Baseball Set for ACC Tournament

Virginia Tech is all set for this week’s ACC baseball tournament. The Hokies are the #6 seed, and they’ll be taking on #3 seed Georgia Tech in the first of either three or four games in Greensboro, NC.

The top eight teams in the ACC qualify for the tournament, and the teams are split into two four-team pools. Each team will play three games against the other teams in their pool, and the team with the best record from each pool will advance to the Championship Game on Sunday.

Other teams in Tech’s pool are #2 seed Clemson, #3 seed Georgia Tech and #7 seed NC State. The tournament begins on Wednesday, but the Hokies will not play until Thursday when they take on Georgia Tech at 8pm. On Friday they’ll face Clemson at 4pm, and Saturday they play NC State at 8pm.

The Hokies had mixed results against that competition during the regular season. They took two of three games at Georgia Tech, and might have swept the Yellow Jackets had Jesse Hahn been healthy enough to pitch in the final game of the series. However, VT was swept in a three-game set at Clemson earlier in the year. The Hokies and Wolfpack did not play during the regular season.

Virginia Tech finished the regular season with a 36-19 record, including a 16-14 mark in the ACC. If the Hokies have the best record in their ACC Tournament pool, they will play in the Championship Game on Sunday at 1pm.

All of Tech’s ACC Tournament games will be televised regionally by RSN. Check your local listings.

Spring Sports Update

Several other spring sports have completed their seasons, or will soon complete them. The baseball team has garnered most of the attention, but the track and field teams have done well also.

In last week’s rankings, the women’s team was ranked #5 in the country. The men’s team is also ranked, coming it at #17 nationally. NCAA Preliminaries begin on Thursday, and a number of Tech athletes have qualified to participate. 16 men and eight women will represent Virginia Tech in the NCAA East Preliminary in Greensboro, NC.

The competition will get underway on Thursday and will end on Sunday. The Tech athletes who qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships will then head to Eugene, Oregon, where competitions will be held from Wednesday, June 9 through Saturday June 12.

Other sports in action this spring include men’s golf, women’s lacrosse, softball, and men’s and women’s tennis. The golf team recently competed their season by finishing 10th in the NCAA Central Regional at Notre Dame. The Hokies were +15 in the three-round event. Although the team’s season is over, junior Marshall Bailey will get to compete in the NCAA Championships at the Honors Course in Tennessee from June 1 through June 6.

The men’s tennis team made their fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2010. They defeated Vanderbilt in the opening round 4-0, and were then eliminated by Louisville 4-1 in the second round. Men’s tennis coach Jim Thompson was named the Wilson/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Atlantic Region Coach of the Year after guiding his team to a 16-8 record.

Tech senior Yoann Re will represent the Hokies in the NCAA Men’s Singles Championship from May 26 through May 31 in Atlanta, GA. Re is ranked the #55 player nationally, and is one of just two seniors on the Tech team. The Hokies were ranked #23 nationally in the latest polls.

The women’s tennis team wasn’t as successful, going just 10-13 on the year. They were eliminated in the opening round of the ACC Tournament 4-1 by Georgia Tech. The women’s team had no seniors on their team this season, and only two juniors.

The softball team went 25-33 on the year, with an 8-13 mark in ACC play. Virginia Tech hosted the ACC Tournament in Blacksburg this year, and the Hokies upset #2 seed Virginia in the first round. However, they fell in their next game 5-3 to #3 seed Florida State, and their season ended. The Hokies have not had a winning record in softball since Angela Tincher’s senior season in 2008 when they advanced to the Women’s College World Series.

The lacrosse team struggled, going just 6-11 overall and 0-5 in the ACC. This program still has a long ways to go, as they did not fare well against ACC competition. In the regular season, they lost to Boston College 14-9, Duke 16-8, North Carolina 19-3, Virginia 20-14 and Maryland 18-4. They were ousted in the opening round of the ACC Tournament 18-6 by the Hoos.

The lacrosse team has just one victory in ACC play since joining the conference. However, they had just one senior this year, so they should be a much more experienced team next season.