Good point ncsslim. If you look in the Atlantic Division (and divisions don’t matter for the ACC Tournament), the three teams in front of them all have 12 wins. If State plays well and sweeps Wake, State and Wake will both have a 12-15 record in the ACC. And Clemson only has 12 wins too…but with only 11 losses, they are a good chance to make it to Greensboro. If State and Clemson finish with the same number of victories, my assumption/guess is that Clemson would finish above State since they have fewer losses (even though State won the series with the Tigers)…but I could be wrong.
As far as the sweep of Coastal Carolina, Rodon pitched great and finally got a lot of run support. Turner was a beast this weekend, hitting something like .818. He was on base for 14 straight appearances. Never heard of that before. Kizner hit the ball well. Ratledge and Austin continued their hot bats. Armstrong and Shepard are coming around as well.
The pitching staff is getting better and the bullpen is not last year’s, but a committee effort. Even little used members earlier in the year are seeing crunch time now, like Beckman and Wilder.
IMO, the key for the stretch is three-fold:
1. Turner stays hot. If he is getting on base, State is a pretty tough out. He is the catalyst.
2. Other starters get to the 5/6/7 inning. If that happens, whether that is Peterson/Peterson/Jernigan/Stone, whoever, would be great.
3. The defense tightens up and lowers the miscues in the field. Can’t give up extra outs to teams.
