Pollard is awesome. Duke was in a tough spot. We needed at least 2 wins, and I can't blame him for trying to get 1 vs. Wake. Hindsight is 20/20, and the 13 innings was not ideal. It sure would have been nice to have been safe at home, beating Wake in 9 innings.
But Stallings poor outing should not have been affected by Wake Forest at all. Stallings was our #1 pitcher, and deserved today's start. It will be interesting to see what lineup of pitchers we use next week for regionals, though.
A lot of those 37 wins were midweek games against mid-major teams or Sunday starts against the other opponent's third-best starter.
Stallings had neither luxury.
Top starters frequently have deceptive W/L records because they frequently face only other top starters.
Again, no one who closely follows Duke baseball is second-guessing Pollard's decision to start Stallings today.
Meanwhile, back in the Bull City, the Atlantic Coast Conference and the downtown Durham hospitality community are nine outs away from a Saturday semifinal weekend including Pittsburgh, Louisville, Clemson and Florida State.
Much wailing, gnashing of teeth and tearing of garments.
Make that six outs.
FSU 5 NCSU 2 after seven.
NCSU started their ace, ACC pitcher of the year Brian Brown.
He did not have his best stuff.
Fortunately, no one in China cares.
A 121-pitch, complete game for Drew Parrish.
5-2 Noles.
Thanks.
I don't see how Duke has any realistic chance at hosting.
But there may be one opportunity for staying close to home. That would be placing Duke second in the ECU regional. Lots of talk about that in Durham tonight but I'm not sure any of the speculation was especially informed.
Selection show Monday at noon, ESPNU.
I've helped to hijack this into a bracketology thread, but that's where Duke's season is at right now.
Avent has to say things like that even if he doesn't believe them 100%. They really need TAMU and Louisville to be eliminated today. State fans will go absolutely bonkers if they are the #2 seed @ECU. They didn't play this year.
NCSU?
Former Wolfpack coach Ray Tanner is head of the selection committee.
More than a few folks here think that might be enough to move the needle just enough in State's direction.
State would indeed hate to go to Greenville. There is no love lost there.
Quote from a well-placed Wolfpack source and longtime friend.
"No one wants to go to Greenville and get their heads bashed in by a bunch of guys you recruited but couldn't get into school."
Louisville ends Pitt's season 5-2.
Plays winner of Clemson-FSU-tomorrow for title.
Start of FSU-Clemson game in weather delay.
Wheels up at 6:30, 90 minutes late.
Nice game here in Durham.
Clemson up 3-2 after four. Two really good teams, with lots of tradition on their side.
Pretty good game here folks.
FSU tied it at 4 in T8, then loaded bases, with no outs. But Clemson worked out of it, with two K's and a groundout.
Still tied, B8.
FSU gets run in ninth and wins 5-4.