2018 ACC Baseball

[GTNavyNuke]

No longer in last place in the ACC! Pitt is 1-5. There are three teams at 2-4, GT, ND & BC. http://warrennolan.com/baseball/2018/conference/ACC

Regardless of where everyone else is, we HAVE to get to 500 in ACC to make the NCAAs I think ..... it's going to be tough. But with the Curry, Thomas and English ACC starters, we should be competitive for half the game. Then have to decide how to deploy our relievers.......

Of course the best in the ACC NC State (5-1) we get next week.

Nice to see Clemson clemson. Wish it had happened earlier.

And Auburn is #1 in RPI ..... not ACC, but Tuesday.

 

[MWBATL]

Our next 3 series do not offer much hope.....@ N C State, Miami, FSU....all with MUCH better pitching depth. We could be 5-10 after that stretch.

 

[FredJacket]

In Week 2, ACC road teams were 8-13. Only road team to win it's series was NC State sweeping Clemson. So.. through 2 weeks (14 series) the home team has won 13 series.

 

[dawgbasher]

NC State swept Clemson at Clemson. Very impressive club. This upcoming weekend with Tech going to Raleigh could get very, very ugly in a hurry. Just hope Tech can be competitive. Hope and belief are two different things however.

 

[FredJacket]

Mostly inter-divisional action this weekend:
Va Tech (3-3) @ BC (2-4) - If Ga Tech does not finish higher than "both" of these team in ACC standings...Ga Tech may not make ACC Tourney and WILL NOT make NCAA Tourney.
Clemson (3-3) @ Louisville (3-3) - Clemson's record may look very ordinary after this weekend.
UVA (3-3) @ Miami (3-3) - Coastal clash of 3-3 teams. One of them will be under .500 on Sunday. Good.
FSU (3-3) @ UNC (4-2) - Good teams. Expect a good, competitive series.
Wake (4-2) @ ND (2-4) - South Bend always seems like a hard place to win considering how bad ND is at baseball. They won 10 game last year in ACC play. 7 of those at home. Perhaps ND wins this series.
Duke (4-2) @ Pitt (1-5) - Pitt's 1st home series of conference play. Duke's 1st road series in conference play.
Ga Tech (2-4) @ NC State (5-1) - Pray... then drink.... then pray (not necessarily in that order). Irregardless (not a word)...pray and drink. GOOOOOOOOO JACKETS!!! Win baseball games!

 

[GTNavyNuke]

......Irregardless (not a word).........

Irregardless = Not regardless = not not regard = regard.
But for your next Scrabble or drinking game, it is a word since it was so widely misused. But here is the dictionary derivation: https://www.google.com/search?q=def.....69i57j0l5.6933j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
ir·re·gard·less
ˌirəˈɡärdləs/
adjective & adverb
informal
adjective: irregardless; adverb: irregardless

1. regardless.

Origin

mid 19th century: probably a blend of irrespective and regardless.

Regardless, I agree with your summary. We have to win one today to find a way to claw back up to 500. Big challenge; not surprisingly NC State is leading the ACC with an RPI of 12.

To add - I hope Clemson is 3-6 after this weekend @ Louisville. Louisville swept the tiggers @ Clemson last year. Won't help our RPI, but it would make me feel good to watch a good clemsoning.

ND is unfortunately very good this year. Won over @FSU 8-7 last Friday, lost 6-4 on Saturday leaving bases loaded in ninth and lost 7-5 on Sunday with a 3 run throwing error in the 7th. So ND can play with anyone. ND meeting Wake this weekend will be interesting. Go Wake!

I apologize in advance, but people should subscribe to D1Baseball. The columns are really good to add "flavor" to the game and sometimes go totally off script. Like this week, Eric SOrenson talked about swindlers and then went on a fast food restaurant rant. Here's his #1 of 5 fast food swindlers:
"1- Taco Bell.
Ah, these guys are the champions. A cheesy gordita looks like food of the Gods on their commercials. A taco made with a Doritos chips shell? Oh, they make it look like you’ve gotta have it NOW. And when you’re buzzed on your couch, that sort of bamboozlement works big time. But have you ever really looked at the way they prepare this stuff when you go to the free-standing Taco Bell? Everything is heated up in plastic bags inside of microwaves and slapped together in a rush. Hence the name fast food. You might as well go up and lick your flat screen TV while the commercial plays. It’ll be more satisfying than the drivel served up by the 19 year old flunky manning the food preparation table who just wiped his nose and doesn’t give a rat’s *** if you enjoy this stuff at 2:15am."

Anyway, hope we swindle a game from NC State today.

 

[FredJacket]

.... for your next Scrabble or drinking game, it is a word since it was so widely misused.

What?!?! ... this is terrible news. It's a word now? My curmudgeon meter is spiking!

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Watched maybe an hour of the end of the WF/ND and the Duke/Pitt game.

Impressions.

We are really really lucky to have Wiley Ballard & others (Sheeler/Poole/ whoever) calling the games. He makes it so much more a conversation than the dry stuff on the ND or Pitt ACC Network Extra.

It's hard to play good baseball in cold weather. WF lost 7-6 in 10 by walking the winning walk off run home. Pitt survived somehow (I didn't care enough to watch them hold on 8-7). No one, well less than 100 people, seemed to be at the games. And they only moved from under the blankets when they had to. Both games were in the 40's like ours will be tomorrow.

ND has the ugliest helmets I have ever seen. The cheapest Wal-Mart gold gloss I have ever seen.

 

[FredJacket]

Theme of parity sort of continues this weekend (and/home field advantage):

1 series complete. BC goes 2-1 over VT in Chestnut Hill.

1 series with only one game complete. Clemson up 1-0 at Louisville. DH set today.

5 series with one game to go. Three of them are 1-1 (GT@NCST, Duke@Pitt, FSU@UNC). The other two... Home teams up 2-0 (UVA@MIA, Wake@ND).

 

[FredJacket]

ACC action for Week(end) #4. Some teams choosing to play Thurs-Sat series in order to get Easter Sun off:

Thur-Sat
NCST (7-2) @ VT (4-5) - NCST could put VT in a bad spot and really make a move at top of conference with a series win or sweep. VT has had the softest schedule to date (I won't include GT in that... we did win 2 of 3 over the Hokies).
BC (4-5) @ CLEM (5-4) - I believe Clemson is markedly better than BC. Like NCST... opportunity for Clemson to move up.
LOU (4-5) @ FSU (5-4) - Probably the "marquee matchup" for the weekend.

Fri-Sun
UVA (3-6) @ PITT (2-7) - UVA has had some key injuries... the record is beginning to show that.
ND (4-5) @ DUKE (6-3) - Is Duke for real? I guess so.
WF (5-4) @ UNC (5-4)
MIA (6-3) @ GT (3-6) - GO JACKETS!! Just WIN!!

Seems like a weekend that could really begin to separate the top from bottom of the league (or not). By weekend's end (and like nearly every weekend until picture is clearer)... I'm hoping no one sweeps (except GT). Allow GT to make up ground on EVERYONE!

Happy Easter... all!

 

[FredJacket]

What a difference a sweep makes!

GA TECH entered weekend tied for 12th in ACC. Exits in 6th place.

Lots of encouraging stuff to build on.

 

[OldJacketFan]

What a difference a sweep makes!

GA TECH entered weekend tied for 12th in ACC. Exits in 6th place.

Lots of encouraging stuff to build on.

Amazing what a little good baseball will do for confidence and standings!

 

[Deleted member 2897]

Amazing what a little good baseball will do for confidence and standings!

Yup ZERO errors!

 

[FredJacket]

Anybody want to be bitter about scheduling?? It is never too early for fan bitterness. Ok.. allow me.

Four weeks into 10 week ACC schedule. As we've discussed before.... each team plays 4 cross-divisional series and does NOT play 3 cross-divisional foes. Here are the Atlantic standings right now. Guess which 3 teams Ga Tech is not scheduled to play? Yep (LOU, ND, BC) ...and guess which 2 teams we play(ed) on the road? Yep (NCST, CLEM)

NCST 9-3
CLEM 8-4
FSU 7-5
WF 5-7
LOU 5-7
ND 4-8
BC 4-8

Those poor bastards at Pitt (tic).. play @BC, @ND, LOU, CLEM.

In good news... things we CAN control. Ga Tech is 5-1 v Coastal competition (all at home so far). But that means we hold all the tiebreaker scenarios possible with Miami and VT... whether they are head to head with each of them or in a 3-way deal.

 

[MWBATL]

In good news... things we CAN control. Ga Tech is 5-1 v Coastal competition (all at home so far). But that means we hold all the tiebreaker scenarios possible with Miami and VT... whether they are head to head with each of them or in a 3-way deal.

I'm probably getting greedy after a 4-0 week, but I will be extremely disappointed with he rets of the season if we need the tie breaker with VPI&SU.

 

[FredJacket]

Week 5...when complete...will put us half way through the ACC schedule. If I'm ranking matchups... I'd do it this way:

1) FSU (7-5) @ GT (6-6) - This is the legit biggest series in the conference this weekend (IMO)... you could make an argument for #2 & #3 below.. but isn't it nice to be in this position?
2) NCST (9-3) @ LOU (5-7) - NCST is the rare successful road team. They are 5-1 on road so far.
3) UNC (8-4) @ MIA (6-6) - UNC has only played one road series (1st weekend). I'm still interested to learn exactly how good (or bad) Miami is.
4) DUKE (9-3) @ WF (5-7) - Duke (like UNC) has played only one series on the road so far. Also...has not played any conference opponent (yet) with a conference record above .500. I buy that Duke is good... I am not ready to anoint them tops in the Coastal...we'll see if they regress to the mean on the road at Wake this weekend.
5) CLEM (8-4) @ ND (4-8) - Ho hum...Atlantic matchup.
6) VT (5-7) @ UVA (4-8) - Two coastal teams trying to drag themselves out of the lower half of the conference standings.
7) PITT (4-8) @ BC (4-8) - Quite possibly a matchup to help determine who finishes last in the conference...this may be the 2 teams that fail to make the ACC tournament.

Ga Tech needs to take care of their own business this weekend. Come out above .500 and set sights on the top of the Coastal.

 

[MWBATL]

We need to go 2-1 on the road vs Pitt because we have a road series with UNC right behind that, and the best one can expect there is likely 1-2. Then we could make hey the rest of the way with home series vs Wake, a road series vs a (very down) UVa and a home series against Duke.

We are 8-7 right now in league play, and to be fair we have played already the 3 best teams in the Atlantic (and unfortunately we miss playing the 3 worst teams there). I could see us going 3-3 in the next two road series, then going 6-3 down the stretch for a 17-13 league finish. If we split the next two with UGa and go 6-1 in our various in state matchups and the series vs Radford the rest of the way, we'll finish 35-21 (17-13). Last year, Regional hosts included Clemson who went 39-18 (19-11) and FSU who went 39-20 (14-14) BUT won the ACC Tournament. We were #38 in RPI before the FSU series (they were #5) and Warren Nolan has us at #25 in their Live RPI ratings after the series. My point is that if we keep playing at this level, we have a shot at hosting a Regional, which would be HUGE for this team and program.

Fingers crossed.

 

[FredJacket]

We need to go 2-1 on the road vs Pitt because we have a road series with UNC right behind that, and the best one can expect there is likely 1-2. Then we could make hey the rest of the way with home series vs Wake, a road series vs a (very down) UVa and a home series against Duke.

We are 8-7 right now in league play, and to be fair we have played already the 3 best teams in the Atlantic (and unfortunately we miss playing the 3 worst teams there). I could see us going 3-3 in the next two road series, then going 6-3 down the stretch for a 17-13 league finish. If we split the next two with UGa and go 6-1 in our various in state matchups and the series vs Radford the rest of the way, we'll finish 35-21 (17-13). Last year, Regional hosts included Clemson who went 39-18 (19-11) and FSU who went 39-20 (14-14) BUT won the ACC Tournament. We were #38 in RPI before the FSU series (they were #5) and Warren Nolan has us at #25 in their Live RPI ratings after the series. My point is that if we keep playing at this level, we have a shot at hosting a Regional, which would be HUGE for this team and program.

Fingers crossed.

I like the way you're thinking.
Last year, 5 ACC teams hosted regionals: Clemson, UNC, WF, Louisville, & FSU.

As you alluded... FSU probably stole one by winning ACC tournament; and frankly... being FSU. (that's AND... not "or")

Anyway... need to win a lot of our remaining games to host a regional & be top 4 in ACC (min) &/or impress at ACC tournament.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

We need to go 2-1 on the road vs Pitt because we have a road series with UNC right behind that, and the best one can expect there is likely 1-2. Then we could make hey the rest of the way with home series vs Wake, a road series vs a (very down) UVa and a home series against Duke.

We are 8-7 right now in league play, and to be fair we have played already the 3 best teams in the Atlantic (and unfortunately we miss playing the 3 worst teams there). I could see us going 3-3 in the next two road series, then going 6-3 down the stretch for a 17-13 league finish. If we split the next two with UGa and go 6-1 in our various in state matchups and the series vs Radford the rest of the way, we'll finish 35-21 (17-13). Last year, Regional hosts included Clemson who went 39-18 (19-11) and FSU who went 39-20 (14-14) BUT won the ACC Tournament. We were #38 in RPI before the FSU series (they were #5) and Warren Nolan has us at #25 in their Live RPI ratings after the series. My point is that if we keep playing at this level, we have a shot at hosting a Regional, which would be HUGE for this team and program.

Fingers crossed.

Just landed. To keep it simple, we're above 500 in the ACC for the first time this year.

We stay above 500 and we are in the NCAAs. Our starting pitching stays healthy and we are dangerous.

When was the last time we were above 500 in the ACC?

 

[THWG]

Just landed. To keep it simple, we're above 500 in the ACC for the first time this year.

We stay above 500 and we are in the NCAAs. Our starting pitching stays healthy and we are dangerous.

When was the last time we were above 500 in the ACC?

You need to go back until the middle of June .