Back in February, the ACC announced that the ACC Baseball Tournament would have a new format for the 2025 season. Gone are the four pools that the team was divided into, and with a blessing from the coaches, they went to a single-elimination format. It sounds like the format is going to be sticking around after one year.
All the teams in the conference went to Durham, North Carolina, for the tournament this week that saw North Carolina claim the championship on Sunday with a rout of Clemson. However, commissioneer Jim Phillips was on ACC Network ahead of the title game and it sounds like the format is going to stay.
"Without question,'' Phillips said. "It's survive and advance, right? It's the NCAA Tournament, like. I think the coaches really appreciated the flexibility the conference office had with this thing. At the end of the day, we're trying to serve them. We can always go back to the double-elimination form, but I think after this year, and seeing, I think this thing is around for a while.''
Virginia Tech won their opening game on Tuesday afternoon over Stanford in the first round, but was bounced on Wednesday in the second round by Clemson. You have to think with the NCAA Tournament beginning less than a week after the conference tournament wraps up that for the sake of arms, the format is indeed stickign around for a while.
Memorable MLB debut for a former Hokie
Former Virginia Tech pitcher Nic Enright had a memorable Sunday afternoon. The former Hokie made his MLB debut for the Cleveland Guardians in a 5-0 loss to the Detroit Tigers. In the first two innings of his career, he allowed two hits and struck out three.
Enright was selected in the 20th round of the 2019 MLB Draft and in his outing at Comerica Park, he threw 36 pitches in the two innings, 25 for strikes.