Duke, Wake earn wins on long opening day a ACC baseball tourney

Pool play in he week-long event continues with three games a Durham Bulls Athletic Park on Wednesday

Duke's Michael Rothenberg (38) celebrates with teammates Ethan Murray (1) and Joey Loperfido (36) after his first inning grand slam on Tuesday (Liz Condo/The ACC)

  DURHAM — The opening day of the ACC baseball tournament was a long one, starting with an 11-inning marathon between Boston College and Clemson, and not ending until nearly 1 a.m. at Durham Bulls Athletic Park with Duke’s victory against Notre Dame.

  In between, Wake Forest kept its slim NCAA tournament hopes alive while putting itself in position to qualify for the weekend’s semifinal round by beating Florida State.

  Here’s a look back at the details heading into Day 2 of pool play:

Duke 10, Notre Dame 6

  Michael Rothenberg hit a grand slam and drove in five runs as the seventh-seeded Blue Devils (31-24) won their opener in pool play and will earn a spot in the semifinals with a victory over second-seeded Georgia Tech (38-16) on Friday.

  Lead-off hitter Joey Loperfido went 1 for 3 with three walks and three runs scored for Duke.

Rothenberg’s drive to right-center in the first put the Blue Devils up 4-0. He added a run-scoring sacrifice fly in the seventh.

  Reliever Matt Dockman (6-1) entered in the fourth and gave up three hits in three innings for the victory. Thomas Girard struck out six in 2 2/3 innings for his ninth save.

Wake Forest 7, Florida State 4

  Wake Forest scored go-ahead runs on two bases-loaded walks and a passed ball in the seventh inning to outlast No. 6 Florida State.

  Bobby Seymour and DJ Poteet scored off walks to Bruce Steel and Jake Mueller sandwiched around Shane Muntz’s run off a passed ball. The 10th-seeded Demon Deacons (31-25) left 14 runners on base overall, but sent nine batters to the plate against six FSU pitchers in the seventh.

Jonah Scolaro (3-2) took the loss.

  Carter Bach (1-0) got the final out in the sixth to earn the victory for Wake Forest, which faces No. 3 NC State on Thursday. Mueller, Seymour, Chris Lanzilli and Logan Harvey each had two hits as the Deacons finished with 11.

  J.C. Flowers hit a two-run triple and Nander De Sedas followed with a two-run homer in FSU’s four-run fourth that tied the game. The Seminoles managed just six hits.

BC 7, Clemson 4 (11 innings)

  Dante Baldelli capped a two-run 11th inning with an RBI single as the Eagles (30-26) earned their first tournament win since 2010 after the Tigers rallied from 5-2 with a three-run eighth.

   Lucas Stahlman scored BC’s go-ahead run on a first-base fielding error before Chris Galland added an insurance run on Baldelli’s single to right off Carson Spiers (2-5).

  Joey Walsh (5-6) pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings for the win, allowing two hits and striking out four for the Eagles, who will face top-seeded Louisville on Wednesday in Pool A play.

  BC finished with 11 hits, including two homers by Cody Morissette and solo shots by Joe Suozzi and Peter Burns that provided the initial lead. Clemson (33-24) rallied on Jordan Greene’s two-run double to center but left 11 runners on base, including two in the bottom of the 10th.