ACC Baseball News and Notes: Notre Dame’s season begins tonight

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish baseball team gets things started tonight down in Deland, Florida, against the Manhattan Jaspers. The Irish will then take on Stetson on Saturday, and Delaware on Sunday. After an amazing run by Link Jarrett’s boys last season, we should all be pretty excited for what’s in store for this year.

ACC NEWS AND NOTES

Feb. 17, 2021

• All 14 ACC baseball teams are scheduled to open their 2022 seasons this weekend. Nine league teams are ranked in at least one major preseason poll, with Notre Dame (as high as No. 4 by Baseball America) and NC State (as high as No. 7 by Perfect Game) earning a spot in each of the six. The Fighting Irish are coming off their first-ever Atlantic Division championship, while the Wolfpack joined Virginia in representing the ACC in the 2021 College World Series.

• Florida State has been selected as the ACC preseason favorite by the league’s 14 head coaches. The coaches voted Georgia Tech as the favorite to win the Coastal Division. The Seminoles received eight votes as the likely overall ACC winner. Virginia received three votes, followed by Notre Dame with two and NC State with one.

• Florida State was also picked to finish atop the Atlantic Division with 88 total points, followed by NC State with 76 and Notre Dame with 70. Louisville placed fourth with 64, followed by Clemson (43), Wake Forest (35) and Boston College (18). The Seminoles received eight votes as the division favorite, while Notre Dame had three, Louisville two and NC State one.

• Eight coaches picked Georgia Tech to win the Coastal Division, while Virginia had five first-place votes and Miami one. The Yellow Jackets tallied 91 total points, followed by Virginia (77) and Miami (71). Defending ACC champion Duke placed fourth in the voting with 60 points, followed by North Carolina (44), Virginia Tech (25) and Pitt (24).

• Florida State’s Parker Messick, who in 2021 became the second player in conference history to be named ACC Pitcher and Freshman of Year in the same season, has been named the Preseason Division I Pitcher of the Year by Perfect Game.

• Messick was one of eight ACC players named to the Preseason Watch List for the Golden Spikes Award, which is given annually to the top amateur baseball player in the nation. He is joined by Virginia Tech outfielder Gavin Cross, Clemson first baseman/pticher Caden Grice, NC State starting pitcher Sam Highfill, Miami reliever Carson Palmquist, Georgia Tech catcher Kevin Parada, Virginia catcher/utility Kyle Teel and Wake Forest third baseman/catcher Brock Wilken.

• Fifteen different ACC players have been named to at least one 2022 Preseason All-America Team.

ACC By The Numbers

3 – Three ACC teams rank among the top five nationally for most all-time tournament appearances: No. 2 Florida State (58), No. 3 Miami (47), and No. 5 Clemson (44).

8 – The ACC’s eight teams in the 2021 NCAA Baseball Championship field were the second most of any conference. It marked the fifth time since 2010 that the ACC has placed at least eight teams in the NCAA tournament.

11- The ACC’s 11 pitchers named to the 2022 NCBWA Stopper of the Year Preseason Watch List led all conferences.

15 – At least one ACC team has reached the College World Series in Omaha each of the last 15 years the event has been held, and multiple ACC teams have reached the CWS 10 times during that span.

15 – Last year marked the 15th time overall that the ACC has sent more than one team to the CWS, with all multiple-team appearances taking place since 1994.

28 - The ACC has placed a total of 28 teams in the past 15 College World Series, an average of just under two per season.

90 - Ninety ACC teams have earned NCAA bids in the last 12 tournament years.

98 - The 14 current ACC teams have a combined 98 College World Series appearances.

58,516 – Total attendance for last year’s ACC Baseball Championship at Truist Field, in Charlotte, N.C., which ranks as the fifth highest in the 47-year history of the event. Two games – NC State versus North Carolina on May 28 and Duke versus NC State in the title game on May 30 – attracted more than 7,100 fans.