Around the ACC: Wild Weekend of Baseball Shakes Up Standings

Jack Winnay of Wake Forest (Photo By Charles Mays/Tiger View Media)

This weekend in ACC baseball was filled with entertaining matchups. Struggling Wake Forest faced off against the red-hot Florida State Seminoles, No. 25 Georgia Tech took on Stanford, No. 18 Louisville squared off against the struggling Boston College Eagles, and another installment of the Tobacco Road rivalry featured the Duke Blue Devils against the North Carolina Tar Heels. Below, I will recap the Wake Forest vs. Florida State and Georgia Tech vs. Stanford series and their implications for Clemson baseball.

Wake Forest @ Florida State

The Wake Forest Demon Deacons entered this series on a sour note after being swept by the Virginia Tech Hokies in embarrassing fashion. The Hokies run-ruled the Deacons 13-2 in game one and went on to win games two and three, 11-8 and 6-5 respectively. However, this difficult series might have served as a reality check, as Wake Forest rebounded impressively against No. 4 and ACC-leading Florida State Seminoles.

Florida State narrowly escaped game one with a thrilling 5-4 win, but this would be their only victory of the weekend. Wake Forest dominated game two, routing the Seminoles 12-0 after a five-run explosion in the third inning. The Demon Deacons continued their dominance in the rubber match on Sunday, crushing Florida State 17-2 behind a seven-run fifth inning and a six-run eighth inning. This decisive series loss for Florida State allowed Clemson to leapfrog the Seminoles and take first place in the ACC standings, now boasting a 30-5 overall record and a 9-3 conference mark.

Georgia Tech @ Stanford

The Stanford Cardinal started ACC play impressively with a 5-1 record, taking two of three games from North Carolina and sweeping Duke. However, they entered this weekend's matchup against Georgia Tech having lost six consecutive ACC games after suffering sweeps by California and Virginia. Stanford’s collapse continued, as Georgia Tech swept the Cardinal to improve to 11-4 in the ACC, jumping into second place in the conference standings.

Georgia Tech made quick work of Stanford, taking game one 8-6, game two 10-3, and game three by an overwhelming 18-2 score. The sweep dropped Stanford to 5-10 in conference play, tumbling down to 12th in the standings after their strong 5-1 start. Clemson will face Stanford next in a three-game series beginning Friday, April 11. The Tigers look to extend the Cardinal’s ACC losing streak to 12 consecutive games.