Florida State Takes ACC Title with 4-1 Victory

May 25, 2002

ST. PETERSBURG, FL – Top seed Florida State used another dominant pitching performance to defeat fourth seed Clemson 4-1 Saturday night in the ACC Tournament Championship Game. The Seminoles won their third ACC Championship in a rematch of the 1997 final, the last year the tournament was held in St. Petersburg. The Tigers (47-14) suffered a loss in the championship game for the fifth time in the last eight years.

Marc LaMacchia (10-1) earned the win for Florida State. He yielded one run on seven hits while striking out four and walking none over eight innings, following Matt Lynch’s complete game in FSU’s 9-4 victory against Clemson on Thursday. Patrick Hogan (2-1) was credited with the loss despite a solid outing. The sophomore made his first start of the season and allowed only two earned runs on nine hits while striking out five and walking none.

Florida State took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Blair McCaleb doubled down the right field line to plate Ryan Barthelemy. The lead grew to 2-0 in the third when Stephen Drew took the first pitch of the inning and sent it over the wall in right field.

The Seminoles and McCaleb struck again in the fifth inning. With runners at second and third and two outs, McCaleb sent a 2-2 pitch back up the middle for a two-run single and a 4-0 FSU lead. Clemson finally got on the board in the seventh inning when Michael Johnson hit his 20th home run of the season, this one a solo shot, to make it a 4-1 ballgame.

Johnson went 3-4 with the home run to lead the Tigers and finished the ACC Tournament 12-19 with two home runs and nine RBIs. Khalil Greene extended his hitting streak to 27 games in the sixth inning with an infield single and finished the game 2-4. Johnson, Greene and pitcher Steve Reba were named to the All-Tournament Team with Greene being named the utility player.

Clemson will next participate in the NCAA Tournament starting Friday, May 31. Regional sites, teams and seeds will be announced Monday, May 27.