A two-time draft selection at Georgia Tech, Luke Murton returned for his senior baseball season to enjoy the college experience and improve his draft status. The first has been accomplished and the second will be determined in next month's major-league amateur draft.At the moment, however, Murton and teammates are not happy campers.
The Duke Blue Devils ruined the Yellow Jackets' extended stay in Durham, N.C., by winning two of three games and spoiling Georgia Tech's opportunity to win the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title and accompanying No. 1 tournament seed.
"We obviously didn't play as well as we wanted to but you have to give Duke a lot of credit. " Murton told FanHouse Sunday night. "In the four years I've been at Tech, this is the best Duke team I have played against and it deserved (to win the series)."
The Yellow Jackets landed as the fourth seed and play No. 5 Miami in opening-round play of the ACC Tournament Wednesday at Durham (N.C) Bulls Athletic Park. Tech's defeat to Duke Friday opened the door for Florida State to clinch the ACC regular-season title and No. 1 tournament seed for the second time in three years.
Tech remained in North Carolina after its three-game series against Duke. Murton and the Yellow Jackets got a close-up view of Durham Bulls Athletic Park Sunday night when they watched Durham pitcher David Price, the first overall draft selection by the Tampa Bay Rays in 2007. The left-handed Price tossed five hitless innings with nine strikeouts in the Triple AAA Bulls' 3-2 defeat against Rochester.
"It was a lot of fun and (Price) threw the ball great," Murton said. "He was throwing his fastball by guys and making guys look bad on his offspeed stuff. The facility is beautiful, too. It had a great atmosphere and the surface looked awesome. We are really looking forward to getting out there and playing on Wednesday."
Look for the Yellow Jackets to rely on their muscle in the ACC tourney. The Jackets have 101 home runs on the season, and only three other Tech teams (1987, 1988 and 1998) have eclipsed the century mark in the program's 105-year history. Murton is second in the league with 17 home runs.
Murton, a right fielder, was draft-eligible the past two years. He was selected in the 40th round by the New York Yankees in 2007 and in the 33rd round by the Arizona Diamondbacks last year. Murton's older brother Matt is an outfielder with the Colorado Rockies, and he seriously contemplated turning professional last year.
"In the end I felt it was in my best interest to come back, further my education and see if I could improve my draft status," said Murton, Tech's leading hitter at .376. "This year has been a lot of fun."
The top-seeded Seminoles, meanwhile, open the ACC Tournament against No. 8 Boston College on Wednesday. FSU, which has registered 40-plus wins for 32 consecutive years, closed its regular season with a four-game sweep of visiting Grambling State.
"I just came out of the clubhouse and told the guys how proud I was of what they accomplished in the first season," FSU coach Mike Martin said following Saturday's 10-2 win. "That was getting it done. Now we enter into a part of where all their hard work shows up. We know we have a very tough road to travel. I'm looking forward to the challenge and those young men are looking forward to challenge."
In the Southeastern Conference, LSU won two of three games over Mississippi State and clinched a share of the SEC regular-season title with Ole Miss. LSU will enter this week's SEC Tournament as the No. 1 seed by virtue of its series victory over the Rebels in March.
The SEC tourney begins on Wednesday in Hoover, Ala.
The league title is LSU's first since 2003 and the 14th in school history, tying Alabama for the most championships in league history.
"I'm so proud of our players for winning the Southeastern Conference championship," said LSU coach Paul Mainieri said. "It's a tremendous accomplishment to be champions of the best league in the nation. Our players come to LSU for opportunities like this, and it's a tribute to their hard work and dedication that they've earned the right to be called SEC Champions."
LSU won nine of its 10 SEC series this season, and the Tigers have won 13 of 14 league series dating back to last season. LSU has also captured seven straight SEC series on the road over the past two seasons.
In the Big East, Louisville swept South Florida to capture the program's first Big East regular-season title and earn the No. 1 seed in the Big East Championship this week in Clearwater, Fla. Pitching played a key role in the Cardinals' victories over Western Kentucky in a midweek game and USF last week. Louisville allowed only six earned runs in 36 innings with 35 strikeouts and only one walk.
"It's an unbelievable feeling to see these players achieve this goal and play so well down the stretch to pull it off," Cardinals head coach Dan McDonnell said. "This team has heard so much about the 2007 Louisville team and their College World Series run and the 2008 team with their Big East Tournament title, so for them to make their own history with the program's first ever 40-win regular season and our first Big East regular-season title is pretty special."
Junior Chris Dominguez and Phil Wunderlich lead the Cardinals in hitting, each with a .365 average. Dominguez also leads the team with 21 home runs and 75 RBI, while Wunderlich is second on the team with 15 home runs and 66 RBI.
The race to earn one of the nation's top eight seeds in the postseason took an interesting twist over the weekend.
For starters, Rice dropped two of three to University of Alabama Birmingham and finished second in Conference USA behind East Carolina. Rice, which entered the weekend in good shape to earn a national seed, now must play well in this week's conference tourney to remain in contention.
After winning the series against FSU, Tech also appeared to have a nice grip on a national seed as it headed into Duke. The Blue Devils may have loosened that grip with two wins that advanced them into the ACC tourney for the first time since 2005.
Teams that could benefit from the Rice and Tech struggles are FSU, Florida and Ole Miss. Of course, upcoming conference tournaments will help settle the issue.
"This tournament's a big deal to us because we know, and everyone knows, what's at stake," Murton said.
