Seminoles, Tigers To Clash For ACC Title

DURHAM, N.C.—Dylan Busby wasn’t going to let it happen again.

No, Busby wasn’t going to allow Miami lefthander Michael Mediavilla to embarrass him at the plate, like he did last time. When Florida State faced the Hurricanes back on May 21, the crafty southpaw struck out Busby four times in a Seminoles’ loss. So on Saturday, with a rematch looming, Busby studied his opponent exhaustively, watching video of him until he “found some things that not everyone would see.”

Whatever he found, it worked.

The sophomore Florida State first baseman went 4-for-5, hitting a game-tying two-run home run in the fourth inning—his second of the ACC Baseball Championship—and he just narrowly missed a second one in the sixth, hitting the very top of the 32-foot wall in left field.

But Busby’s most important hit of all didn’t come against Mediavilla. It came in the bottom of the ninth, with the bases loaded and one out and Miami righthander Devin Meyer on the mound. Busby turned on a pitch and grounded it past a drawn-in infield, pointing both index fingers toward the sky as he saw the ball roll onto the outfield grass. His Seminoles teammates ran out to mob him near second base, then dumped an ice cooler on him—as is sports tradition. Thanks to Busby, Florida State walked off, 5-4.

Busby not only beat Mediavilla on Saturday; he not only, almost singlehandedly, took down No. 1-seed Miami; but he also sent his team to the ACC tournament title game for the second straight year. After winning the title last year against North Carolina State, the Seminoles will try to repeat Sunday morning against Clemson.

“I mean, I’d rather have it done early,” Busby said of the walk-off win, laughing. “It was great. It gave us a bunch of confidence. Going into tomorrow with that kind of confidence, it can be a good thing.”

A walkoff wouldn’t have been necessary at all had Miami not fought back in the ninth. Two nights after Miami third baseman Edgar Michelangeli hit a ninth-inning three-run shot against N.C. State and bat-flipped the Hurricanes to a comeback win, Michelangeli struck again, hitting a game-tying two-run single in the ninth against FSU righthander Chase Haney.

But the Seminoles were able to stop the damage right there, with Haney and lefthander Alec Byrd combining to pitch out of a first-and-third, one-out situation.

“That’s what excited me more than anything else on the day,” FSU coach Mike Martin said. “Because there we were, first and third, one out. They had just fought back. A couple of things happened that we weren’t exactly happy with the way they developed their inning … But first and third, one out; got a strikeout and a fly ball. That’s poise. That’s character. And then to come in and get it done was very encouraging.”

Martin said, in particular, he was pleased with the poise of his freshmen and sophomores. Freshman lefthander Tyler Holton put FSU in a 2-0 deficit early but settled down to throw seven strong innings, striking out a career-high nine and walking just two.

And then there’s Busby. The sophomore said he’s made some adjustments at the plate, tinkering with his approach, and that’s paid off with a big week in Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

“Just got back to doing things I was doing early in the year and going back to what works and kicking back to what doesn’t,” Busby said. “Getting back to everything and swinging the bat, and good things came. So roll with it.”

Martin went more in depth in the growth he’s seen from Busby, who’s hitting .310/.367/.546 this season with a team-leading 10 home runs in 216 at-bats. Much of his success this year stems from preparation, in studying the game, as he did with Mediavilla on Saturday.

“He’s learning the game on a daily basis, as all of our players are,” Martin said. “And that’s something that you carry with you throughout your career is having an idea of how you’re going to be worked and being able to lay off of certain pitches.

“This young man is growing up, and let’s hope that it continues because the game is obviously very mental.”

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Lee Has Tigers Roaring

When first-year Clemson head coach Monte Lee took over his new club in the fall, one of the first coaching principles he tried to instill in the Tigers was, “we’re going to win the last nine outs.” He wanted Clemson to hold an iron grip on its leads late in games—to finish.

“(If) you want to define a successful club in college baseball,” Lee said, “it’s a team that can win with a one-run lead with nine outs to go.”

By that definition, Lee’s Clemson team is indeed a very successful college baseball club. The Tigers have epitomized late-inning grittiness throughout this week’s ACC Baseball Championship, and on Saturday, fittingly, Clemson used a late rally to slip past Wake Forest, 5-4, to go a perfect 3-0 in pool play and advance to Sunday’s ACC championship game against Florida State.

Ultimately, the Tigers won Saturday by winning the last nine outs.

Trailing 4-1 heading into the seventh, Clemson DH Mike Triller hit a home run on the second pitch righthander reliever Donnie Sellers threw. Two batters later, after a walk, sophomore center fielder Chase Pinder followed with a two-run shot to tie the game. From there, Clemson relievers Patrick Andrews and Pat Krall combined to hold Wake Forest scoreless, and Clemson scored the game-winning run in the top of ninth, on a wild pitch by righthander Parker Dunshee with the bases loaded and two outs.

The Tigers went on to finish off the one-run win with Krall on the mound. It was the 14th one-run game they’ve won this season.

“I thank coach for (the one-run wins),” Pinder said. “I know when we’re struggling or out of whack during the game and coach meets in front of the dugout, he’s going to get us straight, and he always does that, so I give him credit.”

The story was much the same in Clemson’s first two games of the tournament. The Tigers won, 5-4, Thursday against Virginia on a ninth-inning sacrifice fly by Pinder. On Friday, starter Clate Schmidt struggled early but regrouped to pitch into the ninth. Again, the Tigers won the final nine outs, and again, they won the game, 5-3.

That’s essentially been the formula for the Tigers over the last month, as they battled through series wins against Atlantic Division mates Florida State and North Carolina State. Lee has been able to push the right buttons at the right time, and that continued in the tournament.  He’s started Triller in two tournament games, going on essentially a gut feeling—and he’s homered in both games, despite having just 32 at-bats to his name all year. Lee pinch ran for Seth Beer in the ninth Saturday, and that pinch-runner, K.J. Bryant, just narrowly beat the tag at the plate for the game-winning run. Not blessed with a particularly deep pitching staff, Lee has found the right situations to use moment-of-truth reliever Krall and make ultimate use of services.

All of that amounts to a 41-18 Clemson team that currently sits at No. 6 in the RPI on WarrenNolan.com. The Tigers are 18-14 against the top 50, 21-17 against the top 100. A couple of weeks ago, the Tigers didn’t look a regional host. Now, they have the look of a potential national seed—especially if they manage to win the title game Sunday.

“I think we have done a really good job of doing everything that we possibly can to put a resumé together that deserves some recognition,” Lee said. “Are we a national seed? We can’t determine that. But I know this: If you look at our top-50 wins, top-100 wins, it’s hard I think for anybody to say that Clemson doesn’t deserve to be one of the top eight national seeds. We have one of the top eight resumes, I believe, and again, I don’t study it to the point of the people on the committee.

“I’m just trying to win the next game.”

The next game, of course, is a big one.

Odds and Ends

Though No. 1-seeded Miami (43-11) was eliminated from the ACC tournament, its status as a national seed in the NCAA is secure. Head coach Jim Morris said he would’ve coached somewhat differently—for example, extending bullpen arms Frankie Bartow and closer Bryan Garcia—if Saturday’s game had more significant postseason ramifications. The team’s focus is on the NCAA tournament. “The real deal is, is that I want to get us prepared as a team for this next thing, because at Miami, you know, sad to say or good to say, that we could win the ACC; and if we don’t go to the World Series, then it’s not a successful season,” Morris said. “We have to get them ready there. Once in a while we’ve got to win a ring, and it’s been too long since I’ve won one. So we need to focus on that. I’ve got two more seasons after this one, before I retire, and we need another ring, guys, before I’m out of here.” Morris added that he prefers the ACC’s pool play format to the SEC’s double-elimination tournament style, saying that he thinks the ACC’s tournament is less taxing on a pitching staff and better prepares teams for the next round of the postseason.

Both Morris and Martin were effusive in their praise for the depth of the ACC conference, which ranks first in conference RPI. “The league is, in my opinion, as strong as it’s ever been,” Morris said. “No question about it, and it gets better every year. It gets better every year. There are so many teams in the conference that are emphasizing baseball and hiring new coaches, and if you don’t win, you don’t have a job. You’ve got a lot of pressure but people are spending money to make people better and make their programs better. It’s a great league.” Added Martin, joking: “What happened to the old days when Virginia was dropping their program? When we were playing on a carpet that they brought over from football? Now you’re talking about the defending national champion for crying out loud. It’s a league that we are deserving of the No. 1 RPI in the country. The ACC is dadgum tough.”