Clemson baseball powers to ACC title. How many from league will make NCAA field?
With No. 1-ranked Wake Forest, Duke, North Carolina and N.C. State waiting to see where, and if, they’ll play in the NCAA baseball tournament, Clemson bashed its way to an ACC championship and strengthened its case for a top-eight national seed Sunday.
The Tigers scored eight runs in the seventh inning, erasing a two-run deficit to pull away and beat Miami, 11-5, in the ACC baseball tournament title game at Durham Bulls Athletics Park.
Clemson (43-17) won its 16th consecutive game to claim its first ACC championship since 2016. It’s the 16th ACC baseball title won by the Tigers.
“They got back up every time they got knocked down,” Clemson coach Erik Bakich said. “And we got knocked down a lot the first 30 games of the year, and the first 10 games of conference play. We wouldn’t be where we are right now without that. We needed that. We needed to be drug through the mud, because it calloused our minds. It hardened us a little bit. And they’re champions because of it.”
The Hurricanes (40-19) saw their five-game winning streak end.
On Sunday night, the NCAA will announce the teams selected as top 16 seeds for the tournament. Both Miami and Clemson are expected to be in that group, meaning they’ll play the regionals at home. ACC teams Virginia (45-12) and Boston College (35-18) are in line to be regional hosts as well.
Clemson is hoping for a top-eight seed, meaning it would be at home for the super regionals should it advance out of the opening weekend. Wake Forest (47-10), despite losing to Miami in Saturday’s ACC semifinals, is almost certain to be a top-eight seed as well.
The full 64-team field will be announced at noon on Monday with Duke (35-21) and UNC (35-22) are also expected to represent the ACC in the field. N.C. State (35-19) hopes to join them despite a losing record against top 50 RPI teams.
Clemson slammed three home runs in the ACC final, including three-run homers by Riley Bertram and Will Taylor in the seventh inning. Bertram’s home run put Clemson ahead for good at 7-5.
Cam Cannarella’s solo home run in the second inning staked the Tigers to a 3-0 lead.
Miami scored two runs in the third inning before tying the game at 3 in the fourth inning on Zach Levenson’s solo home run. The Hurricanes moved ahead 5-3 in the fourth inning on Blake Cyr’s RBI double before Renzo Gonzalez drew a bases loaded walk.
The score stayed that way until the Clemson seventh inning, when the Tigers scored eight times on six hits.
Tournament MVP Caden Grice led the Tigers with three hits. Bertram, Taylor and Cooper Ingle had two hits apiece.
