May 25,
2003
ACC Tournament Notes
'GC' has been good to
GT
By Sean Ryan
CollegeBaseballInsider.com Co-Founder
SALEM, Va. – After Georgia Tech topped North Carolina State for its third win of
the day and the ACC Tournament title, it wouldn’t have been too much of a shock
to see the Yellow Jackets celebrating at Golden Corral.
Before hammering Duke 23-4, the Tech players, coaches and traveling party
feasted at the Golden Corral near Roanoke’s Valley View Mall. Before suiting up
for what ended up being a three-game day, the Yellow Jackets decided to fuel up
at…you guessed it, Golden Corral.
"Got to stay with what works," said Tech’s Brian Burks, the winning pitcher
against top-ranked Florida State. "GC has been working – that’s what we call it,
GC. I’ve been here three years, and that’s Coach Hall’s favorite."
Yet, the Golden Corral isn’t always the eatery of choice for some of the Yellow
Jackets.
"It gets a little old after a while," right fielder Jeremy Slayden said,
laughing. "But the breakfast it OK, the breakfast is all right."
Burks said, "Oh, man, that’s for sure, I agree with that," when told that other
players wouldn’t mind going someplace else. He quickly reiterated, "But you
gotta stick with what works."
Hall stuck to his guns, and it’s likely the Yellow Jackets will be hitting the
Golden Corral again soon.
"GC’s golden all the time," Hall said proudly. "That’s why they call it the
Golden Corral."
Can anyone say endorsement?
***
Burks was named the tourney’s most valuable player for posting a save in the
Yellow Jackets’ opening win over Wake Forest and for helping them get past
Florida State with a win and 5.2 innings of relief.
"I didn’t think I threw enough innings," Burks said when asked about the honor.
Teammates Clifton Remole (first), Eric Patterson (second), Micah Owings (third)
and Slayden (outfield) also were named to the all-tourney team. Owings was an
interesting choice when he started four games at third in the tourney after
hardly playing there all season. He made a pair of super diving plays to his
left on Sunday.
Rounding out the all-tourney team were N.C. State’s Chad Orvella (shortstop) and
Nate Cretarolo (pitcher), Florida State’s Tony Richie (catcher) and Blake
Balkcom (outfield), North Carolina’s Sean Farrell (outfield) and Virginia’s Joe
Koshansky (utility/DH).
***
Burks worked 5.2 innings with two hits, three earned runs
and three strikeouts to pick up the win against the Seminoles.
"Before the game, Coach Mo [pitching coach Bobby Moranda] came up to me and
said: We’re going to use you early if we need you. So I was ready to come out
early on in the game."
He replaced starter Andrew Kown, who allowed three earned runs.
***
Senior Jeff Watchko followed Burks’ relief effort with a
nice one of his own in the championship game win.
Watchko worked 4.2 innings, allowing six hits and two earned runs in grabbing
the win for the Yellow Jackets.
"I wanted to take him out honestly after the ninth inning," Hall said. "He said
he didn’t want to come out of the game…I’m glad he stayed in. It’s just a
fitting end for a senior to win the championship game."
***
Wolfpack coach Elliott Avent praised Georgia Tech for its
magical day, ultimately saying the Jackets are a team that could end up in
Omaha.
But you got the impression he thought the game should have gone to the 11th
inning.
"You saw it, it was a great game," Avent said. "I think everyone saw it. It
ended kind of poorly, but it was a great game."
When pressed what he meant by poorly, Avent said: "I don’t think I’m allowed to
comment on officiating, officiating’s call, but ya’ll saw it."
Avent came out to argue when catcher Colt Morton started a 2-6-3 double play on
Jake Hall’s bunt attempt. He said he was told by home plate umpire Al Davis that
Hall bunted the ball twice. It appeared the ball could have been fair, as Hall
bolted to first right away and Morton stormed out of the chute. Davis called the
play dead.
Avent also might have been wishing for another strike or two, as was the
Wolfpack faithful, which hooted and hollered several times in the bottom of the
10th. Tech’s Brandon Boggs and Eric Patterson each took close pitches with two
strikes before the Jackets won the game.
***
N.C. State shortstop Chad Orvella turned a ton of heads
over the weekend.
Not only did the 5-10, 190-pounder make every routine play and several
highlight-at-11 plays, but he also had a fantastic tourney at the plate. He went
9 for 17 with seven runs and three RBI. His homer in the 11th inning beat North
Carolina, and he was on base four times against FSU.
Against Tech in the championship game, he limited the Jackets to three hits and
one earned run in 3.1 innings as the State bullpen was dry.
"I’ve said all year that he’s our MVP," Avent said. "And I think he proved it
this weekend."
***
North Carolina State played most of its last two games without third baseman
Jeremy Dutton. Dutton suffered a slight pull in his hamstring running the bases
against North Carolina on Saturday. He came on to pinch-hit in the top of the
eight with two out and two on against the Yellow Jackets. He struck out against
Watchko.
***
Georgia Tech catcher/DH Mike Nickeas had a feeling before Sunday’s showdown with
Florida State for the right to play North Carolina State in the ACC Tournament
final.
"I had a feeling; you know, just one of those baseball things," Nickeas said.
"Before the game, it was going to be a big one. I might have a huge part to play
in it."
Stephen Drew’s error at short gave Nickeas a shot.
"I was just like: I’m going to get an opportunity to win this game," Nickeas
said.
He delivered a two-run single off the chalk of the left-field line to put Tech
up 8-7.
***
FSU’s win against North Carolina State on Saturday night gave it 50 wins for the
season. Incredibly, the Seminoles have reached 50 wins 21 times in Mike Martin’s
24 seasons.
Meanwhile, Clemson went 0-2 in the tourney and is stuck on
38 wins. The Tigers have won at least 40 games in each of Jack Leggett’s nine
seasons.
***
Tar Heels coach Mike Fox was ejected by home plate umpire A.J. Lostaglio in the
bottom of the sixth inning.
Fox appeared to be fuming when the Tar Heels thought that Brandon Boggs missed
second base on his big two-run triple. UNC, which felt Jack Cox missed an
earlier call at first on a bang-bang play at first when Greg Mangum made a
diving stab at second, appealed to second-base umpire Al Davis to no avail.
After a walk to Eric Patterson, Fox was tossed.
"Passion for the game," Fox said afterward.
Boggs said teammates told him it looked like he might have missed the bag, which
could have made a huge inning smaller. Boggs wasn’t sure.
"It could have gone both ways," he said.
***
Martin seemed proud to announce that his Seminoles would be traveling home in
style.
After taking a bus from Durham, N.C., where FSU flew for its final ACC series
against Duke, the Seminoles were to ride home to Tallahassee, Fla., in a
sparkling new sleeper bus.
Martin smiled as he talked about the TVs, VCRs and other amenities his players
would be able to enjoy for the 12-to-14-hour trip home.
The players seemed to be excited, too.
"I was dreading going home on the bus," second baseman Bryan Zech said on the
elevator going down to the field before FSU’s game against Georgia Tech. "Now I
can’t wait."
***
Three ACC teams were named as regional sites for the NCAA tourney.
Florida State and Georgia Tech are repeat sites, and North Carolina State will
be hosting for the first time. The Wolfpack will be playing in Wilson, N.C.,
which has been a site before for East Carolina.
***
The final game between the Yellow Jackets and Wolfpack was the 16th game in a
rain-condensed four days of the ACC Tournament (not including the play-in game).
Needless to say, the ACC staff and reporters and broadcasters covering the event
were a little weary after all that baseball.
Associated Press reporter Hank Kurz, who wrote leads and write-throughs -
essentially straight-forward news stories and the features about the games - on
all the games, lightened the mood a little midway through the final game.
"If North Carolina State wins, who do they play next?" Kurz joked.
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