ACC Baseball: GT bats keying hot start, upcoming opponent with ace lefty

The ACC’s unbeaten were, well, beaten, and a couple of the conference aces had their roughest outings in round two of conference play.

No. 1 UNC (18-1, 5-1 ACC) lost the opener hosting Miami (15-7, 2-4), with lefty Kent Emanuel taking his first “L” (3 ER on 8 hits in 6.1 IP). They did, however, take the series – freshman right fielder Skye Bolt’s 3-run homer breaking a 1-1 tie in the eigthth of the rubber match Sunday.

No. 12 Florida State (18-1, 5-1) followed a similar path on the road at Maryland (12-7, 2-4). Terps left-hander Jimmy Reed threw eight innings of 5-hit ball, allowing two earned runs for the win.

No. 9 Georgia Tech (17-2, 5-1) and its high-powered lineup steamrolled Boston College, scoring 32 runs in the sweep, despite ace Buck Farmer giving up five earned runs on eight hits in the opener. Catcher Zane Evans was 7-for-15 at the plate with 9 RBIs.

Getting back on track from last week, No. 16 N.C. State (16-5, 3-3) and Virginia Tech (16-5, 4-2) both grabbed road series win in the Tar Heel State, downing Wake Forest and Duke respectively.

Back in Baseball America’s Top 25, the No. 24 Hokies are on their best start since joining the ACC, and Wolfpack lefty Carlos Rodon struck out eight Deacs in six innings and improved to 2-2.

Duke (10-10, 2-4), led by sophomore left-hander Trent Swart (2-0), heads to TigerTown this weekend. He threw seven scoreless frames in a no-decision against Virginia Tech.

Top-5 ACC Batting Leaders Individual

1. Georgia Tech RF Daniel Palka – .449 BA/4 HR/28 RBI

2. Georgia Tech C Zane Evans – .395 BA/8 HR/30 RBI

3. Georgia Tech OF Brandon Thomas – .479 BA/15 RBI/29 R

4. UNC 3B Colin Moran – .375 BA/4 HR/25 RBI

5. N.C. State SS Trea Turner – .464 BA/18 RBI/5 HR/26 R/8 SB

Top-5 ACC Starting Pitching Leaders Individual

1. GT RHP Buck Farmer – 4-0/.207 opp. BA/6 ER/44 K/7 BB

2. UNC LHP Kent Emanuel – 3-1/.220 opp. BA/1.41 ERA/28 K/2 CG SO

3. FSU RHP Scott Sitz – 4-0/.239 opp. BA/2 ER/27 K

4. UVa RHP Nick Howard – 3-1/1.27 ERA/25 K/2 BB

5. Duke LHP Trent Swart – 2-0/1.45 ERA/31 K/8 BB

Top-5 ACC Team Batting Leaders

1. Georgia Tech .355 BA/44 2B/175 RBI/98 BB/20 HR

2. Virginia – .311 BA/12 HR/153 RBI/105 BB/19 3B

3. UNC – .310 BA/17 HR/149 RBI

4. Virginia Tech .301 BA/17 HR/130 RBI

5. N.C. State – .293 BA/136 RBI/18 HR

(Clemson – .260 BA/83 RBI/.328 OBpct)

Top-5 ACC Team Pitching Leaders

1. Florida State – 1.85 ERA/.206 opp. BA/157 K/61 BB/35 ER/7 saves

2. UNC – 1.92 ERA/.194 opp. BA/36 ER/2 CG

3. Virginia – 2.35 ERA/164 K/43 BB/45 ER

4. Clemson – 2.91 ERA/53 ER/5 saves

5. N.C. State – 3.29 ERA/193 K/6 saves