Four Seminoles earn All-ACC honors in baseball

DURHAM, N.C. – After coming off consecutive series victories to close out the regular season and clinching the ACC Atlantic Division title for the seventh year in a row, the Florida State Baseball team was honored with four student-athletes earning All-ACC accolades.

Senior Scott Sitz was named to the first team, while redshirt junior Stephen McGee, sophomore Luke Weaver and freshman DJ Stewart all grabbed a spot on the second team as voted on by the league’s 12 head coaches.

Sitz earns all-conference honors for the first time in his career and in the process extends Florida State’s streak of recording at least one student-athlete on the All-ACC first team to 20 straight years (1994-2013). The senior right hander is in the midst of a career year posting single-season highs for wins, starts, innings pitched and strikeouts. Sitz is 9-1 with a 1.66 ERA in 76.0 innings with 61 strikeouts in 13 starts. He is tied for the ACC lead in wins, while his ERA ranks as the fourth lowest in the league. The Jacksonville Beach, Fla., native is currently on pace to establishing the lowest ERA by a Seminole pitcher since Scooby Morgan posted a 1.46 ERA in 1995 with at least 50 innings of work.

McGee is one of 15 catchers in the running for the Johnny Bench Award presented to the top nation’s top collegiate catcher. The redshirt junior has started all 55 games, including 54 from behind the plate, and has played a major role in helping the Seminole pitching staff to a team ERA of 2.68 – the lowest in 34 seasons under head coach Mike Martin. McGee has posted a .995 fielding percentage on the year committing just two errors in 416 chances from behind the plate. He is also throwing out 34.0 percent of base stealers on the year. He has also been a force at the plate this season posting a .299 average with 52 hits including 15 doubles, one triple and a career-best eight home runs.  He has also scored 44 times and tallied 45 RBI. McGee leads the team and sits third in the ACC in walks with 47 en route to an on-base percentage of .462.  

Weaver has had a solid sophomore campaign on the hill posting a 6-2 record with a 2.08 ERA in 14 appearances including 12 starts. The Deland, Fla., product has struck out a career-best and team-high 91 batters in 78.0 innings of work, while walking just 16. Weaver ranks in the top 10 in the ACC in strikeouts (3rd) and opponents’ batting average (7th) as opponents are hitting just .218 against him this season. The right hander moved into the weekend rotation against Miami and has remained as the Seminoles’ Friday night starter since his start against the Hurricanes compiling a record of 3-2 and a 3.32 ERA in six ACC starts. Over his last four starts, Weaver has worked at least 7.0 innings while recording at least eight strikeouts. He has recorded a season-high nine strikeouts five times this season.

Stewart earned one of five spots as an outfielder on the All-ACC second team. The freshman from Yulee, Fla., leads the team in hitting with a .328 average – the third best among freshmen in the league. Stewart also leads Florida State in doubles (21) and stolen bases (7) and ranks second in hits (62) and RBI (51). A two-time ACC Player of the Week this year, Stewart has a team-high 18 multi-hit games and is the only Seminole to record five or more RBI in a game this year.

Florida State will open the ACC Baseball Championship on Wednesday, May 22 against Georgia Tech at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, N.C. First pitch is scheduled for 11:00 a.m.

As always, Seminole fans can follow the Noles on twitter @FSU_Baseball and remember to like the Seminoles on Facebook (www.facebook.com/FSUBaseball).

2013 All-ACC Baseball Team

Player of the Year: Colin Moran, North Carolina

Pitcher of the Year: Kent Emanuel, North Carolina

Freshman of the Year: Joe McCarthy, Virginia

Coach of the Year: Brian O’Connor, Virginia

** - Two-time first- or second-team selection

*** - Three-time first or second-team selection