ACC Baseball Release: http://theacc.co/accBB2021
ACC 2021 Baseball Information Guide: http://theacc.co/21accbbGDE
• Notre Dame and Clemson made the most noise over the past weekend as each swept ACC series to head into the final three weeks of the regular season on a wave of momentum.
• The Fighting Irish’s three-game sweep at home versus North Carolina, coupled with Clemson taking three straight from visiting Louisville, put Notre Dame firmly in first place in the ACC’s Atlantic Division. The Irish remained the only ACC team to not drop a league series this season as they swept a conference opponent at home for the first time since 2017. Notre Dame’s run total in Sunday’s 19-5 win over the Tar Heels marked the Irish’s highest ever in an ACC game.
• Fueled by ACC Player of the Week Caden Grice, Clemson became the first team to sweep an ACC series from Louisville since the Cardinals joined the conference for the 2015 season, and the first opponent to sweep the Cardinals in a series of any kind since 2011.
• Grice tied a Clemson school record with three home runs in game one of the Louisville series, hit the go-ahead homer in the Tigers’ 5-4 win on Saturday, and went 4-for-4 as the home team wrapped things up with a 15-5 win in Sunday’s finale.
• In addition to tightening its grip on the Atlantic Division lead and running its current winning streak to six games, Notre Dame became the first team to clinch a spot in the 2021 ACC Baseball Championship. Louisville, despite being swept by Clemson, is also assured of a spot in the 12-team tournament, which is slated for May 25-30 at Charlotte, North Carolina’s Truist Field.
• Notre Dame is now a consensus top 10 team nationally and the highest ranked ACC team in each of this week’s major polls. The Fighting Irish, who were picked to place seventh in the Atlantic Division in the ACC coaches’ preseason poll, are ranked as high as No. 2 nationally by Baseball America.
• Five ACC teams are ranked nationally this week in at least one major poll, with Notre Dame joined by Louisville, Pitt, Florida State and Clemson.
• Eleven midweek non-conference games involving ACC teams are set for Tuesday and Wednesday, including a pair of ACC Network broadcasts on Tuesday (Liberty at Wake Forest, 3 p.m. and Campbell at North Carolina, 6 p.m.). Louisville’s Tuesday 4 p.m. home game versus Vanderbilt will be carried live nationally by ESPNU.
ACC By The Numbers
2 - The ACC boasts the two leading active NCAA D-1 coaches in terms of winning percentage -- Louisville’s Dan McDonnell (.713) and Virginia’s Brian O’Connor (.702).
3 - Three ACC teams rank in the top five nationally for most all-time NCAA tournament appearances: No. 2 Florida State (57), No. 3 Miami (46), and No. 5 Clemson (44).
6 - The Atlantic Coast Conference has placed at least six teams in each of the last 16 NCAA tournaments.
10 - At least two ACC baseball teams have earned national seeds in each of the last 10 NCAA tournaments.
14 - At least one ACC team has reached the College
World Series in Omaha each of the previous 14 years in which it has been held, and multiple ACC teams reached the CWS nine times during that span.
26 - The ACC has placed a total of 26 teams in the past 14 College World Series, an average of just under two per season.
82 - Eighty-two (82) ACC teams have earned NCAA bids in the last 11 tournament years.
96 - The 14 current ACC teams have a combined 96 College World Series appearances.
1,100 (plus) - In Georgia Tech’s Danny Hall (1,302) and NC State’s Elliott Avent (1,135), the ACC claims the NCAA Division I’s No. 4 and No. 7 active coaches in terms of total victories. |
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