Baseball ACCtion: Saturday, April 19 - ACC OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE

April 19, 2008

Warren, No. 4 Tar Heels Blank Boston College, 6-0

CARY, N.C. - Junior right-hander Adam Warren tossed seven innings of three-hit ball, and fourth-ranked North Carolina broke open a scoreless game with four runs in the sixth to claim a 6-0 win over Boston College Saturday at Cary's USA Baseball National Training Complex. The Tar Heels (33-7, 15-4 ACC) extended their current winning streak to a season-best eight games with their sixth shutout of the season.

Saturday's win also gives Carolina a 33-7 record at the 40-game mark to equal the 1990 squad for the best start in school history. BC drops to 19-20 and 5-15 in the ACC with the loss.

Warren improved to 6-0 on the season and 19-0 as a Tar Heel with the win. The New Bern product did issue a career-high five walks over the first three innings and hit two batters, but allowed just three singles and picked up big outs when needed. In a key spot in the third, he got Mickey Wiswall with one of his six strikeouts to leave the bases loaded and preserve the scoreless tie.

Relievers Colin Bates and Tyler Trice each worked a scoreless inning to close the shutout, and left fielder Kyle Shelton and shortstop Garrett Gore each had two hits and two RBI to pace Carolina at the plate.

Terps Overcome Eight-Run Deficit in Seventh to Sting No. 21 Yellow Jackets, 14-13

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - For the second straight game, the University of Maryland baseball team conjured up some late-inning magic to defeat No. 21 Georgia Tech. Maryland trailed Georgia Tech 13-5 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning Saturday evening at Shipley Field, but the Terps fought back with nine runs in the last three innings to beat the Yellow Jackets, 14-13, on a two-run, Joe Palumbo single.

The Terps (24-17, 7-13) scored four times in the bottom of the eighth to make it a two-run game heading into the ninth, but faced a daunting task once there with Yellow Jackets closer Chris Hicks taking the mound.

After retiring the first batter of the inning, Hicks hit Gerry Spessard (Hagerstown, Md./Smithsburg) and allowed a single to Bill Rice (Washington Township, N.J./Washington Township) to bring the winning run to the plate.

Last night's hero, sophomore AJ Casario (Pine Hill, N.J./Overbrook), continued his hot hitting with an RBI single to right field, scoring pinch runner Mike Rozak (Darnestown, Md./St. John's) and putting the tying run in scoring position.

Manno Strikes Out 12 Through Six Scoreless Innings In 10-1 Win Over Clemson

DURHAM, N.C. - In his first career weekend start, Christopher Manno struck out a career-high 12 batters through six shutout innings and received two home runs from Nate Freiman and four RBI from Matt Williams to back a 10-1 Duke win over Clemson Saturday afternoon at Jack Coombs Field.

Manno (4-0) was untouchable in his first two innings, as it took the Tigers (19-20, 7-13 ACC) eight batters before they were able to put a ball in play against the left-hander. They were only able to manage four hits off the 6-1, 160 pound sophomore, who fired 112 pitches en route to his third straight scoreless start. Manno struck out six straight from the first through third inning and fanned at least one batter in each of his five-plus innings, including three in the second and fourth innings. Manno has not allowed a run to score in his last 12.2 innings of work and raised his strikeout average to an ACC-leading 14.22 per nine innings.

Manno exited with a 3-0 lead in the fifth before Duke (27-13, 6-13 ACC) busted the game open with a five-run sixth inning that featured a three-run double from Williams and a two-run home run from Freiman, which was his second of the game. Williams finished 1-for-4 with four RBI and a pair of runs, while Freiman reached base in all five of his plate appearances with three hits, a walk and a hit by pitch. Freiman drove in three RBI with his two home runs and is now batting .514 over his last eight games with four home runs, 17 RBI and seven multi-hit outings.

Hokies score come-from-behind win over NC State, 4-3

Box ScoreVT 4, NC State 3 BLACKSBURG, Va. - Virginia Tech battled back from a 3-0 deficit in the fifth inning and defeated North Carolina State 4-3 in ACC baseball action Saturday evening at English Field.

The Hokies trailed 3-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning, but took the lead when right fielder Klint Reed (Jr., Chesterfield, Va.) walked to lead off the inning. He came around to score on second baseman Austin Wates' (Fr., Richmond, Va.) second home run of the season, a drive to straightaway center field off of Wolfpack reliever Drew Taylor.

This came after the Hokies cut the lead to 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning. With one out, designated hitter Matt Blow (r-Fr., Richmond, Va.) was hit by a pitch and advanced to second on a passed ball. Shortstop Tony Balisteri (Fr., Lexington, Va.) reached on a strikeout and passed ball before first baseman Sean O'Brien (r-Sr., Chappaqua, N.Y.) singled in Blow. Then Balisteri, who went to third on O'Brien's single up the middle, scored on a sacrifice fly by center fielder Sean Ryan (Jr., Ashburn, Va.).

Wake Forest Pounds Virginia, 14-3

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - Wake Forest got two homeruns from Tyler Smith, a three-run inside-the-park homerun from Allan Dykstra and eight strong innings from starter Charlie Mellies in a 14-3 victory over No. 16 Virginia Saturday night at Davenport Field.

The game was tied at two apiece heading into the top of the fourth inning.

Weldon Woodall and Dustin Hood led-off the inning with back-to-back walks. Smith followed with a shot to the left side of the infield that was corralled by Virginia shortstop Greg Miclat but his throw to second for the force out was off-target and rolled into right field, allowing Woodall to score.

Wake took a 4-2 lead moments later when Hood scored on a passed ball with Evan Ocheltree at the plate.

Trailing 5-2 in the top of the fourth after Smith scored on a Virginia error, the Cavaliers pulled starter Jacob Thompson and sent Matt Packer to face Dykstra.

FSU Comes From Behind To Defeat Miami 9-5

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