Shaffer Earns ACC Baseball Player of the Week Honors

April 2, 2012

GREENSBORO, NC – Clemson infielder Richie Shaffer and North Carolina catcher Jacob Stallings have been named the Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Players of the Week, while Georgia Tech’s Buck Farmer earned Pitcher of the Week honors.

Shaffer, a junior from Charlotte, N.C., was honored for the second time this season after leading the Tigers to three wins in four games against Top 20 teams (one vs. No. 18 Georgia and two vs. No. 6 Miami). Shaffer totaled three doubles, two homers, seven RBIs, three runs, five walks, a .478 on-base percentage, an .833 slugging percentage, and one steal in five games total. He did not commit an error in 16 chances at third base. On Tuesday at Georgia, Shaffer went 3-for-6 with two doubles, one homer, three RBIs, and two runs to lead Clemson to a 10-5 win. On Saturday against Miami, his two-out, two-run double in the seventh inning gave Clemson the lead for good in the Tigers’ 3-1 win. On the season, Shaffer is hitting .319 with six homers, 11 doubles, one triple, 24 RBIs, 23 runs, and a .472 on-base percentage in 27 games (27 starts).

Stallings, a senior from Brentwood, Tenn., paced the Tar Heels at the plate with a .444 batting average during a 5-1 week that saw UNC cap off a series win against NC State, notch a midweek win over No. 25 Coastal Carolina and win another ACC weekend series over Wake Forest. Stallings set a career high with three doubles in the Saturday win over Wake Forest. He finished the week with five doubles and is tied for the league lead with 14. Stallings reached base 13 times on the week with eight hits and five walks while striking out only once. His two-out, two-run homer in the seventh inning capped a three-RBI night and helped seal the 7-4 Monday evening win over NC State.

Farmer recorded his third career complete game, and his first career shutout, as he out-dueled fellow preseason All-America pitcher Marcus Stroman in a 1-0 victory over Duke in the series-opener Saturday at Russ Chandler Stadium. Farmer (5-2) fanned 11 batters, with no walks and allowed just three hits. The junior from Conyers, Ga., retired the final 12 batters in succession after pitching his way out of bases-loaded jams in both the fourth and fifth innings. The fourth inning saw Duke load the bases with no outs, but Farmer rolled a 1-2-3 double play, followed by a strikeout to keep the game tied at 0-0. Junior Brandon Thomas’ RBI gave Tech a 1-0 lead in the eighth inning, and Farmer fired a three-up-three-down ninth inning and the ended the game with his 11th strikeout For Tech, it was the team’s first complete-game victory this season and marked the first complete-game shutout since former Jacket Mark Pope blanked Boston College, 2-0, last April 22.