Tuesday’s roundup: Prep baseball, College baseball, Pro hockey, Legion baseball
By Richard Walker
Local favorite North Carolina was eliminated from championship contention on Tuesday night in the first day of the ACC baseball tournament at Charlotte’s Truist Field.
Pitt (23-19), which entered the tournament on a seven-game losing streak, disappointed a partisan crowd of 3,235 as Ron Washington Jr.’s two-run home run in the eighth inning helped the Panthers close out the Tar Heels (26-25).
Pitt and N.C. State (28-15) meet Thursday at 7 p.m. with the Pool C title on the line – and a spot in Saturday’s 5 p.m. semifinal.
Other Tuesday winners were Louisville 15-10 over Clemson and Virginia 3-2 over Virginia Tech
Both of those outcomes set up title games for their respective pools; Louisville will play Georgia Tech on Thursday at 3 p.m. for the Pool B title and Virginia meets Notre Dame on Friday at 11 a.m. for the Pool A title.
The tournament schedule follows:
POOL A – #1 Notre Dame, #8 Virginia, #12 Virginia Tech
Tuesday: Virginia 3, Virginia Tech 2
Wednesday: Notre Dame vs. Virginia Tech, 3 p.m.
Friday: Notre Dame vs. Virginia, 11 a.m.
POOL B – #2 Georgia Tech, #7 Louisville, #11 Clemson
Tuesday: Louisville 15, Clemson 10
Wednesday: Clemson vs. Georgia Tech, 7 p.m.
Thursday: Georgia Tech vs. Louisville, 3 p.m.
POOL C – #3 NC State, #6 North Carolina #10 Pitt
Tuesday: Pitt 5, North Carolina 3
Thursday: N.C. State vs. Pitt, 7 p.m.
Friday: North Carolina vs. N.C. State, 7 p.m.
POOL D – #4 Miami, #5 Florida State, #9 Duke
Wednesday: Duke vs. Florida State, 11 a.m.
Thursday: Duke vs. Miami, 11 a.m.
Friday: Florida State vs. Miami, 3 p.m.
Saturday’s semifinals
Pool A winner vs. Pool D winner, 1 p.m.
Pool B winner vs. Pool C winner, 5 p.m.
Sunday’s championship game
Noon
Here are the league’s updated standings with conference record following by overall record:
(Atlantic Division)
Notre Dame 25-10, 29-10
N.C. State 19-14, 28-15
Florida State 20-16, 29-21
Louisville 16-16, 28-21
Clemson 16-20, 24-27
Wake Forest 10-22, 20-27
Boston College 10-23, 20-28
(Coastal Division)
Georgia Tech 21-15, 28-21
Miami 20-15, 32-17
North Carolina 18-18, 26-25
Virginia 18-18, 28-22
Pittsburgh 16-17, 23-19
Virginia Tech 16-20, 27-24
Duke 16-17, 28-20
High school baseball
Crest 10, Cramer 0 (3 innings): Ben Hodge had three-winning, weather-shortened no-hitter with five strikeouts. Hodge (3-3, home run), Jackson Ledbeter (2-3), Luke Reynolds (2-2), Cole Drewery (1 hit), Porter Hall (1 hit), Blake Davis (1 hit) and Tucker McSwain (3-run home run) led the offense for Crest (8-0, 8-0), which has won 31 straight conference games.
Forestview 12, Ashbrook 4
Kings Mountain 3, North Gaston 0
East Gaston 12, Burns 1 (5 innings)
R-S Central 4, South Point 3
Bandys 8, West Lincoln 2
Lake Norman Charter 10, Lincolnton 0
Maiden 5, East Lincoln 2
North Lincoln 12, Newton-Conover 0
Thomas Jefferson 12, Bessemer City 1
Cherryville 5, Christ the King 3
Mountain Island Charter 8, Pine Lake Prep 7
Local high school baseball standings through Tuesday’s games unless noted (x-) with conference record first followed by overall record:
BIG SOUTH 3A
Crest 8-0, 8-0
Kings Mountain 7-1, 8-1
Forestview 5-3, 6-3
North Gaston 4-4, 4-5
Cramer 2-6, 3-6
Ashbrook 1-6, 1-8
Huss 0-6, 1-6
SOUTHWESTERN 2A
R-S Central 7-0, 8-1
South Point 5-2, 6-3
x-Chase 4-2, 6-2
x-East Rutherford 3-3, 4-3
Burns 3-6, 3-6
East Gaston 3-6, 3-6
x-Shelby 1-7, 1-7
SOUTH FORK 2A
East Lincoln 8-1, 8-1
North Lincoln 7-2, 7-2
Bandys 5-4, 5-4
Lk Norman Charter 5-4, 5-4
Maiden 5-4, 5-4
Lincolnton 3-6, 3-6
West Lincoln 2-7, 2-7
Newton-Conover 1-8, 1-8
SOUTHERN PIEDMONT 1A
Cherryville 7-0, 9-0
Lincoln Charter 7-1, 8-1
Christ the King 5-3, 5-3
Thomas Jefferson 5-3, 5-3
x-Highland Tech 2-5, 2-5
Bessemer City 1-7, 1-8
Piedmont CC 0-8, 0-8
PAC 7 2A
Mtn Isl Charter 7-0, 7-0
Pine Lake Prep 8-1, 8-1
Comm Sch Davidson 7-1, 7-1
Bradford Prep 3-6, 3-7
Union Academy 2-5, 2-5
Queen’s Grant 0-7, 1-7
Langtree Charter 0-7, 0-7
Wednesday’s game
Huss at Cramer
Thursday’s games
Crest at Ashbrook
Forestview at North Gaston
Kings Mountain at Huss
East Gaston at Burns
R-S Central at South Point
Shelby at St. Stephens
East Lincoln at Maiden
Lake Norman Charter at Lincolnton
North Lincoln at Newton-Conover
West Lincoln at Bandys
Highland Tech at Cherryville
Lincoln Charter at Bessemer City
Pine Lake Prep at Mountain Island Charter
Friday’s games
Corvian Community at Piedmont Community Charter
College baseball
All-Big South: Campbell infielder Zach Neto and USC Upstate pitcher Jordan Marks were voted the 2021 Big South Baseball Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year, respectively, by the league’s head coaches. Other top honors went to co-coaches of the year Jim Chester of Gardner-Webb and Justin Haire of Campbell, freshman of the year Thomas Harrington of Campbell and Marks was named Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the Big South’s sports information directors.
The full team follows:
FIRST-TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE
OF Spencer Packard, R-Sr., Campbell
OF Connor Denning, R-Jr., Campbell
OF Cam Pearcey, Sr., Gardner-Webb
INF Zach Neto, R-Fr., Campbell
INF Brandon Lankford, Sr., UNC Asheville
INF Matt Christian, R-Sr., Campbell
INF Jason Matthews, Sr., USC Upstate
C Straton Podaras, Gr., Radford
UTL Dominic Freeberger, Jr., UNC Asheville
DH Patrick Ferguson, Sr., Gardner-Webb
SP Jordan Marks, Jr., USC Upstate
SP Mason Miller, Sr., Gardner-Webb
SP RJ Petit, Soph., Charleston Southern
RP Logan Heintzman, R-Sr., Campbell
RP Kevin Davis, Jr., USC Upstate
SECOND-TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE
OF Joe Johnson, Gr., High Point
OF Julian Rip, Sr., USC Upstate
OF Jack Hennessy, Soph., USC Upstate
INF David Bryant, Jr., Radford
INF Eliot Dix, R-Fr., Longwood
INF Eric Jones, Sr., Gardner-Webb
INF Noah Rabon, Fr., USC Upstate
C Jake Wyandt, Sr., Presbyterian College
UTL Eric Toth, Jr., Presbyterian College
DH Devin Buckner, Jr., USC Upstate
SP Thomas Harrington, Fr., Campbell
SP Alex Garbrick, Jr., USC Upstate
SP Ryan Chasse, R-Soph., Campbell
RP Isaac Campbell, Sr., Gardner-Webb
RP Kevin Westlake, R-Sr., Campbell
HONORABLE MENTION ALL-CONFERENCE
Cole Singsank, R-Fr., INF, High Point
Scout McFalls, Sr., OF, Winthrop
Collin Wolf, R-Sr., INF, Campbell
Grey Lyttle, Gr., SP, High Point
Zacchaeus Rasberry, R-Sr., OF, Presbyterian
ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM
Grant Harris, OF, R-Sr., Campbell
Dylan Stewart, INF, Soph., Charleston Southern
Ben LaSpaluto, SS, Sr., Gardner-Webb
Grey Lyttle, P, Gr., High Point
Andrew Gorham, OF, R-Soph., Longwood
Jake Wyandt, C, Sr., Presbyterian
Anthony Galati, OF, Sr., Radford
Ethan Tressler, P, Sr., UNC Asheville
Jordan Marks, P, Jr., USC Upstate
Jason Crumley, P, Sr., Winthrop
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Zach Neto, R-Fr., Campbell
PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Jordan Marks, Jr., USC Upstate
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Thomas Harrington, Fr., Campbell
CO-COACH OF THE YEAR
Jim Chester, Gardner-Webb
Justin Haire, Campbell
SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Jordan Marks, Jr., USC Upstate
Big South tournament: Campbell is the top seed for the 2021 Ingles Big South Baseball Championship to be played Thursday through Saturday at Fayetteville’s SEGRA Stadium.
The two-time defending champion Campbell finished 28-9 in the league for a third straight regular season title. USC Upstate (28-12) finished second and Gardner-Webb (27-13) finished third.
The tournament schedule follows:
Thursday
Game 1: No. 1 Campbell vs. No. 4 Presbyterian, 3 p.m.
Game 2: No. 2 USC Upstate vs. No. 3 Gardner-Webb, 7 p.m.
Friday
Game 3: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 11 a.m. (elimination game)
Game 4: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 3 p.m.
Game 5: Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 7 p.m. (elimination game)
Saturday
Game 6: Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5, Noon (ESPNU)
Game 7 (if necessary): Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6, 4 p.m.
Conference USA tournament: After winning its first regular season Conference USA title in history, No. 20 Charlotte is the top seeded team in the 2021 Air Force Reserve Conference USA Baseball Championship at the brand new J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park in Ruston, La., on Wednesday through Sunday.
Charlotte finished the regular season with a 39-17 overall record and 24-8 Conference USA record after winning two of three games from UNC-Wilmington this weekend.
The tournament schedule follows:
Wednesday
Game 1: (4) Old Dominion vs. (5) Florida Atlantic, 10 a.m.
Game 2: (1) Charlotte vs. (8) Middle Tennessee, 1:30 p.m.
Game 3: (2) Louisiana Tech vs. (7) UTSA, 5 p.m.
Game 4: (3) Southern Miss vs. (6) WKU, 8:30 p.m.
Thursday
Game 5: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 10 a.m.
Game 6: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 1:30 p.m.
Game 7: Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 5 p.m.
Game 8: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 8:30 p.m.
Friday
Game 9: Winner Game 5 vs. Loser game 6, 4 p.m.
Game 10: Winner Game 7 vs. Loser game 8, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday
Game 11: Winner Game 6 vs. Winner game 9, 10 a.m.
Game 12: Winner Game 8 vs. Winner game 10, 1:30 p.m.
Game 13 (if necessary): Same teams as Game 11, 5 p.m.
Game 14 (if necessary): Same teams as Game 12, 8:30 p.m.
Sunday
Championship Game: 2 p.m. (CBS Sports Network)
Pro hockey
The Carolina Hurricanes are in the midst of their Stanley Cup playoff pursuit after winning their fourth division title in 25 seasons in North Carolina. The Hurricanes won the 2006 Stanley Cup championship, advanced to the 2002 Stanley Cup finals and were in the Eastern Conference finals in 2019. Carolina is 36-12-8 this season and are the No. 1 seed in the Central Division.
First round series vs. Nashville Predators
Game 1 – May 17, Carolina 5-2
Game 2 – May 19, Carolina 3-0
Game 3 – May 21, Nashville 5-4 in 2 OT
Game 4 – May 23, Nashville 4-3 in 2 OT
Game 5 – Tuesday, Carolina 3-2 in OT (Carolina leads series 3-2)
Game 6 – Thursday at Nashville, 9:30 p.m.
Game 7 (if necessary) – May 29 at Carolina
Legion baseball
The Gaston Braves Post 144-266 American Legion baseball team will hold sign-ups on June 5 at 4 p.m. at Gaston Christian School. For information, email [email protected].