Rockdale Citizen

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Buck Farmer wasn't at his best Wednesday, but for the Georgia Tech baseball team, the Conyers native was plenty good enough.

The former Rockdale standout pitched six innings of three-hit ball, striking out six in the Yellow Jackets' 5-4 win over top-seed Florida State in pool play at the ACC Tournament.

Tech (33-24), which became only the third No. 8 seed to beat a No. 1 seed in the tournament's history, will play No. 17 Virginia on Friday at 11 a.m. at Newbridge Bank Park.

Farmer, who earlier in the week was named a first-team all-conference member, walked five, but limited the damage against the nation's top-ranked team. After allowing just two singles through the first four innings, he ran into trouble for the first time in the bottom of the fifth. The Seminoles loaded the bases with no outs without the benefit of a hit, getting a pair of walks and a hit batsman. Jake Davies made a diving stop on a ground ball to get the first out, but Justin Gonzalez scored on the play to make it a 5-1 game. Devon Travis had an RBI-single and Ramsey added a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 5-3.

After the right-hander exited, Alex Cruz pitched two scoreless innings before surrendering a solo home run to conference player of the year James Ramsey with two outs in the ninth.

Davies, a senior first baseman, was the star at the plate. He laced an opposite field, two-run home run in the first inning, then added a long, two-run home run in the fifth that put the Yellow Jackets up 5-0.

"After you just sit there and watch your team get the lead, it makes you feel pretty comfortable," Farmer told theacc.com. "You can throw strikes and know you have your offense behind you."