Tag: acc baseball

UNC baseball star Vance Honeycutt named ACC Defensive Player of The Year…again!

Vance Honeycutt’s all-star fielding skills earned him ACC honors on Monday afternoon.

The North Carolina Tar Heels sport one of the most dangerous offenses in college baseball – and a lot of it has to do with star center fielder Vance Honeycutt.

Since missing UNC’s entire postseason in 2023, which ended with an NCAA Regional loss to Iowa in the Terre Haute regional, Honeycutt is putting together a historic offensive campaign.

He’s hitting .319, making him one of seven Diamond Heels with a .300 batting average, hit a team-high 22 home runs and stole a team-best 28 bases in the regular seasons.

Honeycutt also broke the North Carolina program record for home runs, plus he is now the only player in ACC baseball history with 50 career home runs and 70 career stolen bases.

As much offensive attention that Honeycutt gets, he’s arguably an even better defensive outfielder.

Not only was Honeycutt recognized Monday afternoon as a member of the All-ACC First Team, but as the ACC’s Defensive Player of the Year– for the second season in a row.

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If you think you saw Vance Honeycutt’s defensive highlights on television, you are correct. He’s made the SportsCenter Top 10 in the past, plus he consistently climbs the wall for home run-robbing catches.

Honeycutt’s numbers solidify his defensive prowess. He is second on UNC with 148 putouts and carries a .987 fielding percentage. Errors are hard to come by for Honeycutt, as he has just two on the year.

If opposing hitters start rocking Diamond Heels pitchers this postseason, you can count on Honeycutt being a magnet with his glove in center.

Being named ACC Defensive Player of the Year once is impressive, but consecutive seasons is practically unheard of.

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Vance Honeycutt headlines nine UNC baseball players with All-ACC Honors

Can the UNC baseball team’s nine All-ACC honorees lead it to a College World Series title?

After a disappointing exit early in the NCAA Regionals last year, the UNC baseball team improved in virtually every aspect this offseason.

North Carolina nabbed several transfers that are now in the starting lineup, highlighted by starting first baseman Parks Harber (Georgia) and starting right fielder Anthony Donofrio (Quinnipiac). The Diamond Heels also entered the 2024 regular season with the ACC’s best recruiting class, which included now-starting catcher Luke Stevenson.

UNC’s recruits played a major role in team success this team, with North Carolina capturing its first ACC Regular Season Championship since 2018, but it was a pair of returners who anchored the Diamond Heels’ success.

Starting center fielder Vance Honeycutt and starting left fielder Casey Cook, who respectively lead UNC in home runs (22) and RBIs (73), were the lone two Diamond Heels to earn All-ACC First Team honors.

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Not only is Honeycutt hitting .319, one of seven on North Carolina players doing so, but he achieved two records during the regular season: becoming the program’s all-time home run record-holder, plus the only player in ACC history with 50 home runs and 70 stolen bases. When UNC’s season is over, Honeycutt will likely be a first-round selection in July’s MLB Draft.

Cook earned All-ACC Freshman honors last year, ranking second amongst conference rookies with 66 hits, but he elevated his game to another level this year. Cook is third on the Diamond Heels in batting average (.341) and home runs (16), plus he drove in a team-high 73 runs during the regular season.

Honeycutt and Cook were just two of 10 North Carolina teammates with All-ACC Honors, though.

Stevenson, starting third baseman Gavin Gallagher and starting pitcher Jason DeCaro were named to the All-ACC Freshman Team.

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Gallagher is currently second on UNC with a .351 batting average, Stevenson is hitting .290 and one of five Diamond Heels with double-digit home run totals (13), while DeCaro is 4-1 on the mound and leads North Carolina’s rotation with a 3.91 earned run average.

DeCaro, Harber and Elon transfer Shea Sprague made the All-ACC Second Team.

Rounding out UNC’s list of All-ACC selections are Stevenson, star closer Dalton Pence (six saves) and NCAA wins co-leader Matthew Matthijs.

Not every team lives up to its preseason hype. The Diamond Heels exceeded that hype, as they’re the ACC Baseball Championship’s top seed and look for a second title in three seasons.

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Aidan Knaak, Blake Wright, Cam Cannarella earn ACC honors

Aidan Knaak, Blake Wright, and Cam Cannarella were recognized by the ACC Monday.

Three Clemson Tigers baseball players received All-Conference Team recognition by the ACC Monday.

Right-hander Aidan Knaak was named a First Team All-ACC selection, as well as being named to the All-ACC Freshman Team for his performance during the regular season. Knaak wrapped up a stellar freshman season by going 5-1 with a 2.96 ERA in a team-best 13 starts.

Second baseman Blake Wright received Second Team All-ACC honors. Wright led the Tigers in batting average (.341), home runs (21) and RBIs (70) during the regular season. He was the only Tigers player to play in all 53 games. Wright was recently named a semifinalist for both the Dick Howser Trophy and the Golden Spikes Award.

Centerfielder Cam Cannarella was received Third Team All-ACC recognition. After a sensational freshman season in 2023, Cannarella followed it up with a strong 2024 campaign in which he batted .332 with nine home runs, 16 doubles, 51 RBIs, and a .411 on-base percentage in 51 games. Cannarella’s .332 average was second-best on the team.

Of the major individual awards announced by the ACC Monday, Florida State’s James Tibbs III took home Player of the Year honors. Wake Forest’s Chase Burns, the NCAA Division I strikeout leader (169 strikeouts in 89 innings pitched), was named Pitcher of the Year.

Georgia Tech outfielder Drew Burress was named Freshman of the Year, and North Carolina outfielder Vance Honeycutt earned Defensive Player of the Year for the second year in a row.

North Carolina’s Scott Forbes was named Coach of the Year. The Tar Heels won the ACC regular-season championship and are the No. 1 seed in this week’s ACC Tournament. Clemson is the No. 2 seed and will face Miami in the Tigers’ tournament opener Thursday in Charlotte.

Seven Duke baseball players named to All-ACC teams

Duke baseball set a team record with seven Blue Devils named to the All-ACC teams, including four First Team members.

Duke baseball set a program record on Monday with seven Blue Devils named to the All-ACC teams, including four First Team members.

Starting pitcher Jonathan Santucci, reliever Charlie Beilenson, third baseman Ben Miller, and second baseman Zac Morris all made the top squad in the conference.

Miller, who transferred from Penn before the 2024 season, led the Blue Devils with a .383 batting average this season. He racked up 17 doubles and 13 home runs in 48 games, and he finished the regular season with 42 runs batted in and an on-base percentage of .465.

Morris, another 2024 transfer who joined from VMI, had a batting average of .335 and an on-base percentage of .432 in his own right. In 53 games, he raked in 49 RBIs and mashed 15 home runs for a slugging percentage of .600.

On the mound, Beilenson finished the season with a 1.88 ERA across 29 appearances, ending up with a 6-3 record and 11 saves on his resume. He struck out 78 batters in 52.2 innings pitched, and he allowed just 50 walks and hits combined. Opposing batters finished with an average of .178 against the closer.

Santucci, Duke’s ace southpaw, sat out the North Carolina series as he nursed a rib injury on his non-throwing side. However, he finished with a 6-1 record and a 3.54 ERA in 12 starts. He averaged 13.82 strikeouts per nine innings, and he surrendered 1.30 walks and hits per inning pitched.

Catcher Alex Stone made the All-ACC Second Team after he batted .326 with 11 home runs.

Newcomers AJ Gracia (.311, 12 HRs, and 51 RBI) and Kyle Johnson (.295, 5 HRs, and 9 RBI as a batter, 4.47 ERA and a 3-1 record as a pitcher) both made the Freshman Team, with Gracia making the All-ACC Third Team.

Duke’s postseason starts on Tuesday against Virginia Tech, the first game in pool play of the conference tournament.

Duke baseball’s ACC Championship pool set, will play Virginia Tech on Tuesday

The ACC Baseball Championship bracket pits the Blue Devils against the Hokies and the Wolfpack for a spot in the semifinals.

Duke baseball needs to take down NC State and Virginia Tech in pool play to advance to the ACC Championship semifinals.

The conference released its tournament bracket over the weekend, and the Blue Devils got paired with the Wolfpack and the Hokies for the initial games.

NC State, the third-ranked team in the conference, finished with a 32-19 record overall but with an 18-11 record against ACC opponents. The Hokies finished with a 32-20 overall record, finishing a fraction below .500 in conference play with a 14-16 mark.

The three teams will play each other in a round-robin format, each playing the other once. At the end of pool play, the team with the best record advances to the semifinals.

If two of the three teams remain tied at the end of the proceedings, the team with the highest seed moves on. As the second seed in the pool, Duke holds the tiebreaker over Virginia Tech, but the Wolfpack hold the tiebreaker over them both.

Duke’s first game of the tournament, which takes place at Truist Field in Charlotte, takes place on Tuesday against the Hokies at 7 p.m. The Blue Devils will then play NC State on Thursday at the same time.

Clemson up two spots, jumps North Carolina in USA TODAY Sports baseball coaches poll

The Clemson Tigers rose two spots to No. 5 in the USA TODAY Sports baseball coaches poll, released Monday, May 20.

The Clemson Tigers are back in the top five of the USA TODAY Sports baseball coaches poll, released Monday, May 20.

Clemson (40-13 overall, 20-10 ACC), which closed the regular season with a three-game sweep of Boston College over the weekend, checked in at No. 5 in the coaches poll.

RELATED: Clemson baseball all over the place in new Top 25 rankings

The Tigers climbed two spots from last week and jumped past ACC regular-season champion North Carolina (41-12, 22-8). The Tar Heels fell one spot to No. 6 despite winning two of three at Duke to close the regular season.

Tennessee (46-10) stayed at No. 1 for the third consecutive week after sweeping South Carolina to earn the top seed in the SEC Baseball Tournament. Kentucky (39-11) climbed one spot in the coaches poll to No. 2 after winning two of three against Vanderbilt. The Volunteers and Wildcats both earned a share of the SEC regular-season title.

Texas A&M (44-11) rose one spot to No. 3 after winning two of three against Arkansas (43-12), which fell two spots to No. 4.

The ACC had the most ranked teams of any conference with seven schools in the new poll, including No. 8 Florida State (39-14), No. 12 Virginia (40-14), No. 14 NC State (32-19), No. 15 Duke (35-18), and No. 19 Wake Forest (36-19).

Clemson is the No. 2 seed in this week’s ACC Tournament at Charlotte’s Truist Field and will face Miami in the Tigers’ tournament opener Thursday. First pitch is tentatively scheduled for 11 a.m. EDT.

UNC set to face Wake Forest and Pitt in ACC Baseball Championship

Does North Carolina have enough in the tank for a second conference tournament title in three seasons?

Next stop for the UNC baseball team?

The ACC Baseball Championship, which starts on Tuesday at Truist Field in Charlotte, NC.

Postseason baseball is a completely different atmosphere than the regular season, as the margin for error is slim-to-none. You can lose consecutive regular season games with little issue, while two losses in any given round of college baseball postseason can eliminate you.

If North Carolina’s recent hot stretch – and overall regular season outlook – is any indication of how it’ll play in this week’s conference tournament, the odds are in North Carolina’s favor.

The Diamond Heels (41-12, 22-8) took two of three from archrival Duke over the weekend, clinching the ACC’s top seed in the process. UNC won six straight prior to losing Thursday’s series opener, its first in the entire month of May.

North Carolina, which will try to sustain its regular season success in postseason play, is paired up with eighth-seeded Wake Forest (36-19, 15-15) and 12th-seeded Pitt (26-26, 10-20) in ACC Championship pool play.

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As you can see from the schedule above, the Diamond Heels will first face off against Pitt on Thursday at 3 p.m. ET. UNC swept the Panthers in Chapel Hill March 8-10, but its largest margin of victory was three runs.

Regardless of how Thursday’s game goes, North Carolina then has a 7 p.m. ET first pitch against in-state rival Wake Forest on Friday. The Diamond Heels swept the Demon Deacons, who started the year ranked first in the country, over Easter weekend in Winston-Salem.

If UNC wins both pool play matchups, it’ll then play in the ACC semifinals at 1 p.m. or 5 p.m. Saturday.

It’ll be easy to look ahead, particularly for a team playing extremely well like North Carolina, but its primary focus should be on downing Pitt for a fourth time.

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ACC Baseball Championship seedings and pools set for 2024

ACC Championship seeds and pools have been set.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (theACC.com) – Coastal Division champion North Carolina and Atlantic Division champion Clemson are the top two seeds for the 2024 Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Championship, which gets underway on Tuesday, May 21, and runs through Sunday, May 26, at Truist Field in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The Championship will feature a pool-play format, leading into a four-team, single-elimination bracket to determine the league champion.

A consensus top 10 team in the country in the most recent national polls, North Carolina (41-12, 22-8 ACC) earned the No. 1 overall seed and will headline Pool A. The Tar Heels will be joined by eighth-seeded Wake Forest (36-19, 15-15) and 12th-seeded Pittsburgh (26-26, 10-20).

Atlantic Division champion and No. 2-seed Clemson (40-13, 20-10) will be the top seed in Pool B, along with seventh-seeded Louisville (32-22, 16-14) and 11th-seeded Miami (24-29, 11-19).

Earning the No. 3 seed, NC State (32-19, 18-11) is joined in Pool C by No. 6-seed Duke (35-18, 16-14) and No. 10-seed Virginia Tech (32-20, 14-16).

No. 4-seed Virginia (40-14, 18-12) drew the top seed in Pool D, which also features No. 5-seed Florida State (39-14, 17-12) and No. 9-seed Georgia Tech (31-21, 15-15).

Each team in the four pools will play one game against each of the other two opponents in its pool Tuesday through Friday (May 21-24). The four teams with the best records within their respective pools will advance to Saturday’s semifinals, with the winners playing on Sunday in the ACC Championship Game.

Game times Tuesday through Friday are set for 11 a.m., 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday’s semifinals are scheduled for 1 p.m. and 5 p.m., while Sunday’s championship will begin at noon.

The complete schedule for the 2024 ACC Baseball Championship will be released late Sunday morning (May 19).

Tickets are now available at theacc.com/tickets or by visiting the ACC Baseball Championship page on the Charlotte Knights’ website. Single-session, weekend passes, and all-session tickets are on sale now. All-session passes begin at $170 for field box and $225 for club seats. Weekend passes begin at $50 for outfield seats, $60 for field box and $80 for club seats.

ACC Network will carry each of the pool play games Tuesday through Friday, in addition to both of Saturday’s semifinals. Sunday’s championship is scheduled for a noon start and will be carried nationally by ESPN2.

Seven ACC baseball teams are ranked among the top 25 of the latest NCAA RPI, including four in the top 10 with No. 4 North Carolina, followed by No. 7 Clemson, No. 8 Florida State, No. 10 Wake Forest, No. 12 Virginia, No. 15 NC State and No. 22 Duke.

2024 ACC Baseball Championship Seeds
Truist Field; Charlotte, N.C.
POOL A – #1 North Carolina, #8 Wake Forest, #12 Pitt
POOL B – #2 Clemson, #7 Louisville, #11 Miami
POOL C – #3 NC State, #6 Duke, #10 Virginia Tech
POOL D – #4 Virginia, #5 Florida State, #9 Georgia Tech

Blake Wright, Jimmy Obertop lead Clemson to series win, ACC Atlantic Division title

The Clemson Tigers clinched the ACC Atlantic Division title Saturday and assured themselves of no worse than a No. 2 seed in next week’s ACC Tournament in Charlotte.

Blake Wright went 4-for-5 at the plate and hit his 20th home run of the season, Jimmy Obertop drove in four runs, and No. 4 Clemson defeated Boston College, 11-6, Friday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

The win clinched the ACC Atlantic Division title for Clemson (39-13 overall, 19-10 ACC) and a series victory in the Tigers’ final regular-season set ahead of next week’s ACC Tournament in Charlotte.

After Boston College (22-30, 8-21) jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a second-inning home run from John Collins off Tristan Smith, Clemson responded for nine unanswered runs over the next three innings.

The Tigers manufactured a run in the second inning on an RBI groundout from Jacob Jarrell, and in the third, Wright’s 20th home run off Boston College starter A.J. Colarusso tied the game.

Cam Cannarella and Jimmy Obertop followed with back-to-back doubles to put Clemson ahead, and Tristan Bissetta added a run-scoring single as part of a three-run inning that made it 4-2.

The Tigers erupted for five runs in the fourth, beginning with Wright’s second run-scoring hit of the afternoon — an opposite-field RBI single that made it 5-2. Later that inning, Obertop cleared the bases with a three-run homer, his 18th of the season to up the score to 9-2.

Clemson tacked on two more runs in the sixth inning. Bissetta picked up his second RBI of the day with a double down the right field line, and Jack Crighton followed with an RBI sacrifice fly to cap the Tigers’ scoring and make it 11-3.

The Eagles got an RBI double from Kyle Wolff and a two-run single from Adam Magpoc off reliever Chance Fitzgerald in the eighth for the game’s final runs.

Billy Barlow (6-1) earned the win in relief with three solid innings after Smith started and received a no-decision. Smith pitched four innings and gave up two runs on four hits to go with four walks and two strikeouts.

Drew Titsworth recorded the final six outs in relief, retiring all but one of the seven batters he faced without allowing a hit. He struck out four and walked one. Fitzgerald allowed all three Boston College runs in the eighth without recording an out.

In addition to Wright’s four hits, Clemson got three-hit games from Obertop (3-for-5) and Bissetta (3-5). Cannarella (2-3) stayed hot by notching two hits and scoring three runs. Jarren Purify (2-5) also had two hits.

Colarusso (3-8) suffered the loss for Boston College, allowing six runs (four earned) on eight hits in 3 2/3 innings.

The series concludes Saturday with first pitch scheduled for noon EDT. The game can be seen on ACC Network.

UNC baseball program Top 10 in every ranking this week

Do this week’s rankings truly reflect how good the Diamond Heels are this year?

It’s difficult to imagine a collegiate baseball program having more fun than the North Carolina Tar Heels.

UNC (39-11, 20-7) enjoyed a massive weekend against Louisville.

On Friday, star center fielder Vance Honeycutt became North Carolina’s all-time home run leader in a 14-4 Diamond Heels victory. He mashed his 57th career bomb to tie Devy Bell, then his 58th to overtake Bell for the UNC program record.

On Saturday, North Carolina clinched the series with a close, 6-4 win. The Diamond Heels doubled up on Sunday, sweeping the series with a 16-7 domination and clinching the ACC Coastal Division.

With all the success UNC enjoyed over the weekend, it vaulted up into the Top 10 of all the latest college baseball rankings: Baseball America (fourth), NCBWA (fifth), USA Today Sports (fifth), Perfect Game (sixth) and D1Baseball (seventh).

North Carolina plays its final four regular season games on the road: Tuesday, May 14 at UNC-Wilmington (UNC won 11-0 in Chapel Hill on March 19), then its final weekend series at archrival Duke (May 16-18). The Seahawks took two of three from Hofstra over the weekend, while the Blue Devils lost two of three to Georgia Tech.

These high rankings are great for the Diamond Heels, who will likely host an NCAA Tournament Regional at the end of May.

The greater task at hand for North Carolina, however, is how it can capture its inaugural College World Series title. With all the momentum and talent UNC has right now, that’s a very reachable goal.

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