NC State broke up the shutout in the 9th inning on a John Gianis pinch-hit RBI single, but the Wolfpack lost to number one Florida in Gainesville, 7-1.

The Wolfpack sent junior Ethan Ogburn to the mound to face the Gators, rather than freshman sensation Carlos Rodon (who is a Golden Spikes Award finalist and will pitch on Sunday).

The Gators jumped out with a four-spot in the bottom of the 3rd inning. They had four singles, while there was a passed ball and a throwing error.

Meanwhile, Florida starter Hudson Randall scattered six hits over seven scoreless innings. NC State only had two base runners on in the same inning twice, both times with two outs.

After a Preston Tucker walk to lead off the bottom of the 7th inning and a Wolfpack pitching change, the game was halted due to rain (for a little over two hours).

And when play resumed, the rain began falling again and Mike Zunino hit a two-run homerun. They went into another delay in the top of the 8th inning (for 48 minutes).

Florida leads the series 1-0 and will be looking to take Sunday’s Game 2 (1pm ET on ESPNU). NC State is looking to their young stud to send the series to Monday afternoon and a trip to the College World Series.

*Florida State and Stanford were supposed to play Game 2 of their Super Regional in Tallahassee, but rain forced the postponement. Game 2 will be played on Sunday at 7pm ET on ESPN2. If FSU wins, they are headed to the College World Series. If Stanford wins, there will be a Game 3 on Monday.

*Georgia Tech 5, Florida State 4: The 8-seed Yellow Jackets sought revenge over the top-seed Seminoles, as they were swept in the season series. GT jumped on FSU starter Scott Sitz in the first inning. Jake Davies hit a two out, two-run homerun. Davies connected for another two out, two-run homerun in the 5th inning to greet FSU reliever Brian Busch.

FSU finally got to GT ace Buck Farmer in the bottom of the 5th inning. They loaded the bases without a hit (two walks and a hit batter). An RBI ground out, an RBI single, and a sac fly cut the FSU deficit to 5-3.

Farmer allowed three runs on three hits and five walks over six innings (he was well over 100 pitches). He struck out six. Alex Cruz picked up the first save of his career, as he allowed one run on four hits over three innings.

ACC POY James Ramsey collected three of the Seminoles’ seven hits, including a solo homerun with two outs in the bottom of the 9th inning.

The Yellow Jackets, now 1-0, has Thursday off before taking on Virginia at 11am ET on Friday. The Seminoles, now 0-1, will also have Thursday off and will face Clemson at 3pm ET on Friday.

» Continue reading “ACC Tournament Day 1″

Duke's Marcus Stroman via Marc Kirsch

Friday night’s series opener between Duke and NC State was a pitcher’s duel that went the way of the Wolfpack, as they won 4-0.

NC State’s Anthony Tzamtzis bested Blue Devils ace Marcus Stroman. Tzamtzis allowed just two hits over 7.2 shutout innings. He did walk five but struck out nine. Stroman allowed four runs on nine hits and a walk in a complete game loss. He struck out ten.

Ethan Ogburn followed up Tzamtzis with 1.1 perfect innings of relief to close out the victory for the Wolfpack.

Duke collected just two hits, with Mark Lumpa and Angelo LaBruna having the hits. LaBruna also walked twice. Grant McCabe walked three times.

The two teams continue the series on Saturday night and finish up on Sunday afternoon. Duke dropped to 7-15 in the ACC and 16-27 overall. NC State improved to 14-8 in the ACC and 28-12 overall.