DURHAM, N.C.—Tyler Wilson threw his hands in the air and spiked his glove just before John Hicks wrapped him in a hug. Wilson had just struck out Florida State center fielder Mike McGee to give Virginia a 7-2 victory Sunday and its third ACC tournament championship, all of them coming at the expense of the Seminoles in Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

All seven of Virginia’s runs came on home runs over the “Blue Monster” in left field. While the Cavaliers are one of the nation’s best offensive teams, ranking 19th in runs in the regular season, they are not known for their power. Virginia had just 17 home runs entering the day, led by third baseman Steven Proscia with six.

So if the Cavaliers were going to become a bomb squad for the day, it only made sense for Proscia to deliver the most important blast. After Florida State tied the game at two in the top of the sixth, Proscia came up with runners on first and second and two outs. Seminoles starter Hunter Scantling threw Proscia a slider that he would later say was a good pitch. But Proscia made a better swing and lofted a fly ball that went just deep enough to clear the 32-foot-high left-field wall. [...] Continue Reading »

DURHAM, N.C.—Unable to hold a two-run lead in the sixth inning against Clemson, North Carolina State fell short in its improbable bid to reach the ACC tournament championship game when Clemson rallied for a 6-3 victory.

The loss, however, did little to dampen Wolfpack coach Elliott Avent’s enthusiasm for his team going forward. North Carolina State was on a six-game winning streak before losing 6-5 to Georgia Tech on a straight steal of home in the 15th inning Thursday. That loss, Avent said, was still affecting the Wolfpack’s relievers Saturday.

Lefthander Grant Sasser was unavailable, Avent said, and he was wary of going to closer Chris Overman in the sixth inning to face Clemson first baseman Richie Shaffer after Overman had pitched two innings against Georgia Tech. Instead, Nick Rice tried to pitch around Shaffer, but he hit a three-run home run that gave the Tigers their first lead of the day. [...] Continue Reading »

HOOVER, Ala.—It's hard not to root for Georgia, a team that has had two players confined to wheelchairs by horrific accidents in the last two years.

But as Bulldogs coach David Perno pointed out after his team was blown out by Vanderbilt on Wednesday, rooting for a team is not the same as respecting a team.

And earning respect is not the same as earning a spot in the NCAA tournament.

The Bulldogs already proved that they were a team worthy of our respect by the way they responded to outfielder Johnathan Taylor's injury, suffered in an outfield collision with Zach Cone on March 6. They proved it again this week in the Southeastern Conference tournament, rebounding from the Vanderbilt debacle by winning two straight elimination games against Auburn and South Carolina.

On Saturday, Georgia went one step further, essentially clinching a spot in regionals with an emotional 4-3 win against Florida. Georgia improved to 31-29 on the season and ensured it will finish with a winning overall record, a requirement to get an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. Georgia's robust ranking in the Ratings Percentage Index (No. 16), winning record in Southeastern Conference play (16-14 in the regular season) and bevy of quality wins will almost certainly earn it an at-large bid on Monday, assuming the Bulldogs don't ride their piecemeal pitching all the way to the automatic bid (which seems unlikely).

"They deserve to play," Perno said after the win. "We've done enough." [...] Continue Reading »

DURHAM, N.C.—Florida State righthander/center fielder Mike McGee doesn’t like to be surprised. So when rain all but washed out Friday’s games at the ACC tournament and pushed Florida State’s final pool play game against Georgia Tech back to Saturday morning, McGee had to set an early alarm.

“We had a wakeup call for 6:15,” McGee said. “But I went to bed before I found out what happened last night because I don’t really like to be surprised. If they didn’t play or something, I wanted to be sure I knew what was going on before the wakeup call came.”

Wide awake by the time he threw the day’s first pitch at 9:05 a.m., McGee baffled Georgia Tech for 5 1/3 innings and carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning. The offense and bullpen did their parts as well, and the Seminoles beat the Yellow Jackets 4-2 in a game that could weigh heavily in the race for a national seed. [...] Continue Reading »

DURHAM, N.C.—Virginia began playing Miami at 11:07 a.m. Friday. It wouldn’t walk off the field after the last out in a 6-4 victory until just after 10:30 p.m. In between the Cavaliers endured a seven-hour, 28-minute rain delay and an early two-run home run by Hurricanes left fielder Rony Rodriguez.

But when the game finally ended, Virginia controlled its destiny in the ACC tournament, while Miami would need help if it wanted to play for the ACC title.

The game began with storm clouds above Durham Bulls Athletic Park, and it didn’t take long before the rain began to fall. The game was halted in the bottom of the second inning with the Hurricanes leading 2-0. The rain only increased after the delay began and after about two hours the teams returned to their hotels and hoped for a 6 p.m. restart that was later pushed back to 7 p.m.

“We’ve had a lot of problems this year with the rain,” Virginia coach Brian O’Connor said. “We have dealt with a lot of things, a lot of doubleheaders, and they have come through all the time.” [...] Continue Reading »

HOOVER, Ala.—Georgia knew exactly what it needed to do at the SEC tournament in order to continue its season in a regional next week: win three games to ensure a winning overall record—a requirement to be eligible for an at-large bid.

Two down, one to go.

After getting embarrassed by Vanderbilt in Wednesday's opener, the Bulldogs have responded with back-to-back wins to stave off elimination. They jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning Friday against South Carolina, then held on for a 4-2 upset against the nation's top-ranked team.

"Something we've been watching all these games in this tournament: The teams that have gotten off to the quick starts have had some success," Georgia coach David Perno said. ". . . We've done a good job when we have a lead of protecting it." [...] Continue Reading »

HOOVER, Ala.—Coming out of high school, Ryne Stanek was kind of a big deal.

An unsigned third-round pick from Stilwell, Kan., Stanek and Dominic Ficociello were the pillars of an Arkansas recruiting class that ranked eighth in the nation last October. Stanek, a 6-foot-4, 185-pound righthander, entered the spring as the nation's No. 4 prospect on BA's Top 50 Freshmen list.

It's hard to blame Arkansas fans if they wondered what all the fuss was about. A bout with illness early in the season helped cause Stanek to get off to a slow start, and inconsistent command led to a very inconsistent season. In his last start against Mississippi last week, Stanek recorded just one out before getting yanked in the first inning. He carried a 2-2, 4.75 mark into Friday—when he proceeded to show everyone exactly what the fuss was about.

Stanek allowed just one run on two hits in 7 2/3 innings, walking three and striking out five in the Razorbacks' 4-1 win in an SEC tournament elimination game against Alabama. His stuff was simply electric: His fastball ranged from 91-96 mph, and he was able to get swings and misses with his two hard breaking balls. [...] Continue Reading »

HOOVER, Ala.—One thing the three beasts of the SEC East have in common is that they each have deep, versatile, talented bullpens—three of the nation's best bullpens, in fact. Vanderbilt carried a 45-9 record into Thursday, and its bullpen is a big part of its success, but during its two series losses against Florida and South Carolina, it lost the battle of bullpens.

In a rematch against the Gamecocks on Thursday, Vandy won that battle convincingly, and won the game, 7-2, to stay out of the loser's bracket in the Southeastern Conference tournament.

Vandy's bullpen melted down during South Carolina's four-run seventh back on April 17. Florida beat Vandy closer Navery Moore twice two weeks ago, and in the Sunday game it got to Moore in the 12th after tying the game against lefthander Corey Williams in the eighth. In Vanderbilt's next game, Georgia broke a 4-4 tie with a run in the seventh against righty Will Clinard.

But on Thursday, Williams, Clinard and Moore all made big pitches in big spots, while South Carolina's bullpen struggled in Vanderbilt's four-run ninth, turning a 3-2 game into a 7-2 affair.

"We went into this thinking that that was something we were going to have to rectify," Vandy pitching coach Derek Johnson said of his bullpen's recent struggles. [...] Continue Reading »

SAN DIEGO — Losing a high fly ball in the sun isn’t all that uncommon. Turning it into an unassisted triple play? Well, that’s another story.

Brigham Young shortstop Andrew Law completed an unassisted triple play Thursday under such circumstances in the Cougars’ 8-2 win over San Diego State in a Mountain West Conference Tournament game at Tony Gwynn Stadium.

The unassisted triple play is one of the rarest occurrences in baseball, which probably explains why there is no listing for it in the NCAA record book. There have been 15 unassisted triple plays in the major leagues, five fewer than the number of perfect games pitched in the majors.

This had not been one of the most fundamentally sound games by the Aztecs, who, among other things, allowed opposing runners to take the extra base, misplayed a rundown and swung at questionable pitches. But, trailing by six runs, SDSU had the makings of a rally when it loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh.

That’s when it happened. [...] Continue Reading »

DURHAM, N.C.—After an uninspired performance in a loss to North Carolina State on Wednesday night in the ACC tournament, Florida State knew it would need to play better Thursday afternoon against Clemson.

“Guys knew going in we had to put together one of our best performances,” right fielder James Ramsey said. “We had our back against the wall a little bit, especially after getting shut out last night and making a couple errors.”

The Seminoles played clean baseball and lefthander Sean Gilmartin beat the Tigers for the second time in the last week. The win keeps Florida State alive for the ACC championship and helps the Seminoles as they make their case for a national seed.

“Every game at this point of the season is important,” coach Mike Martin said. “A lot of questions still to be answered in the minds of the committee members.”

Ramsey gave the Seminoles a big lift Thursday, going 2-for-3 with four RBIs and a home run. The home run came in the sixth inning, and gave Gilmartin a three-run cushion. [...] Continue Reading »

HOOVER, Ala.—Kevin O'Sullivan had it almost right.

"I think it all started and ended with Hudson Randall on the mound—he was outstanding today," the Florida coach said. "Typical outing for him: eight innings, four hits, one walk."

That's where the "almost" part comes in: in a "typical" outing, Randall doesn't issue any walks. He did not walk any in nine of his previous 13 starts this season, and he had just six walks in 84 innings all season.

Certainly, though, O'Sullivan was right to call Randall's outing "outstanding." The sophomore righthander carved up Alabama for eight innings in Florida's 6-0 win, getting 13 groundball outs (including three double plays) and retiring 12 straight at one point in the middle innings. He finished with two strikeouts.

"He's Greg Maddox," Alabama coach Mitch Gaspard said. "Everything moves, the ball stays down, he never elevates anything. So even when you get in an advantage count, he makes a quality pitch. That pitch is down, at the knees or on the black, and he's got good sink on it . . . He makes pitches. Even though he may not have that dominant, overpowering fastball, it's still 88-91, occasionally 92, with sink and with location. He's good, and that's why he pitches on Friday nights for one of the best pitching staffs in the country." [...] Continue Reading »

HOOVER, Ala.—Georgia coach David Perno was embarrassed by his team's showing in Wednesday's 10-0 loss to Vanderbilt. Not because Vandy one-hit and run-ruled the Bulldogs, but because the team simply did not put forth a good effort, even with its season on the line (Georgia needs three wins at the SEC tournament to finish above .500 and be eligible for the NCAA tournament).

So he tried to deliver a message to his team afterward.

"It wasn't necessarily PG rating," Perno said of his address to his team after the Vandy loss. "I told them flat out: You just don't want to be remembered—we don't want to be the sympathy team, the team that had some adversity in the year, played the tough schedule. We want to be respected. Last night we didn't play like that. If you don't go where you want to go, at least show your identity, and I thought we did that today."

Georgia was much crisper in a true elimination game against Auburn, which needed just one win to ensure a winning record and at-large eligibility. The Bulldogs erased a 2-0 deficit with three runs in the sixth, keyed by Zach Cone's RBI double, and sent the Tigers packing, 3-2. Lefthander Alex Wood threw his first complete game of the season, allowing two runs on seven hits and three walks while striking out eight for the Bulldogs. [...] Continue Reading »

HOOVER, Ala.—After Wednesday's loss to Florida, a reporter asked Mississippi State coach John Cohen if his team needed to display a sense of urgency in the SEC tournament.

"This is our 56th game," Cohen said, "and I can't think of a game we didn't have a sense of urgency. Thats who we are. We haven't been in the SEC tournament in three years. Urgency—that's my middle name. Yes, there will always be a sense of urgency. At practice there's a sense of urgency."

That answer underscores just how important it was for Mississippi State to get back to the SEC tournament for the first time since 2007—when it went 0-2 but caught fire in the NCAA tournament, reaching Omaha in coach Ron Polk's second-to-last season.

The Bulldogs went 0-2 again in 2011, coughing up a 5-2 lead against the Gators and then getting jumped by Arkansas in Thursday morning's elimination game. The Razorbacks took advantage of two MSU errors and two wild pitches to score four runs in the first and cruised to a 7-2 win. [...] Continue Reading »

HOOVER, Ala.—Michael Roth is on the short list of most charismatic players in college baseball. Truly, he's a reporter's dream.

He's also a coach's dream—and not just because he's one of the nation's best pitchers. Because he's honest.

So when Roth told South Carolina coach Ray Tanner that he wanted to pitch in Wednesday's SEC tournament opener instead of Thursday as the coaches had originally planned, Tanner listened to his junior lefthander. Roth, in turn, threw South Carolina's first complete game of the year in a 7-3 win against Auburn.

"You know, over the years that I've been coaching—as an assistant, a head coach, a long time—I've always listened to players, but sometimes you have to really evaluate what you hear," Tanner said. "Sometimes they tell you what you want to hear, and sometimes they're not completely honest and open. But ever since Michael Roth has been in our program, he's been candid from day one.

"He explained why he wanted to go today . . . I said, 'All right, big guy. As long as you're solid with your information, let's go.' " [...] Continue Reading »

HOOVER, Ala.—Mississippi State held a 5-2 lead on powerhouse Florida in the seventh inning Wednesday, but Florida coach Kevin O'Sullivan did not think the game was out of reach. So he had a quick meeting with his hitters before they went to the plate in the bottom of the frame.

"We needed to have better at-bats," O'Sullivan said. "We had some opportunities . . . I thought if we could just put some quality at-bats together, we could make a run."

It helped that Mississippi State's pitchers struggled to throw strikes all day, combining to issue seven walks and hit a batter. A hit batsman and a walk jumpstarted a Florida rally in the fateful seventh, helping set the table for Brian Johnson's go-ahead grand slam down the right-field line. The Gators went on to a 7-5 win.

"The grand slam's not the issue; it was how those two guys got on second and third there," MSU coach John Cohen said. "I thought that was really the ballgame . . . you just can't hand a team like Florida an opportunity like that, and I thought that's what we did." [...] Continue Reading »

Coastal Carolina junior righthander Anthony Meo threw the first no-hitter in Big South tournament history today in a 5-0 win against Radford. Meo retired the first 16 batters he faced until Blake Sipe reached on an error in the sixth. He finished with nine strikeouts and just one walk.

“This was one for the record books for sure," Coastal coach Gary Gilmore said. "Anthony and (coach) Drew (Thomas) had a great plan and Anthony really executed it. He was in total command. To see Anthony pitch like that with as many scouts that were here today and this close to the draft was really awesome.  Anthony has tinkered here and there a lot this year, but found a way today to put it all together."

A likely first-round pick in the upcoming draft, Meo has a premium fastball, of course, regularly sitting in the mid-90s and touching the high 90s. But two weeks ago, Gilmore told BA that Meo had really elevated his game in the previous two weeks, showing a much better ability to throw his slider for strikes, and throwing more quality strikes with all his stuff to keep his pitch count in check. He needed just 106 pitches in the no-hitter against the Highlanders.

"This was exciting, and to do it in a tournament makes it more special," Meo said afterward. "I really settled in through the middle innings and got in a great groove. I had good command today and my slider was really sharp. I am glad I was able to help our team out and keep our bullpen fresh.”

DURHAM, N.C.—Clemson roughed up Georgia Tech ace Mark Pope for four runs on nine hits, and then tacked on five more in the ninth to win the first game of the ACC tournament 9-0 on Wednesday afternoon. The victory continues the Tigers' hot streak that has the team back in the mix to host an NCAA regional next weekend.

Clemson has completely turned its season around since getting swept at North Carolina, which dropped the Tigers record to 13-12. Since then, Clemson has gone 26-5.

“I think we’ve been as good as anyone in the country through the last 31 ballgames,” coach Jack Leggett said.

The Tigers are responsible for two of Pope’s four losses this season, also beating him April 29 in Clemson.

Pope said he didn’t have a good feel for his slider today, the second time that’s happened to him in the Durham Bulls Athletic Park this season. The first time it occurred, Pope was able to persevere for a 9-2 complete game-victory against Duke on April 1. But against a more talented Clemson club, his lack of a slider made Pope vulnerable. [...] Continue Reading »

We've got more automatic qualifiers to announce:

• Surely ESPN is already setting up shop in Coral Gables. Florida International's Garrett Wittels extended his amazing hitting streak to 54 games with a fifth-inning single up the middle against Troy in the Sun Belt championship game, and the Golden Panthers slugged their way to a 14-10 win. FIU is almost certain to head to Coral Gables as a No. 3 seed for a regional hosted by Miami, and I would expect a compelling No. 2 seed (Louisiana State?). People are justifiably captivated by the Wittels story; that's made-for-TV. That matters to the committee when it fills out the field.

• Is St. John's coach Ed Blankmeyer the new Kevin Gunderson? Back in February, Blankmeyer pronounced, "We're back," and declared that he had a regionals team on his hands. The Johnnies backed him up today, beating Connecticut 3-0 in the Big East championship game. The game got interesting in the ninth, when UConn loaded the bases with one out against closer Daniel Burawa, but Pierre LePage grounded into a double play to end it. St. John's gets in at the expense of an at-large bubble team. Pittsburgh is almost certainly on the outside looking in, now. [...] Continue Reading »

There were some tense moments, but Garrett Wittels extended his hitting streak to 53 games Saturday in Florida International's 11-9 win against Florida Atlantic in the Sun Belt tournament. Wittels flew out to deep center in his first three at-bats, then kept the streak alive in the eighth by lining a comebacker at FAU pitcher Tyler Everist for an infield single. Wittels dove head-first into first base to put runners on first and second, setting the stage for Jeremy Patton's go-ahead three-run homer. The win sent the Panthers to the Sun Belt championship game tomorrow against the winner of the Troy-Arkansas State game. Wittels will try to extend his streak to 54 games and extend Florida International's season into next week's regionals.

Florida Atlantic's ouster means the Sun Belt is very likely to earn three NCAA tournament bids, as the Owls and Louisiana-Lafayette (already eliminated) are in good shape to earn at-large spots. That's bad news for other bubble dwellers like Liberty, Wichita State and Florida Gulf Coast, all of whom failed to win their respective conference tournaments.

The Flames lost to top-seeded Coastal Carolina 8-2 in Saturday's Big South championship game, just about assuring the Chanticleers of a national seed. Liberty, meanwhile, finishes with an 0-7 record against the top 50 in the Ratings Percentage Index, seemingly dooming its at-large hopes. [...] Continue Reading »

HOOVER, Ala.—For the first time ever, the No. 7 and 8 seeds will face off in the championship game of the Southeastern Conference tournament. If that sounds like some colossal upset, it isn't.

Seventh-seeded Alabama and eighth-seeded Louisiana State are both extremely talented, experienced teams that wandered through the wilderness for a while in the middle of the season, but both teams are playing at an extremely high level now. The Crimson Tide and the Tigers both earned three straight dominating victories to breeze unbeaten through their respective sides of the SEC tournament bracket and set up Sunday's showdown, which is certain to draw an enormous crowd—perhaps as large as 15,000 fans.

We've written plenty about the reasons behind LSU's resurgence. It all starts on the mound, where the Tigers have gotten three straight strong starts, taking pressure off the lineup.

Alabama has used the exact same formula. Jimmy Nelson and Nathan Kilcrease dominated in the Tide's first two victories in Hoover, and lefthander Adam Morgan followed with another gem in Saturday's 5-2 win against top-seeded Florida. Morgan allowed just two runs on six hits and no walks while striking out five in a seven-inning complete game. [...] Continue Reading »