ACC Baseball Tournament 2023: Friday Scores, Updated Bracket and Schedule
Pool play for the 2023 ACC baseball tournament came to a close Friday at Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, North Carolina.
One semifinal spot remained up for grabs entering the day, with Wake Forest, Miami and North Carolina having all advanced to the penultimate round. That left Boston College and Clemson battling it out in Pool C.
Here's a recap of the action on the final round-robin day.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Friday Results
- No. 3 Clemson def. No. 6 Boston College, 4-1
- No. 4 Miami def. No. 5 Duke, 7-6
- No. 1 Wake Forest def. No. 8 Notre Dame, 7-5
Saturday Schedule
- No. 1 Wake Forest vs. No. 4 Miami, 1 p.m. ET
- No. 7 North Carolina vs. No. 3 Clemson, 1 p.m. ET
Friday Recap
Clemson 4, Boston College 1
An early offensive flurry propelled Clemson to a 4-1 victory over Boston College, thus qualifying for the semifinals.
A two-out, two-run home run from Caden Grice put the Tigers up in the bottom of the first. Jack Crighton doubled their lead with a two-bagger in the second, bringing Riley Bertram and Benjamin Blackwell home.
Clemson only had one hit for the remainder of the game, but it didn't matter much with a strong collective effort on the mound holding the Eagles in check.
Austin Gordon threw six scoreless innings. Nick Clayton, Rob Hughes, Reed Garris and Ryan Ammons did the rest in relief. They combined to rack up eight strikeouts and surrendered just three hits.
Boston College tried to launch a late comeback. After Nick Wang homered with two outs in the ninth, Kyle Wolff and Cameron Leary got on to give Daniel Baruch an opportunity to tie the game. Ammons set him down on three straight strikes to shut the door.
Clemson will get North Carolina in the semis. The Tigers earned a sweep when the teams met for a three-game series prior to the ACC tournament.
Miami 7, Duke 6
The pendulum shifted rather dramatically in the eighth inning of Miami's 7-6 win over Duke.
Luke Storm broke a 4-4 deadlock with a deep home run to right, his second long ball of the game, to put Duke ahead by two runs in the top half of the inning.
CJ Kayfus led off the bottom half by taking James Tallon deep to cut the Hurricanes' deficit to one run. Two batters later, Yohandy Morales tied things up again with a solo home run.
Renzo Gonzalez struck the decisive blow when he singled up the middle to score Blake Cyr.
Miami didn't have a lot to play for having already won Pool D. That didn't stop coach Gino DiMare from calling upon closer Andrew Walters to earn the save after the right-hander logged 2.1 innings on Thursday.
Andrew Fischer hit a one-out single for Duke but could only watch as Jay Beshears and Alex Stone struck out to end the game.
Kayfus, Morales and Gonzalez were the standout performers. They had three hits apiece, while Morales drove in four runs on the day.
Wake Forest 7, Notre Dame 5
Wake Forest first baseman Nick Kurtz smacked a pair of solo home runs to lead the Demon Deacons to a 7-5 win over Notre Dame.
Kurtz opened the scoring in the first inning with a two-out homer.
Tommy Hawke later added an RBI double in the bottom of the second for a 2-0 edge.
Notre Dame scored four runs off RBI doubles in the third through fifth innings courtesy of Estevan Moreno, DM Jefferson and Zack Prajzner. Jefferson's double in the fourth knocked in a pair of Notre Dame runners.
The Prajzner double put the ACC tournament's No. 8 seed up 4-2, but Kurtz kickstarted a three-run frame in the fifth with his second homer.
Wake Forest tied the game at four on a wild pitch before Hawke added an RBI single for the 5-4 edge. Lucas Costello added an insurance run in the seventh off an RBI via a fielder's choice.
Notre Dame got one back in the top of the eighth after Casey Kmet's RBI single, but Wake Forest countered with a Brock Wilken homer (his 27th of the year) to get up 7-5.
Notre Dame had a runner on second with two outs in the top of the ninth, but Cole Roland earned the save for the Demon Deacons after a game-ending strikeout.
Derek Crum got the win for Wake Forest after throwing 1.2 scoreless relief innings while striking out three.
Wake Forest entered the game having already earned a spot in the semifinals courtesy of emerging as the top team in a three-team pool that also included Pitt. Now the Demon Deacons will face No. 4 Miami on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
