Pairings and times announced for 2011 ACC baseball tournament

by TigerNet Staff - Sun May 22 16:12:30 GMT-04:00 2011

DURHAM, N.C. – Complete pairings and starting times have been announced for the 2011 Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Championship, which will be held Wednesday through next Sunday (May 25-29) at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

As the No. 1 overall seed, Coastal Division co-champion Virginia (22-8 ACC) will be placed atop Division A for the second straight year and will be joined by No. 4 North Carolina (20-10), No. 5 Miami (19-10) and No. 8 Wake Forest (15-15).

2011 Atlantic Division champion and defending ACC champion Florida State (19-11) is seeded second and will be joined in Division B by No. 3 seed and Coastal Division co-champion Georgia Tech (22-8), No. 6 Clemson (17-13) and No. 7 NC State (15-15).

Under the pool-play format, each team will play one game against each of the other three opponents in its division Wednesday through Saturday. The two teams with the best records within their respective division brackets will advance to the title game on Sunday, with the winner earning the ACC’s automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.

First day matchups on Wednesday find Georgia Tech and Clemson opening play at 11 a.m. Virginia meets Wake Forest at 3 p.m., followed by Florida State vs. NC State at 7 p.m.

The 11 a.m. game on Thursday will place North Carolina against Miami at 11 a.m., followed by Florida State vs. Clemson at 3 p.m. NC State faces Georgia Tech in the 7 p.m. game.

Friday’s schedule finds Virginia facing Miami at 11 a.m. Florida State meets Georgia Tech at 3 p.m., followed by North Carolina and Wake Forest in the 7 p.m. game.

On Saturday, Clemson and NC State square off in the 11 a.m. contest, followed by Miami vs. Wake Forest at 3 p.m. Virginia and North Carolina close out the day at 7 p.m.

Sunday’s title game between the division pool-play winners is set for 1 p.m.

In addition to six teams currently ranked among the nations’ top 20 (Virginia, Florida State, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Clemson and Miami), the tournament will feature five teams that were among the top nine in the most recent NCAA RPI report (No. 2 Virginia, No. 3 UNC, No. 4 Florida State, No. 8 Georgia Tech and No. 9 Clemson). Miami was ranked 18th, and NC State 30th.

The city of Durham will be hosting the tournament for the seventh time. Virginia won the ACC Championship the last time it was held at Durham Bulls Athletic Park in 2009, topping Florida State by a 6-3 score in the championship game.

Fans can still purchase tickets to this week's competition. Complete books to all 13 games are available, as well as individual game tickets. Online ticket information can be found at http://www.theACC.com/championships/11-baseball-tix.html

All 13 games of this year’s ACC Baseball Championship will be televised for the fifth straight year via RSN, a regional network that covers the entire conference footprint. Please check theACC.com for local affiliates and stations.

Please see the attached bracket or the listing below for the complete 2011 ACC Championship Schedule.

2011 ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE

BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

Wednesday, May 25-Sunday, May 29

Durham Bulls Athletic Park

Durham, N.C.

POOL A

#1 Virginia (45-9, 22-8)

#4 North Carolina (44-12, 20-10)

#5 Miami (34-20, 19-10)

#8 Wake Forest (25-28, 15-15)

POOL B