QUEEN CITY WINNERS: We look at previous Charlotte champions as ACC baseball tournament returns to area for fourth time

By Richard Walker

Charlotte is the home of the ACC baseball tournament for its fourth time this week as 12 of the league’s 14 baseball teams descend on the Charlotte Knights’ Truist Field.

The 12 teams – defending champion Duke and Boston College failed to qualify – will compete in four pools to determine a single-elimination semifinals and title game.

The three previous trips to the area – 2000 and 2001 at old Knights Stadium in Fort Mill, S.C., and last year at Truist Field – have crowned expected, surprising and historic champions.

In 2000, future major leaguer Mark Teixiera made two early throwing errors for Georgia Tech, including that allowed Clemson to take a 4-3 and threaten to force a winner-take-all title game when the league had nine members and the tournament used a double-elimination format.

But Teixiera, who won the ACC’s triple crown for batting average, home runs and RBIs, hit a two-run double in the seventh inning that put the Yellow Jackets ahead for good what turned into an 8-4 victory.

That title matchup pitted teams that finished first (Georgia Tech) and second (Clemson) in that year’s regular season standings.

Georgia Tech would go on to win a regional before losing in a super regional while Clemson would advance to the 2000 College World Series.

In 2001, Wake Forest claimed its third league title in four years but the Deacons were the No. 3 seed and knocked off upstart No. 8 seed N.C. State 17-4 in the championship game.

Pitcher Cory Sullivan led off the game with a home run and pitched eight innings as Wake Forest rolled to victory in a season in which they finished as regional runner-up the following week.

Reliever Dave Bush pitched the final inning to cap a week in which he went 1-0 with two saves to earn tournament MVP honors.

N.C. State, which had to win a play-in game just to advance to the tournament’s eight-team field, entered the tournament knowing it had to win in order to advance to the NCAA tournament. The Wolfpack set a school record with five ACC tournament victories but ran out of steam in the championship game.

N.C. State again suffered title game heartbreak last season when the tournament was played at uptown Charlotte’s Truist Field for the first time.

The No. 3 seed Wolfpack’s 1-0 loss to Duke allowed the No. 9 seed Blue Devils to set school history with its first ACC title since 1961 and first tournament title ever.

Duke starter Cooper Stinson combined with relievers Jimmy Loper and Marcus Johnson and the Blue Devils’ run in the fourth inning was enough to take the victory.

The win was Duke’s 12th straight and allowed the Blue Devils’ to advance into the NCAA tournament where it went 1-2 in the regional.

N.C. State, meanwhile, regrouped and advanced to its third College World Series appearance before the NCAA cancelled the Wolfpack’s chance to advance to the national title game due to several COVID-19 positive test results.

Last year, a crowd of 7,162 attended the title game to increased attendance for the 15-game tournament to 58,516. The total was the highest for the event since the 2015 tournament in Durham drew 64,140.

ACC baseball tournament:

The schedule for this week’s ACC baseball championship that will be played at Charlotte’s Truist Field.

Here are the seeding and the four pools:

POOL A – #1 Virginia Tech, #8 North Carolina, #12 Clemson
POOL B – #2 Louisville, #7 Georgia Tech, #11 Pitt
POOL C – #3 Miami, #6 Wake Forest, #10 NC State
POOL D – #4 Notre Dame, #5 Virginia, #9 Florida State

Here is the schedule for the games:
(Tuesday)
Pitt vs. Georgia Tech, 11 a.m.
N.C. State vs. Wake Forest, 3 p.m.
Clemson vs. North Carolina, 7 p.m.
(Wednesday)
Louisville vs. Pitt, 11 a.m.
Florida State vs. Virginia, 3 p.m.
Miami vs. N.C. State, 7 p.m.
(Thursday)
Georgia Tech vs. Louisville, 11 a.m.
Notre Dame vs. Florida State, 3 p.m.
Virginia Tech vs. Clemson, 7 p.m.
(Friday)
Virginia vs. Notre Dame, 11 a.m.
Wake Forest vs. Miami, 3 p.m.
North Carolina vs. Virginia Tech, 7 p.m.
(Saturday – semifinals)
Pool A Winner vs. Pool D Winner, 1 p.m.
Pool B Winner vs. Pool C Winner, 5 p.m.
(Sunday)
ACC Championship, Noon

Previous tournament champions (with tournament MVPs):
1973 N.C. State (none selected)
1974 N.C. State (none selected)
1975 N.C. State (none selected)
1976 Clemson (none selected)
1977 Wake Forest (none selected)
1978 Clemson (none selected)
1979 no tournament
1980 Clemson (none selected)
1981 Clemson (none selected)
1982 North Carolina (none selected)
1983 North Carolina (Scott Bankhead, P, North Carolina)
1984 North Carolina (Todd Wilkinson, OF, UNC)
1985 Georgia Tech (Scott Jordan, OF, Georgia Tech)
1986 Georgia Tech (Jeff Distasio, 1B, Georgia Tech)
1987 Georgia Tech (Todd Shiver, P, Georgia Tech)
1988 Georgia Tech (Ty Griffin, 2B, Georgia Tech)
1989 Clemson (Brian Barnes, P, Clemson)
1990 North Carolina (Steve Estroff, 1B, North Carolina)
1991 Clemson (Michael Spiers, OF, Clemson)
1992 N.C. State (Matt Donahue, P, N.C. State)
1993 Clemson (Jeff Morris, 2B, Clemson)
1994 Clemson (Shane Monahan, OF, Clemson)
1995 Florida State (Jonathan Johnson, P, Florida State)
1996 Virginia (Seth Greisinger, P, Virginia)
1997 Florida State (Jeremy Morris, OF, Florida State)
1998 Wake Forest (John Hendricks, P, Wake Forest)
1999 Wake Forest (Andrew Riepe, C, Wake Forest)
2000 Georgia Tech (Jason Basil, OF, Georgia Tech)
2001 Wake Forest (Dave Bush, P, Wake Forest)
2002 Florida State (Stephen Drew, SS, Florida State)
2003 Georgia Tech (Brian Burks, P, Georgia Tech)
2004 Florida State (Shane Robinson, OF, Florida State)
2005 Georgia Tech (Tyler Greene, SS, Georgia Tech)
2006 Clemson (Tyler Colvin, OF, Clemson)
2007 North Carolina (Josh Horton, DH, North Carolina)
2008 Miami (Dave DiNatale, OF, Miami)
2009 Virginia (Dan Grovatt, OF, Virginia)
2010 Florida State (Harold Riggins, 1B, N.C. State)
2011 Virginia (Steven Proscia, 3B, Virginia)
2012 Georgia Tech (Jake Davies, 1B/DH/UT, Georgia Tech)
2013 North Carolina (Cody Stubbs, 1B, North Carolina)
2014 Georgia Tech (Dusty Isaacs, P, Georgia Tech)
2015 Florida State (Boomer Biegalski, P, Florida State)
2016 Clemson (Mike Triller, DH, Clemson)
2017 Florida State (Jackson Lueck, OF, Florida State)
2018 Florida State (Cal Raleigh, C, Florida State)
2019 North Carolina (Michael Busch, 1B, North Carolina)
2020 (Cancelled – coronavirus pandemic)
2021 Duke (Joey Loperfido, OF, Duke)
2022 May 24-29

Sites:
Boshamer Stadium, Chapel Hill – 1973, 1975, 1981, 1982, 1983
Doak Field, Raleigh – 1974, 1980
Tiger Field, Clemson, S.C. – 1976, 1977, 1978
Durham Athletic Park – 1984, 1986
Chandler Stadium, Atlanta, Ga. – 1985
Greenville, S.C., Municipal Stadium – 1987-95
Durham Bulls Athletic Park – 1996, 1998-99, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015-16, 2018-19
Florida Power Park, St. Petersburg, Fla. – 1997, 2002
Knights Stadium, Fort Mill, S.C. – 2000-01
Salem, Va., Memorial Baseball Stadium – 2003-04
Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville, Fla. – 2005-08
NewBridge Bank Park, Greensboro – 2010, 2012, 2014
Louisville, Ky., Slugger Stadium – 2017
Truist Field, Charlotte – 2021-22

 

ACC tournament records:
App. Record Titles Title Years
Boston College 2 3-3 0 none
Clemson 39 102-62 10 1976, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1994, 2006, 2016
Duke 33 26-56 1 2021
Florida State 23 67-33 8 1995, 1997, 2002, 2004, 2010, 2015, 2017, 2018
Georgia Tech 34 74-54 9 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2012, 2014
Louisville 3 4-4 0 none
Maryland 32 17-52 0 none
Miami 8 10-13 1 2008
North Carolina 39 66-62 7 1982, 1983, 1984, 1990, 2007, 2013, 2019
N.C. State 39 78-69 4 1973, 1974, 1975, 1992
Notre Dame 3 1-6 0 none
Pittsburgh 2 3-2 0 none
Virginia 39 48-65 3 1996, 2009, 2011
Virginia Tech 3 5-3 0 none
Wake Forest 35 47-61 4 1977, 1998, 1999, 2001