Baseball captures ACC Tourney crown

Tech baseball won the ACC regular season championship and the tournament title. They are now preparing for the NCAA Regionals that start today.

The ACC regular season title came down to the final weekend of play. The Jackets needed at least one win and a Miami loss to guarantee the title. Tech lost the first two games at North Carolina by one run each. The Jackets came alive beating North Carolina 8-1 in the series finale to clinch their second consecutive ACC regular season title. The team was predicted by the conference coaches to finish third in the conference at the start of the season.

For the second time in three years, Tech has captured the ACC Tournament Championship and earned the automatic spot in this weekend's NCAA Regional.

"I think the ACC regular season you are playing everybody and the team that plays the most consistent from beginning to end wins," Head Coach Danny Hall said. "That says a lot about our club's consistency. In the ACC Tournament, when the league's best eight teams are participating, we were the best over those five days. That says a lot, too. They are different but equal."

Tech opened the tournament against eighth-seeded Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons jumped out to a 7-0 lead at the end of the third inning. Tech refused to give up and came roaring back putting six runs on the board in the bottom of the fifth. Tech trailed by one going into the bottom of the ninth. A throwing error brought in the tying run and Wes Hodges hit a sacrifice fly to drive in the winning run.

In Tech's second game, Florida State scored a run in the sixth and three in the seventh to take a 4-0 lead. Tech responded with five runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning to advance to the championship game of their bracket.

"You don't want to get behind the way [we] did," Hall said. "To our team's credit they kept battling and won those games. You have to play the game as it unfolds and it doesn't matter whether we are way ahead or way behind you have to keep playing."

Tech played Florida State next and sent them home with their fifth consecutive loss to Tech. Tech defeated the Seminoles 18-2 and forced the 10-run mercy rule to be put into effect. The rule was a new addition to the tournament and came into effect after the losing team bats in their half of the seventh inning.

Tech had to overcome perhaps their greatest obstacle in the championship game. Virginia had beaten Tech in the previous six contests and Tech was trailing 3-2 going into the top of the seventh. The team finally broke through against the Cavaliers pitchers for two runs. The Jackets held on and Matt Wieters picked up the save to go along with the victories that he picked up in the first two games of the tournament.

"I guess you could say that it was sweet revenge [to beat Virginia]," Hall said. "They had our number and beat us six straight times. To beat them for the championship that's a feather in our cap."

Junior Shortstop Tyler Greene was named as a first team All-American by USA Today Sports weekly to go along with his ACC Tournament Most Valuable Player honors and being named as a first team All-ACC selection. He is the 13th player in Tech history to earn such honors by at least one publication.

Greene is batting .370 with 12 home runs, 69 RBIs and 30 stolen bases on the season.

Wieters was named first team All-ACC and was the Freshman Player of the Year. Wieters delivered early in the season to earn National Player of the Week honors and was twice named conference player of the week.

Wieters is batting .368 with 63 RBIs and only 26 strikeouts on the season. The right-hander also has a 2.68 ERA in 24 appearances with six saves. Wieters also boasts a three-to-one strikeouts-to-walks ratio.

Hall has been awarded the ACC Coach of the Year for the third time in his 12-year tenure at the helm of the Jackets. Hall has the most wins (526) and the highest winning percentage (.699) of any coach in the history of Tech.

"It's a team award," Hall said. "It says that our team played very well. I give the players and my coaching staff equal credit. I think it's a reward that should be shared by everyone on the team and the staff. It's not one person that makes this team go."

Junior outfielder Steven Blackwood and sophomore third baseman Wes Hodges were also named as first-team All-ACC selections.

Tech will be hosting a regional starting today where they will be playing Furman at 4 p.m. Furman has won their last seven games. The South Carolina Gamecocks and the Michigan Wolverines who will be in action in today's first game join the Jackets and Paladins in the regional. The winner of each game will meet tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. while the losers will meet at 12 p.m.

South Carolina has been to each of the last three College World Series, while Michigan has won 22 out of the last 27 games that they've competed in. The last time that the Gamecocks were in Atlanta for a Regional was in 2003 when the Jackets were swept out of the tournament without the two teams ever meeting.