Durham, NC – The 2016 ACC Baseball Tournament marks the second year of a four-year run at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The event will run from May 24 to May 29. Below is the planned schedule of games to be played.
Tuesday, May 24
#7 Duke vs. #10 Wake Forest, 11 a.m. (RSN)
#8 Boston College vs. #9 Georgia Tech, 3 p.m. (RSN)
Wednesday, May 25
#4 Florida State vs. #5 NC State, 11 a.m. (RSN)
#1 Miami vs. #8 Boston College/#9 Georgia Tech, 3 p.m. (RSN)
#2 Louisville vs. #7 Duke/#10 Wake Forest, 7 p.m. (RSN)
Thursday, May 26
#3 Virginia vs. #6 Clemson, 11 a.m. (RSN)
#4 Florida State vs. #8 Boston College/#9 Georgia Tech, 3 p.m. (RSN)
#1 Miami vs. #5 NC State, 7 p.m. (RSN)
Friday, May 27
#2 Louisville vs. #6 Clemson, 11 a.m. (RSN)
#3 Virginia vs. #7 Duke/#10 Wake Forest, 3 p.m. (RSN)
#5 NC State vs. #8 Boston College/#9 Georgia Tech, 7 p.m. (RSN)
Saturday, May 28
#6 Clemson vs. #7 Duke/#10 Wake Forest, 11 a.m. (RSN)
#1 Miami vs. #4 Florida State, 3 p.m. (RSN)
#2 Louisville vs. #3 Virginia, 7 p.m. (RSN)
Sunday, May 29
ACC Championship, Noon (ESPN2)
League Notes
The 2016 ACC Baseball Championship marks the second year of a four-year run at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, which has hosted the event four times since 2009. The city of Durham has hosted the ACC Baseball Championship on nine previous occasions, including seven at DBAP. Florida State enters this year’s event as the ACC’s defending champion, having defeated NC State in last year’s title game.
Durham Bulls Athletic Park has been the site of two ACC Baseball Championship attendance milestones. The 2013 Saturday night crowd of 11,392 that saw North Carolina edge NC State 2-1 in 18 innings stands as the record attendance for a college baseball game in the state of North Carolina. Last year’s ACC Championship Game crowd of 9,759 for Florida State’s 6-2 win over NC State marked the largest title game crowd in the event’s 42-year history.
Coastal Division champion Miami and Atlantic Division champion Louisville enter the 2016 ACC Baseball Championship as the top two seeded teams for the second consecutive year. Miami holds the No. 1 overall seed after posting the highest winning percentage in conference play at .750 (21-7). The Hurricanes finished the regular season at 43-10 overall. Louisville, which earned the top seed last season in its first year as a league member last year, finished 22-8 (.733) in ACC play this year. The Cardinals own the ACC’s top overall record at 46-10 (.811).
Defending NCAA champion Virginia (36-18, 19-11) is seeded third in this year’s ACC Championship, while Florida State (34-19, 16-10) will defend its ACC title as the No. 4 seed.
In addition to going after an ACC title during this week’s ACC Championship, league teams will be trying to improve their positioning for spots in the NCAA tournament field, which will be announced on Memorial Day. Led by No. 1 Louisville, a nation-leading 11 ACC teams are currently ranked among the top 35 of the most recent RPI, and the ACC is the top-ranked conference. The ACC has sent at least seven teams to the NCAA tournament each of the past seven seasons and 10 of the past 11 years.
In addition to the top four seeds in this year’s championship, seven other ACC teams have eclipsed the 30-win plateau in 2016 with NC State at 34-14, Clemson 38-18, Boston College 31-19 and Wake Forest at 32-23 among Atlantic Division teams. A glance at Coastal Division overall records finds Duke at 33-21, Georgia Tech at 35-20 and North Carolina at 34-21.
ACC Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year Seth Beer of Clemson is tied for the conference lead in home runs with 15 and ranks third in RBIs with 60 in 54 games. Beer is batting .378 to rank sixth in the conference and is second in slugging percentage (.694), third in on-base percentage (.528) and is tied for second in total bases (2.31 per game) …. ACC Pitcher of the Year Drew Harrington of Louisville enters the postseason with an 11-1 record and ranks third in the conference with a 1.66 ERA. Harrington has struck out 71 batters while walking just 22 in 92 innings and has allowed only three home runs this season … Dan McDonnell of Louisville was voted ACC Coach of the Year by his peers for the second year in a row after guiding the Cardinals to their second-straight Atlantic Division crown and a top-five national ranking. Louisville brings a nine-game winning streak into the ACC Championship.