Baseball ACCtion: Friday, March 6 - ACC OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE

March 7, 2009

#19 Tigers Edge #2 North Carolina 5-4 in 10 Innings Friday

Matt Sanders' sacrifice fly in the 10th inning and stellar relief pitching by Casey Harman and Tomas Cruz led #19 Clemson to a 5-4 victory in 10 innings over #2 North Carolina in front of 2,211 fans at Boshamer Stadium on Friday. The Tigers, who took a 1-0 series lead, improved to 6-2 overall and 1-0 in ACC play. The Tar Heels dropped to 8-2 overall and 0-1 in the ACC.

In Clemson's first game at North Carolina since 2004, the Tigers took a 4-0 lead in the second inning only to see the Tar Heels score three runs in the bottom of the second. After the Tar Heels tied the score in the seventh inning, the game went into extra innings, where Clemson used two walks and a single to set up Sanders' go-ahead sacrifice fly in the 10th inning. It was also Clemson's first road game and third extra-inning game of the season.

Ten-run eighth fuels 19-4 win for Tech

The Virginia Tech baseball team exploded for 19 runs on 19 hits to defeat Duke 19-4 in the ACC opener for both squads on Friday afternoon at Jack Coombs Field.

The Hokies improved to 9-1 (1-0 ACC) with the win, and won their ACC opener for the second time in five tries since joining the league. Duke dropped to 6-3 (0-1 ACC).

A 10-run eighth inning fueled the blowout, and the 19 total runs marked the most runs ever scored by the Hokies in an ACC contest. It was also the largest margin of victory for Tech in an ACC game.

McGuire Pitches No. 9 Georgia Tech Past Maryland, 5-1, in ACC Opener

Deck McGuire held the Terrapins scoreless through 6.2 innings, and Jay Dantzler powered the offense with a two-run home run to help No. 9 Georgia Tech (7-1, 1-0 ACC) to a 5-1 victory over Maryland (4-5, 0-1 ACC) Friday afternoon at Russ Chandler Stadium.

The win was the Yellow Jackets' 21st in Atlantic Coast Conference openers and marked the 12th time under 16th-year head coach Danny Hall that Georgia Tech took home a victory in its first conference game of the season.

Dantzler, Derek Dietrich and Matt Skole all had two hits in the game, but Dantzler's two-run homer with one out in the fourth gave the Yellow Jackets a 3-0 lead against the Terps.

FSU Back In the Win Column With 4-1 Victory Over Boston College

Sixth-ranked Florida State (7-3, 1-0 ACC) kept one streak alive while putting another one to rest on Friday night as the Seminoles opened conference play with a 4-1 victory over Boston College (8-3, 0-1 ACC). The win snapped a current three-game losing streak yet kept the Seminoles' unbeaten streak alive against the Eagles running their all-time series record to 10-0.

In making his first Friday night appearance in just his third career start, freshman Sean Gilmartin did not disappoint firing a career-high eight innings in moving to 3-0 on the year. The Moorpark, Calif., native kept the Eagles off balanced all evening long allowing just one run on three hits.

After giving up a base hit to Robbie Anston on the very first pitch of the game, Gilmartin allowed just two more the rest of the way including a solo home run in the top of the second to Barry Butera. Following the home run, the freshman southpaw retired 13 straight batters before issuing back-to-back walks in the sixth. But the walks would go unharmed as Gilmartin got Mickey Wiswall to groundout back to the mound to end the inning.

Virginia Baseball Wallops Wake Forest, 18-2

Led by a 5-for-5 effort from Tyler Cannon (Jr., Pigeon Forge, Tenn.), the Virginia baseball team rolled to an 18-2 triumph Friday night at Wake Forest Baseball Park. UVa piled up a season-best 18 runs and had 20 hits for the second straight game. The Cavaliers scored the program’s most runs in an ACC road game since a 29-run outburst at Maryland on April 28, 1990.

Cannon set a career high with his five-hit effort. He became the first Virginia player to rack up five hits in a game since David Adams had a quintet March 10, 2007, at Wake Forest. Cannon also had a career-high five runs scored and added four RBI. He doubled three times and homered once as he fell a triple shy of the cycle.

Phil Gosselin (So., West Chester, Pa.) went 2-for-4 with a career-best four runs and four RBI. Steven Proscia (Fr., Suffern, N.Y.) added three hits and three RBI as every Cavalier starter had at least one hit.

Hagerty's Walk-Off Blast Wins it for No. 8 Miami, 7-6

Down one with a runner on and two outs in the bottom of the 12th inning, junior Jason Hagerty blasted a 1-0 pitch deep over the fence in left-center to give No. 8 Miami a series-opening 7-6 win over NC State Friday night in front of 2,503 fans at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field.

After NC State took a 6-5 lead in the top half of the 12th inning, Wolfpack reliever Kyle Rutter quickly retired UM's first two batters to the put Miami on the ropes. Junior Ryan Jackson then came up, worked the count full before drawing a walk, setting up Hagerty's game-winner two pitches later.

Kyle Bellamy (1-0) earned the win, allowing no earned runs on three hits while striking out six in three innings of work. He tied his career-high for both innings pitched and strikeouts, picking up his first victory of the 2009 season.