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ACC

Notre Dame earned their first ever ACC Tournament victory as they defeated Virginia 8-2 on Friday. Virginia starter Brandon Waddell struck out nine, but the Irish also tagged him for six runs (four earned) as Cavan Biggio (2-for-5, 3B, 2 RBI) and Kyle Fiala (2-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI) starred for the Notre Dame offense.

Skye Bolt’s three-run home run helped North Carolina beat Clemson 6-3. Both schools will not advance from pool play, but the victory on Friday (along with the win in the play-in round) may help North Carolina secure an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament.

North Carolina State came from behind to beat Miami 5-4. The Wolfpack were able to scratch together a run in the bottom of the ninth off of Hurricane closer Bryan Garcia to force extra innings and then won it in the bottom of the twelfth when Preston Palmeiro smacked a double off of the left field wall and raced around to score after a throwing error saw the ball roll all the way to the right field foul line. Tom Olczak and Tommy DeJuneas both lights out in relief, striking out six Hurricanes in 3 1/3 innings apiece. With the win NC State clinched a berth in the ACC Championship game on Sunday afternoon.


American Athletic

The American Athletic Conference is down to four teams as South Florida and Tulane were both elminated on Friday. Memphis took the honors knocking off USF 4-1 on the strength of yet another strong start by Dylan Toscano. The senior righthander improved to 9-2 on the season by allowing seven hits, two walks and one run in eight innings while fanning five Bulls batters, and Nolan Blackwood picked up his 14th save of the year with a scoreless ninth.

UConn used a big five-run bottom of the eighth inning to knock out the Green Wave in dramatic and late come-from-behind fashion, 7-6. The scoring in the eighth was capped by designated hitter Joe DeRoche-Duffin's two-run blast. UConn advanced to face No. 2-seeded East Carolina on Saturday while Memphis will play top-seeded Houston.


Big 12

The Big 12 is also down to four teams as Texas Tech and Kansas State were knocked out by Baylor and Oklahoma repectively. Baylor will face Texas and Oklahoma will take on in-state rival Oklahoma State.


Big South

The Big South Championship will come down to a highly anticipated matchup between No. 1-seeded Raford and No. 2 Coastal Carolina at John Henry Moss Stadium (Gardner-Webb University) at 4:00 p.m. ET on Saturday.

The Chanticleers' bats stayed hot again on Friday as they pounded out 13 hits in a 9-3 win over High Point. Coastal turned to yet another career reliever in Andrew Beckwith who responded with eight solid innings, allowing only two earned runs on seven base hits and a pair of walks.

Radford backstop Josh Reavis drilled a two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to pull ahead of Winthrop for good and win the game, 4-2. That blast spoiled a solid starting effort by Michael Green, who went the distance (eight innings) as the hard-luck loser.


Big Ten

Indiana continued to stay alive in the Big Ten Championship with a big 10-2 win over Iowa. Hoosiers second baseman Casey Rodrigue paced the offence by going 3-for-5 with a double, a triple and a pair of runs scored while freshman slugger Logan Sowers put the game out of reach early in the third inning with a grand slam, his sixth home run of the season.

No. 1-seeded Illinois, who had their 27-game win streak snapped on Thursday, beat Michigan State 2-0 on the strength of a complete game shutout by senior righthander John Kravetz.


SEC

The Florida Gators moved on to the semifinals of the SEC Tournament after defeating Arkansas 10-0. A.J. Puk continued his recent string of dominant starts for the Gators, as the big lefthander whiffed 11 in his seven innings of work, including a stretch where he recorded eight straight outs via the strikeout. Fellow sophomore, center fielder Buddy Reed shined at the plate, going 3-for-3.

Vanderbilt also won in seven innings via the run rule, as they took care of business in a 16-1 defeat over Alabama. Zander Wiel, Ro Coleman, Bryan Reynolds, and Jason Delay all had three hits for the Commodores and starting pitcher Phil Pfeifer allowed just four hits and struck out nine in for the complete game victory.


Sun Belt

Arkansas State used a four-run first inning to beat Georgia State 6-2 in an elimination game on Friday afternoon. Colton Kibler provided 6 1/3 strong innings out of the bullpen to pick up his fourth win of the season. With the victory Arkansas State advances to the Sun Belt Conference semifinals against top-seeded South Alabama.

Louisiana-Lafayette also advanced to the semifinals, beating UT Arlington 5-1 in the day’s other elimination game. Kyle Clement had three hits and the Ragin’ Cajuns are scheduled to play against Texas State on Saturday.


West Coast Conference

San Diego staved off elimination early once, but couldn’t do it a second time on Friday. They won their first game, with a 5-4 victory over Brigham Young University as Kyle Holder, Riley Adams, and Ben Wylly all had homers. However, in the nightcap they fell to Pepperdine and were bounced from the tournament.

Pepperdine had lost their first game of the tournament earlier in the day, as Loyola Marymount starter Trevor Megill (7 innings, 3 hits, 2 earned runs, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts) was effective. The Waves’ bats woke up enough against San Diego and they received a sterling from Ryan Wilson (8 innings, 7 hits, 2 earned runs, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts) to take home a 4-2 victory and keep their championship hopes alive for at least another day.



National Notes

• It looks as though Bradley has locked up a spot in Regional play, if they hadn't already, by claiming a big 3-1 win over Dallas Baptist to advance to the Missouri Valley Conference Championship Game against Missouri State on Saturday evening. Leadoff hitting second baseman Chris Godinez went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles while starter Cameron Roegner moved to 4-0 on the year by tossing eight solid frames. Matt Dennis picked up his 12th save of the year with a scoreless ninth.

• The College of Charleston were beat by UNC Wilmington on Friday in the CAA tournament and will need to beat Delaware early Saturday morning to face a re-match with the Seahawks for the conference championship.

• Cal State Fullerton clinched their 20th Big West Conference Title with a 4-0 victory over Long Beach State last night. The Titans have played a typically strong non-conference schedule, so on the surface their 33-22 record is not particularly impressive, but they've now gone 18-5 in conference play and can claim five of the last six Big West titles. Freshman starting pitcher John Gavin was the star as he scattered three hits and struck out two in his 6 2/3 innings of work moving to 7-2 on the season. He out-dueled fellow freshman Chris Mathewson who finished his successful first year 6-6 in the loss.

• In what looked like would be a battle between two surging draft-eligible arms turned into a slug fest as No. 21 Arizona State took down No. 17 Southern California 11-3. Sun Devils lefty Brett Lilek worked only the first 3 1/3 innings, while USC's Kyle Davis moved to 3-2 on the season with the loss after allowing five earned runs in six innings of work. Jake Peevyhouse, Colby Woodmansee and Joey Bielak each had three hits for ASU, with Woodmansee and Bielak each hitting a home run.

• Andrew Moore was brilliant in No. 11 Oregon State's 4-0 win over Cal, striking out 13 in a complete game shutout in which he allowed only two base hits. The Beavers Nos. 2 and 3 hitters, shorstop Caleb Hamilton (2-for-3, home run, 2 runs, 3 RBI, stolen base) and center fielder Jeff Hendrix (2-for-4, double, 1 RBI) provided most of the offense in the win.