Baseball ACCtion: Sunday, April 13 :: Miami, North Carolina and Virginia complete series sweeps on Sunday.

April 13, 2008

No. 24 Virginia Wins 11-4 at Maryland, Sweeps Series

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The Virginia baseball team finished off a three-game sweep of Maryland with an 11-4 victory Sunday on a chilly afternoon at Shipley Field in College Park. Andrew Carraway (Jr., Marietta, Ga.) pitched a career-high seven innings, while the Cavaliers' offense racked up 14 hits, including three home runs, to cruise to the win.

Carraway (3-2) allowed a run, six hits and no walks while striking out nine. Maryland starter Kevin Biringer (3-2) took the loss and went 4.2 innings, giving up eight earned runs and 10 hits while striking out six.

Tyler Cannon (So., Pigeon Forge, Tenn.) hit his first homer of the season as part of a 3-for-4 day. He had a strong series, going 8-for-14 with five runs scored. Dan Grovatt (Fr., Tabernacle, N.J.) homered and went 2-for-5 with three RBI, while Jeremy Farrell (Jr., Westlake, Ohio), Franco Valdes (So., Miami, Fla.) and John Barr (Fr., Ivyland, Pa.) each had two hits. David Adams (Jr., Margate, Fla.) also homered and drove in two for Virginia (29-9, 11-7 ACC).

Wake Forest Walks Off on Wild Pitch for 3-2 Defeat of Virginia Tech

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Steven Brooks took a risk, and it paid off beautifully. The speedy freshman scored the game-winning run on a wild pitch that barely got away from the Virginia Tech catcher to send Wake Forest to a 3-2 walk-off defeat of the Hokies Sunday afternoon at Hooks Stadium.

With runners at the corners and one out in the bottom of the ninth, Virginia Tech reliever Jesse Hahn threw a 1-1 pitch in the dirt. The ball squirted away to the right of catcher Anthony Sosnoskie, not getting more than 10 feet from him. However, Brooks reacted instantly at third and took off for home. He slid in head first and touched the plate just inches ahead of a diving Sosnoskie.

Brooks had entered the game as a pinch runner for Allan Dykstra, who led off the ninth with a double to left. Dustin Hood moved Brooks up on a groundout to short and the Hokies elected to intentionally walk Andy Goff to set up the double play. Hahn went 1-1 on Ryan Semeniuk before uncorking the fateful wild pitch.

Ben Hunter pitched seven strong innings but received a no-decision when Virginia Tech tied the game on a two-run home run in the top of the seventh. The senior righthander was stifling over the first six innings, scattering five hits and allowing just one Hokie to reach third base. Tech finally got to Hunter in the seventh when Sean O'Brien hit a two-out, two-run home run to tie the game.

No. 4 Tar Heels Outlast Tigers To Sweep Series

CLEMSON, S.C. - No. 4 North Carolina broke open a one-run game with five straight two-out singles in the eighth inning to claim an 8-4 win over Clemson Sunday and its first-ever series sweep at the Tigers' Doug Kingsmore Stadium. Second baseman Kyle Seager belted the go-ahead home run in the fifth - his third in the last two days - and drove in a game-high three runs for the Tar Heels (29-7, 13-4 ACC).

Paced by three-hit efforts by Seager, first baseman Dustin Ackley and third baseman Chad Flack, who also drove in two runs, the Tar Heels pounded out 18 hits en route to the first series sweep by an opponent at Clemson since Florida State took three from the Tigers in 2002. All nine starters hit safely with six Tar Heels registering multi-hit games.

Seager was 3-for-5 with a two-run home run in the fifth and an RBI single to close the scoring in the Tar Heels' three-run eighth. The ACC's RBI leader with 48, Seager also doubled in the third to move into a tie for ninth on Carolina's single-season list with 20.

After posting five shutout innings in the game two win, Carolina's bullpen held the Tigers (18-17, 6-12 ACC) to just one run on four hits over the final eight innings Sunday.

No. 1 Miami Completes Sweep of No. 10 Georgia Tech, 9-3

ATLANTA, Ga. - Junior left fielder Adan Severino hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the fifth inning while junior first baseman Yonder Alonso finished 3-for-4 with a home run of his own as No. 1 Miami completed the Atlantic Coast Conference series sweep of No. 10 Georgia Tech, 9-3, Sunday afternoon at Russ Chandler Stadium. Miami improved to 30-3 and 15-1 in the ACC and swept the Yellow Jackets (26-10, 9-9 ACC) for the first time since the 2003 season.

Sophomore right-hander David Gutierrez (2-0) won his second game in his fourth career start. He allowed three runs, two earned, on five hits and struck out four. Kyle Bellamy tossed two scoreless innings while Carlos Gutierrez pitched a scoreless ninth inning. Blake Tekotte, Jemile Weeks, Mark Sobolewski, Dave DiNatale, Severino and Ben Vazquez each had two hits. Weeks, Severino and Alonso each added a pair of RBI for the Hurricanes who finished with 16 hits.

Six different Yellow Jackets had one hit. Georgia Tech starter Zach Von Tersch (4-2) lost just for the second time this season as he lasted 4 2/3 innings, allowed five earned runs on 10 hits and walked four.

Severino blasted a two-run home run in the top of the fifth that put the Hurricanes ahead, 5-3. Alonso hit a solo home run over the right field wall with one out in the top of the sixth extending the Hurricane lead to 6-3.

NC State's Killer P's Down Duke 12-7

RALEIGH, N.C. - Dallas Poulk, Ryan Pond and Matt Payne, the Killer P's who bat 1-2-3 for NC State, combined for nine hits and 10 RBIs on Sunday, and relievers Joey Cutler and Jimmy Gillheeney combined for 4 2/3 innings of shutout relief as the Wolfpack defeated Duke 12-7 at Doak Field at Dail Park.

With the victory, NC State took the three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series from the Blue Devils, two games to one, and improved to 23-11 overall and 10-7 in the ACC. Duke dropped to 23-12 overall and 5-12 in the conference.

For two innings, the Wolfpack appeared on the verge of running Duke right out of the ballpark. A solo homer by Poulk leading off the game and a two-run shot by Payne two batters later staked Wolfpack starter Eryk McConnell to a 3-0 lead. Duke got two of those runs back in the top of the second on an error, a walk, an RBI single by Ryan McCoury and a run-scoring groundout by Jake Lemmerman.

The inning could have been even bigger for the Blue Devils, but the Wolfpack caught the biggest break of the game when Michael Ghizzoni appeared to execute a perfect hit-and-run single through the vacated hole on the left side of the infield. With runners on first and third at the time, the tying run should have scored easily. Except that the ball hit Lemmerman on the foot. Ghizzoni got credit for a base hit, but Lemmerman was out for the second out of the inning, and the ball was dead, meaning the potential tying run had to stay at third base. McConnell stranded the runner at third when he picked Ghizzoni off first base on a stolen-base attempt for the final out of the inning.