May 17, 2009

Harvey Pitches No. 4 Carolina Past Boston College, 8-1
Right-hander Matt Harvey allowed just one run over a career-best 8 2/3 innings to lead No. 4 North Carolina to a series-clinching 8-1 win over Boston College Saturday in the regular season finale at Shea Field. Five players posted multi-hit games as the Tar Heels (41-14, 19-10 ACC) scored in six of their nine trips to the plate.

Saturday's win, coupled with Georgia Tech's loss at Duke, gives Carolina the Atlantic Coast Conference's Coastal Division title for the third time in the last four seasons. The Tar Heels will be the No. 2 seed in next week's conference tourney in Durham.

A Connecticut native, Harvey (6-2) turned in his finest performance of the season in his return to New England, carrying a shutout into the ninth inning. He struck out eight and scattered seven hits and four walks.

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Duke Clinches Series Over No. 7 Georgia Tech With 5-3 Win
Jake Lemmerman hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the seventh inning to lead Duke to a 5-3, series-clinching win over No. 7 Georgia Tech Saturday afternoon at Jack Coombs Field.

Lemmerman’s two-out, two-run bomb staked reliever Dennis O'Grady to a two-run lead that he and junior Michael Ness preserved by getting the final six outs. Ness entered the game with two outs and two men on base in the top of the ninth to face Yellow Jacket three-hitter Luke Murton, who had tied the game with a two-run homer in the seventh inning. Facing Ness, Murton hit a deep fly ball to the right field gap that Blue Devil freshman center fielder Will Piwnica-Worms ran down and caught on the warning track for the final out just before he crashed into the wall.

O’Grady (2-2), Ness and starter Eric Pfisterer combined to hold the Yellow Jackets (34-15-1, 17-10-1 ACC) to three runs on seven hits in the win. Pfisterer tossed the first 5.1 innings of the game and surrendered just one run and two hits, while O’Grady took over for the next 3.1 innings. O’Grady gave up Murton’s two-out homer in the seventh, but did not surrender another run to preserve the 5-3 win after Lemmerman’s homer. Ness, meanwhile, used just one pitch to lock up his third save of the year.

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Gosselin Triple Ignites UVa Rally, 6-4 Cavalier Win
Phil Gosselin (So., West Chester, Pa.) hit a bases-clearing triple in the seventh inning to lift the No. 10 Virginia baseball team to a 6-4 victory over Virginia Tech Saturday at English Field. Virginia Tech won the series after taking the Thursday and Friday games.

Danny Hultzen (Fr., Bethesda, Md.) earned the win out of the bullpen and also had two hits and an RBI at the plate. Tyler Cannon (Jr., Pigeon Forge, Tenn.) added three hits and finished the weekend 10-for-13.

UVa’s pitchers struck out 15 Hokies. Hultzen (7-1) and Kevin Arico (So., Flemington, N.J.) combined to throw four perfect innings to finish the game. Hultzen, in his first career relief outing, pitched three perfect innings and struck out four, as he set the Virginia freshman strikeouts record with 80 (Jacob Thompson held the record of 77). Arico pitched the ninth and notched his eighth save.

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#14 Tigers Edge Wolfpack 5-4 Saturday to Sweep Series
Behind four runs in the first inning and effective relief pitching, #14 Clemson edged N.C. State 5-4 in front of 1,149 fans at Doak Field on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers, who swept the series 3-0, improved to 39-17 overall and 19-11 in the ACC. N.C. State ended its season with a 25-31 overall record and 10-20 ACC mark.

The Tigers earned their second ACC sweep of 2009. In all, Clemson won seven of its 10 conference series, as the Tigers had a 1-2 record in each of their three losing series. Clemson's 19 league wins tied for the most by an ACC team in 2009 as well.

The Tigers finished the regular season by winning each of their last five games, seven of their last eight games, 11 of their last 13 games, and 14 of their last 17 games. Clemson finished in third place in the overall ACC standings and will carry a #3 seed into the ACC Tournament.

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No. 21 Miami Sweeps Wake Forest to Close Out Regular Season
The 21st-ranked University of Miami baseball team closed out its 2009 regular season with a series sweep of Wake Forest, picking up a 4-2 win in the series finale Saturday night at Wake Forest Baseball Park.

After winning 23-5 in the series opener on Thursday, Miami (35-18, 18-12 ACC) finished off the weekend with a doubleheader sweep over Wake Forest (22-30, 6-24 ACC) winning 19-6 in the first game on Saturday before edging out the Demon Deacons in the finale. The Hurricanes closed out the weekend scoring 46 runs in the series - the most by a UM team in a three-game series since the 2003 Hurricanes scored 70 against Pace, May 2-4, 2003.

Chris Herrmann, who hit two homers in the first game on Saturday, went 4-for-4 with a walk and a RBI in game two. Yasmani Grandal went 3-for-5 with a runs scored while Ryan Jackson finished 2-for-4 with a walk, a RBI and two runs scored.

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Florida State Wraps-Up Regular Season With 10-2 Victory Over Grambling State
Florida State (40-14) closed out the regular season with a 10-2 victory over Grambling State (14-35) Saturday afternoon on Mike Martin Field inside Dick Howser Stadium.

The Seminoles erased a two-run deficit scoring 10 unanswered runs in sixth, seventh and eighth innings to push their home winning streak to 15 straight games. Saturday's victory also gave Florida State win number 40 on the year as the Garnet and Gold have now registered 40-plus wins in a season for the 32nd year in a row.

Mike McGee (5-2) worked six strong innings to pick up the win as he struck out a career-high 12 batters. The sophomore right hander registered at least one strikeout in all six innings while he struck out the side in the second. He allowed two runs on five hits as he walked just two. Both runs came off a home run as McGee gave up a pair of solo shots in the third and sixth innings.