ACC Baseball Release:
http://theacc.co/accBB2021
ACC 2021 Baseball Information Guide:
http://theacc.co/21accbbGDE
June 9, 2021
The Super Three
Three ACC teams have advanced to the final 16 of the 2021 NCAA Baseball Championship and will continue play in the Super Regionals this weekend. No. 10 national seed Notre Dame and NC State swept through their respective NCAA Regionals with three consecutive wins. Virginia battled back from a Friday loss with four straight wins in Columbia, South Carolina, to punch the ACC’s third Super Regional ticket.
The Waits Are Over
Notre Dame, which travels to No. 7 Mississippi State, is making its first Super Regional appearance since 2002. NC State travels to No. 1 Arkansas for its fifth all-time Super Regional and first since 2013. Virginia, which will remain in Columbia to battle Dallas Baptist on neutral turf, will play in the Supers for the seventh time, but for the first time since the program’s national championship year in 2015.
Starting and Finishing
Virginia’s Devin Ortiz started on the mound for Virginia in Tuesday’s 4-3 win over Old Dominon, then returned to his customary DH spot and delivered the game-deciding home run in the bottom of the 10th inning. Ortiz got the start for Virginia despite only pitching two innings this season after having shoulder injuries. Ortiz pitched four scoreless innings and allowed just one hit. His walkoff home run to win the game was the first in Virginia baseball’s NCAA postseason history and the first for the Cavaliers in any game in more than eight years.
The Strongest Link
Notre Dame head coach Link Jarrett has guided the Irish to their best season since joining the ACC, with the current Super Regional run coming on the heels of the first conference division title in program history. Notre Dame led the ACC with 10 conference series wins, including three sweeps, and finished the year with 25 victories in league play. That tied for the most conference wins in a single season by a Notre Dame team. The Irish have not lost back-to-back games in 2021.
Pack Power Surge
NC State entered the NCAA tournament as the top-hitting team in the ACC, and the Wolfpack lived up to its billing while capturing the Ruston Regional. NC State hit .382 and scored 30 runs while winning three straight games. The Wolfpack’s scoring output in Sunday’s decisive 14-7 win over Louisiana Tech marked the most runs ever scored in an NCAA Regional final in program history and the third most in any NCAA Tournament game. Devonte Brown keyed NC State in Sunday’s win with five RBI, including his second grand slam home run of the season. Brown, named Regional MVP, also had a pair of home runs in the Wolfpack’s 8-1 win over Alabama in the first round of the regional.
ACC By The Numbers
1 – Duke’s ACC Baseball Championship title was the program’s first since the conference began deciding its champion via a tournament format in 1973.
2 –Two ACC catchers are among the three finalists for the Buster Posey Award – Florida State’s Matheu Nelson ad Louisville’s Henry Davis.
3 – Three ACC teams rank among the top five nationally for most all-time tournament appearances: No. 2 Florida State (58), No. 3 Miami (47), and No. 5 Clemson (44).
5 – NC State has advanced to the Super Regional round of the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time and the first since 2013.
5 – The Golden Spikes Award list of 2021 semifinalists includes five from the ACC in Boston College outfielder Sal Frelick, Florida State catcher Matheu Nelson, Louisville catcher Henry Davis, Notre Dame first baseman Niko Kavadas and Virginia pitcher Andrew Abbott.
5 – Five ACC pitchers have struck out more than 100 batters this season -- Virginia’s Andrew Abbott (144), North Carolina’s Austin Love (129), Florida State’s Parker Messick (126), Wake Forest’ Ryan Cusick (108) and Boston College’s Emmett Sheehan (106).
6 – The ACC has placed at least six teams in the NCAA Tournament field each of the last 17 seasons.
8 – The ACC’s eight teams in the 2021 NCAA Baseball Championship field were the second most of any conference. This marks the fifth time since 2010 that the ACC has placed at least eight teams in NCAA tournament.
14 – At least one ACC team has reached the College World Series in Omaha each of the previous 14 years the event has been held, and multiple ACC teams have reached the CWS nine times during that span.
17 – ACC teams have combined to win at least 17 games in each of the previous 13 NCAA Baseball Championships, including a record 31 games in 2006. The conference has won 15 games so far this postseason with Notre Dame, NC State and Virginia continuing play in the Super Regionals this weekend.
21 - Program-record number of home runs this season by Notre Dame first baseman Niko Kavadas. The Granger, Indiana, native hit two home runs in each of the first two games of last weekend’s NCAA South Bend Regional and finished the three-game stretch with five home runs, 13 RBI and nine runs scored. He was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Regional.
24 - Combined strikeouts by Virginia pitchers Brandon Neeck and Griff McGarry in last Sunday’s regional win over Old Dominion – the most in a nine-inning game in the NCAA this season and the most in nine-inning game NCAA Division I baseball since Auburn struck out 25 against Arkansas on May 19, 1994. The nine-inning NCAA record is 26 strikeouts by Miami (Ohio) in 1971.
26 – The ACC has placed a total of 26 teams in the previous 14 College World Series, an average of just under two per season.
26 –Notre Dame’s 26 runs scored in last Saturday’s regional win over UConn set a program record for the most in an NCAA Tournament game. The previous record was 25 runs against South Alabama in 2002
43 – Florida State’s 43rd consecutive selection to the NCAA Baseball Championship field continued the longest active streak in the nation.
90 – Number of bids earned by ACC teams over the past 12 NCAA Tournaments.
96 – Combined number of College World Series appearances by the ACC’s 14 baseball programs.
137 – Including last weekend’s NCAA Regional competition the ACC has won 137 games versus non-conference opposition in 2021.
.850 – NC State owns the best road win percentage in the NCAA (.850) with a 17-3 record.
1,003 – Current ACC teams own a total of 1,003 wins in NCAA Tournament play while posting a winning percentage of .574.
1,146 – Career wins by NC State’s Elliott Avent, who enters the NCAA Super Regionals ranked seventh among active coaches in total victories.
58,516 – Total attendance for this year’s ACC Baseball Championship at Truist Field, in Charlotte, N.C., which ranks as the fifth highest in the 47-year history of the event. Two games – NC State versus North Carolina on May 28 and Duke versus NC State in the title game on May 30 – attracted more than 7,100 fans.