Virginia, North Carolina play their way in ACC Tournament, look to get hot
DURHAM, N.C. -- North Carolina and Virginia have been two of ACC baseball's best programs over the last 5-6 years with Virginia reaching three of the last six College World Series and North Carolina getting to three in that span as well (and six of the last 10).
Virginia (34-19) made the final series in Omaha a year ago, while North Carolina (33-22) made its last trip to the CWS in 2013. Either way, these two programs are accustomed to success and for a variety of reasons for each, it hasn't been as easy this year.
Both teams found themselves forced to play their way into the ACC Tournament. In spite of scuffling some throughout the year, both teams did what the programs have come to do best -- win in big spots.
No. 7 seed Virginia knocked off No. 10-seed Georgia Tech 11-0, in a game that was mercy-ruled in the seventh. And Georgia Tech needed to win to get an at-large NCAA Tournament berth, more than likely, while Virginia is likely in.
No. 8 seed North Carolina had to beat No. 9 Virginia Tech, a team that also needed to win to keep its season alive (though the Hokies would have had to win the whole tournament to make the NCAA Tournament, more than likely).
Nothing has come easily to the Tar Heels lately; their six-game losing streak in ACC play was their longest since 2001. They were swept at Notre Dame and then by Virginia the following weekend at home to end the season.
Four of North Carolina's 16 losses in ACC play came in extra innings, including a 10-inning heartbreaker in the series opener to Virginia last week where the Tar Heels led after eight. Sophomore pitcher Zac Gallen, who was back again to start against the Hokies, left with a 1-0 lead. The Tar Heels surrendered the tying run shortly after, and then the winning run in the 10th.
That loss seemed to break their spirit, and head coach Mike Fox didn't like what he saw out of his team after that, calling the way they played in the final two games -- losing them by a combined score of 14-4 -- "embarrassing".
"I just challenged my team that they're at the University of North Carolina and they're playing in a great league, and that's what they signed up for," Fox said. "And to go out and not so much not play well, but not play with effort, is unacceptable. I think they all understood that. And I think they were embarrassed to a certain extent."
Gallen went 6.2 innings and didn't have his best stuff, but he got the outs he needed to, striking out seven Hokies. Senior Trevor Kelley came in to finish the game off and struck out five of the 11 batters he faced, including getting out of a one-out jam with runners on the corners by striking out his next two batters.
Both Gallen and Kelley said the vibe around the team felt different coming into the game.
"You really want to play in those games where it's do or die. Everything is on the line. Everybody is watching," Gallen said. "You could tell that there was a different feel in the locker room. We just let everything go. And showing up today, you could just tell there was a different look in everyone's eyes, they knew what was at stake today."
"Just on the ride over here before the game I could really sense that everyone was focused and everyone was going to really compete with everything they've got today," Kelley said. "And for me, personally, I'm a senior, so the time is ticking. And I'm not going to go out easy, that's for sure."
North Carolina isn't accustomed to missing the NCAA Tournament very often. In fact, it hasn't missed it since 2001.
But entering this weekend losers of six straight, Fox knew that his team had work to do. It started with a do-or-die game against the Hokies; if the Tar Heels lost, they'd have to await their fate and after losing seven straight to end the season, it likely wouldn't have been a good one.
"I felt like we needed to (win). I'm still not sure we're in," Fox said. "But I just wanted my team to come over and really be competitive and try to relax and play a full nine innings and kind of let the chips fall where they may."
The Tar Heels will enter Pool A with No. 1 seed Louisville (who the Tar Heels will face Wednesday night), Clemson and Florida State.
Virginia, meanwhile, likely was in the Tournament already. But the Cavaliers have recently found something that's working after a season of inconsistency, and they want to keep it going.
Injuries have decimated the Cavaliers all year. Virginia didn't have a ton of players coming back from last year's national runner-up -- nearly half the roster is made up of freshmen -- but the Cavaliers did have some important veterans. Of that group of about six players who played big roles last season, three of them have either been hurt at some point or are out for the year, in the case of junior pitcher Nathan Kirby and junior infielder/outfielder John La Prise.
But junior outfielder Joe McCarthy has returned, and freshman Jack Gerstenmaier is only back recently from a September injury that sidelined him; he's now a starter.
"It's certainly been well-documented this year the injuries that this team has taken on and they've found a way to push through it. And now we're at the point where we're as healthy as we ever have been," Virginia head coach Brian O'Connor said.
"John La Prise isn't coming back, but we're as healthy as we have been, and I think the health and then the consistency leads to the consistency that we've been able to play with. So starting the season I even felt before the injuries happened, I felt that this team had a chance to be special at this time of the year, just because I knew we'd be counting on so many first-year players. And I knew by the coming down the stretch run that they would play like veterans now."
Virginia was swept at home for the first time in a long time by Louisville, then lost its next series to Georgia Tech. It won three of its final four ACC series; its only lost series was to N.C. State when the Wolfpack had two walk-off wins. Overall, the Cavaliers have won five in a row and six of seven.
"It felt like the last 5-6 ball games we've really been consistent offensively and have a very, very good lineup, 1 through 9," O'Connor said. "I think ever since we came out of final exams against Duke two weeks ago, we've been playing very, very good baseball."
Virginia is in Pool B, where it will have to contend with offensive juggernaut and No. 2 seed Miami, not to mention red-hot N.C. State and Notre Dame. But Virginia is a winning program, and the Cavaliers feel like now that they've made pool play, they can generate some positive momentum. Their next game is Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. against Miami.
"Hopefully we can continue to play good baseball. Certainly our opponent tomorrow, and then the opponent on Friday and Saturday are all high-quality teams," O'Connor said. "When you get into this final pool anybody can win it, so certainly we're going to have to play the same level of baseball we've been playing to advance."
