the mercy rule by scoring five runs in the bottom of the 7th for the 12 run final margin of victory.  The win gives the Jackets 2 wins in as many tries in Greensboro, and they are the only team remaining in Pool A which controls its own fate.  Should Tech do away with Clemson tomorrow, they will advance to Sunday.  Below is the Pool A situation.

  • Florida State (Eliminated from contention)
  • Georgia Tech – Win Saturday vs Clemson.
  • Clemson – Win Saturday vs GT, hope for a Florida State win over UVa.
  • Virginia – Hope for a Clemson win over GT, Win Saturday vs FSU (In this scenario, UVa, Clemson and GT all finish tied at 2-1  -  UVa takes it based on reg. season win %…at least that’s the way I read the tiebreaker for the three way tie).

So, the Wolfpack takes the field (and lefty Carlos Rodon takes the hill) at 7pm tomorrow night to take on Carolina with a championship game appearance on the line.  Despite not playing their best, the Pack is in a position to take the ACC crown (and quite possibly a national seed for the upcoming NCAA Tournament) with two straight wins.  But the bats will need to come alive one way or another, and that’s asking a lot considering Carolina’s extremely strong pitching staff.  Despite what I said in the earlier thread, I’m extremely pleased that Carlos Rodon will be going for the Pack on Saturday (Monday Morning Quarterback, etc., etc.).

–

So, 8th seeded GT completes the Pool A sweep with a win over Clemson.  They advance to face the Pool B winner, either NC State or Miami.  If the Pack wins, they’re in…otherwise the ‘Canes slide in.

The remaining schedule for this year’s tournament is:

  • Saturday, 11am – Georgia Tech  vs  Clemson (GT wins 5-1, advances to Sunday to face either NC State  or  Miami)
  • Saturday, 3pm – Florida State  vs  Virginia
  • Saturday, 7pm – NC State  vs  N.Carolina
  • Sunday, 12noon – GEORGIA TECH  vs  Pool B Winner

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Original Entry:

Wolfpack Baseball finds itself with one win and one loss after two days of the 2012 ACC Baseball tournament, after falling to Wake Forest last night, 7-3.

GoPack.com – Pack Falls 7-3 in Second ACC Tournament Contest

GREENSBORO, N.C. – NC State dropped a 7-3 decision to Wake Forest Thursday night at NewBridge Bank Park on the second day of play at the 2012 ACC Tournament.

Trea Turner’s solo homer on the first pitch of the game gave NC State (39-16) a 1-0 lead, but Wake Forest (33-23) tied the game in the second. The Pack climbed ahead for the second time at 2-1, before the Deacons took control with three runs in the third. Two more in the fifth and another in the eighth set the margin at 7-2. State scored one in the ninth to narrow the final score to 7-3.

Box Score

So far in the tournament, Wolfpack bats have largely been on the snooze setting. After doing just barely enough to beat Miami by a score of 3-2 on Wednesday (and let’s not kid ourselves…it took some major help from Miami’s pen even still), it looked like things might take a turn on Thursday against Wake Forest when Trea Turner led off the game by turning around the first pitch he saw and depositing it on the other side of the left field wall.

At the time, it seemed as if maybe the demons had been exorcised from the Pack’s bats, but it wasn’t to be. The offense seemed to become bogged down again, just as it had the day before. Without stellar pitching to keep things close like it had gotten a day earlier from Ethan Ogburn and Vance Williams versus Miami, Wake pulled away and the Pack went down in ugly fashion. Without taking anything away from Wake (they did what they needed to do to win), State essentially handed the game over, once again with control problems on the mound and little or no offensive punch.

Word has it that Elliott Avent has sent out for a live chicken.

 

Looking Ahead

In other Pool B games affecting the Pack from Wednesday and Thursday, Carolina mashed Wake on day one, but then dropped one to Miami yesterday.  For those that don’t wish to do the math in word problems, that means all the teams in Pool B (including our beloved Pack) are 1-1 after their first two games.

This brings up an interesting situation where all four teams are still alive at this point in time. Wake and Miami will face off tonight (go ‘Canes), State and Carolina tomorrow night. Below shows what each team needs from each of those games to move on to face the Pool A winner on Sunday (which ain’t gonna be FSU, btw) for the conference championship.

  • Wake: Must win tonight, must hope for a State win tomorrow.
  • Miami: Must win tonight, must hope for a Carolina win tomorrow.
  • Carolina: Must hope for a Wake win tonight, must beat State tomorrow.
  • State: Must hope for a Miami win tonight, must beat Carolina tomorrow.

So even though State and Carolina don’t play today, each has a lot riding on the prime time game tonight. When Miami takes on Wake tonight, each school will have extra fans by proxy, no doubt. Furthermore, based upon tonight’s Miami/Wake result, either State or Carolina will go into tomorrow’s game knowing that at best they can play spoiler to the other’s championship hopes. (lets go Miami…put it to the Deacs)

On the opposite side of the tournament, the results from Pool A haven’t followed the anticipated script either.  Right now, the tournament’s #8 seed Georgia Tech controls it’s own destiny having won both of its two games thus far.  Top seeded FSU on the other hand, by virtue of having lost only moments ago in the bottom of the 9th on a Clemson walk off 3 run HR, is eliminated.  We’ll talk more about Pool A a little later tonight.

As a side note, Carolina will be without their skipper tomorrow night against the Wolfpack. After the Heels fell to Miami yesterday afternoon, Mike Fox received a “post event ejection” after continuing to argue with the umpiring crew even after repeated warnings, resulting in an automatic one game suspension.

Wake takes on Miami tonight at 7pm.

State and Carolina go tomorrow at 7pm.

Almost forgot…

Go Hurricanes!!

–

About Wufpacker

A 2nd generation alumnus and raised since birth to be irrationally dedicated to all things NC State. Class of '88 and '92.

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57 Responses to ACCT Update – Pack Stays Alive with Miami Win

  1. thekind 05/25/2012 at 10:17 PM #

    Elliot Avent is an embarrassment to our beloved University.

  2. mak4dpak 05/25/2012 at 11:49 PM #

    The baseball team has had an outstanding season, with Avent, as the coach, but in the Wake loss he couldn’t pitch the ball, the pitchers wild throws, were strong contributing factors in that loss. Guys have to man up when they are in the game playing, and they didn’t. However Miami did us a favor and beat Wake, so now we need to beat UNX.

  3. Solesky 05/26/2012 at 2:11 AM #

    Tomorrow’s gunna be fun! I’m looking forward to a State-GT final. Whatever you two wanna complain about, I’m glad UNC has no chance to be ACC Champion – and we have to beat our non-rival, with Rodon, in order to get to the Final. Makes for some exciting baseball.

  4. CaptainCraptacular 05/26/2012 at 7:00 AM #

    I believe FSU was eliminated even before their loss to Clemson. GT beat both FSU and UVa, and the only way for FSU to advance was with a 3-way tie at 2-1, which would not have been possible if FSU had beat Clemson.

    Conversely, if FSU had beat Clemson, GT would have already clinched a spot in the champ game.

  5. ADVENTUROO 05/26/2012 at 7:16 AM #

    Being a baseball novice, at best, I have never watched a pro, semi-pro, college, high school or other baseball game with as many “unusual” events at the WF game. We were there and it was bizarre. I have one question for the experts here.

    By my count, there were 5 or maybe 6 “advances” due to wild pitches. TWO RUNS were scored. There were THREE different pitchers involved. NOW, from a corrective action or coach’s standpoint, WHERE do you focus? Was it REALLY pitching errors or was it a catcher’s error? We had pretty good seats and had a great side view of the plate. I could not decide if the Catcher’s problem or maybe a combination. If any of you were there and/or watched the game on TV, then I would appreciate here your comments.

    Also to add to the intrigue, at the end of one of the late innings, Wake Forest scored TWO runs on the final out. It was a high pop (should have been caught?) and the left fielder misjudged it and it did a couple of hops. By the time he recovered the ball, TWO runs and scored and they finally tagged out a runner between 2nd and 3rd. The runs counted….because they crossed the plate BEFORE there was an out. I had never paid attention, but if the ball had been caught, then there was no “advance” allowed and the inning would have ended without additional runs and the two runners would have been “LEFT”.

    Other than the pitching, it should have been a great game. The first pitch was a home run and got the crowd excited.

    Bobby Lutz and family was there and stayed to the VERY end. Great to see him involved in other athletics. His dad managed an amateur Softball team (Howard’s furniture) that won several national championships….so baseball is a sport that is close to his heart.

    GO PACK….

  6. Dr. BadgerPack 05/26/2012 at 8:04 AM #

    ^A lot of the WP/PB issues look to me to be a catching problem. Austin does a lot of stabbing at the ball with his glove, as opposed to dropping down and blocking it. It’s fixable, it’ll just take some work. That said, it’s easier to get into proper blocking position when the pitcher isn’t missing on the opposite side of the plate (by a country mile).

  7. state73 05/26/2012 at 8:17 AM #

    Two great reasons to win sat. A berth in the finals and beating the “holes”. GO PACK!!

  8. fvpackman 05/26/2012 at 8:23 AM #

    our best “catcher” has been a little hurt since the collision at FSU…he will be behind the dish tonight…Austin is a freshman…he will get better…the 1st year is the biggest learning curve…I cannot begin to tell you the changes Caleb made from year 1 at State to year 2….Chris Hart was a fine catcher at FSU and does a fine job with our guys…..Thurs was a bad combo of a wild pitcher and a young learning catcher….that shouldnt be the case tonight unless Danny get reinjuried and Carlos isnt his normal self….

  9. PackerInRussia 05/26/2012 at 8:59 AM #

    I like the odds with Rodon on the mound.

  10. vtpackfan 05/26/2012 at 10:24 AM #

    Rodon/Canela battery one of the best. Key will be not issueing many walks, especially with one out or less. UNC is a team you have to make swing bats-not much instant power and manufacture run capability.

    Need guys like Diaz, Fincher, and Ratlidge to have a good night at the plate.

  11. ncsslim 05/26/2012 at 10:42 AM #

    The irony of the WF loss was that the only impact I see (as it’s worked out) is that it knocked out any possibility of UNC getting to the championship game. If we had beat Wake, we would be 2-0 vs 1-1 UNC, with 2-1 Miami waiting in the wings. If Carolina wins, you have three 2-1 teams and they move on to the championship due to highest seeding. As it is, if they win, Miami goes, because we’ll be 1-2, and UNC lost to Miami. And either way, we’d have to beat Carolina to play Sunday.

    It’s the difference in playing a team with the championship on the line, vs pure pride (and wanting to stick it up our asses). I’m sure Elliot knew all of this and threw the damn game….. Problem is, he should have at least have done a better job faking it.

    Karma is a bitch.

  12. Wufpacker 05/26/2012 at 1:30 PM #

    Assuming GT holds on against Clemson, we go into our game knowing we’ll be facing them tomorrow should we win (a good hitting club…better than Carolina). Save Rodon, anyone?

    Not saying I think we should, just playing devil’s advocate for discussion.

  13. Dr. BadgerPack 05/26/2012 at 3:28 PM #

    Absolutely go with Rodon today. Ogburn may very well be able to throw 5ish tomorrow, and of course when Jernigan has some semblance of command he is dang near unhittable.

  14. Lunatic Fringe 05/26/2012 at 3:36 PM #

    Rodon’s ability to go deep into innings (7+) will allow us to save pen for use tomorrow where I would hope it would be all hands on deck for championship.

  15. Wufpacker 05/26/2012 at 4:37 PM #

    Agreed. Today is an elimination game so it’s a no brainer. Just wanted to see if I could spark an argument. Instigator.

  16. Wufpacker 05/26/2012 at 4:53 PM #

    Miami now top 10 in RPI (#9) against the nation’s 4th toughest schedule. We are still just outside the top 10, btw (#11).

  17. vtpackfan 05/26/2012 at 5:39 PM #

    Anyone know what FSS would be be at Kure Beach, or what FM dial might cover Wolfpack/Tar Heel Baseball?

  18. Wufpacker 05/26/2012 at 6:06 PM #

    98.7 FM in Wilmington is a WPN affiliate. Not sure they’d carry baseball though.

  19. Dr. BadgerPack 05/26/2012 at 6:26 PM #

    If it’s cable, my guess would be channel 34.

  20. elvislives 05/26/2012 at 6:42 PM #

    Mathews not starting tonight, Austin is in RF. Nothing surprises me anymore.

  21. Dr. BadgerPack 05/26/2012 at 6:44 PM #

    Elvis- Mathews is the DH. Back off the ledge 😉

    Edit: I can’t spell.

  22. elvislives 05/26/2012 at 6:45 PM #

    Thanks Doc. Sorry, my nerves got the best of me.

  23. Dr. BadgerPack 05/26/2012 at 6:48 PM #

    No problemo- I like the idea of having the freshman in the field and the senior as the DH. Just from a “staying in the game” perspective. DH’ing is hard.

  24. elvislives 05/26/2012 at 6:58 PM #

    Agreed. I do like Mathews arm on defense though. I’m sure Austin will do fine.

    Loved seeing Turner swipe 2nd against Stallings.

  25. Dr. BadgerPack 05/26/2012 at 7:01 PM #

    I’m about to rename him “White Rickey”…

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