ACC Weekend Preview (March 17th-19th)

FROM ACC PRESS RELEASE
The second full weekend of conference play begins for ACC teams on Friday … Notable matchups find unbeaten Louisville at home versus Boston College, while #15 Virginia travels to ACC champion #11 Clemson … #13 North Carolina travels to Georgia Tech in a matchup of Coastal Division teams, while cross-division matchups find Notre Dame at Pitt, #4 Florida State at Virginia Tech, Wake Forest at Duke, and Miami at NC State.

Five of the six national polls had an ACC team ranked No. 1 at the beginning of this week, but they differed on which league team should hold the top spot … Florida State is No. 1 in D1 Baseball’s poll, while Louisville is No. 1 according to Baseball America, USA TODAY Coaches Poll, NCBWA, and Perfect Game … The No. 1 rankings are the first in program history for Louisville.

Louisville’s two-way star Brendan McKay currently sports a higher batting average (.511) than ERA (0.50) … McKay leads the conference in batting and ranks second in the ACC in ERA behind Florida State’s Tyler Holton (0.36) … Louisville, the last remaining unbeaten team in NCAA Division I, leads the league in batting (.342) and ERA (1.76).

While Louisville owns the nation’s longest winning streak at 16 games, Clemson (14-3) overall has also been among Division I’s hottest teams as of late. The Tigers have won eight straight, including a two-game midweek sweep of Yale and last weekend’s ACC opening series versus Notre Dame.

As Georgia Tech and North Carolina prepare to meet in Atlanta, the teams are coming off midweek games in which they combined to allow just three total hits in victories … Georgia Tech surrendered just two hits to No. 20 Oklahoma in a 2-0 win, while No. 13 UNC gave up just one hit in a 9-2 win over Maryland … The Yellow Jackets took two of three last season in Chapel Hill and have won six of the last seven series versus UNC … The Jackets rank third in the ACC in both batting average (.323) and home runs (27), while the Tar Heels rank second in the conference in earned run average (2.12) and third in hits allowed per nine innings (7.24).

Duke and Wake Forest will meet for the 300th time when they play the first game of this weekend’s ACC series at Durham Bulls Athletic Park … The Demon Deacons hold a 156-141-2 lead in the series, which was first played in 1896 … Wake Forest won the regular-season series, 2-1, last season before handing Duke a 4-3 setback in the ACC Championship.

Ben Breazeale slugged three home runs as Wake Forest defeated High Point, 18-8, in Tuesday evening’s road game … The Demon Deacons have now had two hitters record three-homer games in the same season for the first time in program history. Gavin Sheets did so earlier this year … Breazeale finished the game 5-for-6 with seven RBIs, singling twice in addition to his three homers. It was his first-career multi-homer game, and he also set career-highs in hits and RBIs.

SCHEDULE

Boston College at #1 Louisville *

Friday, 6 p.m. (ACC Network Extra)

Saturday, 1 p.m. (ACC Network Extra)

Sunday, 1 p.m. (ACC Network Extra)

#4 Florida State at Virginia Tech *

Friday, 1 p.m.

Saturday, 1 p.m.

Sunday, 1 p.m. (ACC Network Extra)

Miami at NC State *

Friday, 6:30 p.m. (ACC Network Extra)

Saturday, 6:30 p.m. (ACC Network Extra)