CHARLOTTE, N.C. (theACC.com) – Wake Forest first baseman Nick Kurtz hit a two-run opposite field home run in the top of the 12th inning to propel the No. 8-seeded Wake Forest Demon Deacons to a 9-5 extra-inning win over the No. 1-seeded North Carolina on Friday night at the 2024 Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Championship at Truist Field in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Down 4-3 in the bottom of the eighth inning, the No. 7 nationally ranked Tar Heels took their first lead of the game at 5-4 on a Vance Honeycutt RBI double to right-center field and an RBI single off the bat of Parks Harber.
The No. 22 nationally ranked Demon Deacons were down to their last out in the top of the ninth when Kurtz doubled to right-center field to plate pinch runner Cameron Nelson to tie the game up at 5-5.
Wake Forest did not put a base runner on in either the 10th or the 11th innings, while the Tar Heels stranded two in the 10th and the bases loaded in the 11th, but to no avail before the heroics from Kurtz in the 12th inning.
WF’s Kurtz was 2-for-4 with a home run, a double, two walks, three RBI and a run scored, while Antonio Morales and Cameron Gill drove in two RBIs apiece in the win.
North Carolina was led offensively by four players with multiple hits for the game, led by a three-hit night from catcher Luke Stevenson. Honeycutt was 2-for-6 with two doubles, a walk, an RBI and two runs scored, while Anthony Donofrio was 2-for-7 with a double and an RBI.
ACC Pitcher of the Year Chase Burns proved why he was the top pitcher in the league, as he held the high-powered North Carolina offense scoreless, striking out six and walking two hitters over six innings in the start.
With his 15 punchouts, Burns has struck out 10 or more batters in 12 of his 15 starts this season while also striking out 13 or more hitters 10 times.
However, the win went to Wake Forest’s Ben Shenosky (5-3), who pitched 0.2 of an inning in the 11th.
The Demon Deacons used 10 pitchers and 25 total players in the game, while the Tar Heels sent out six pitchers and 18 total players.
With both teams leaving multiple players on base in the early innings, it would be a solo home run in the top of the third inning off the bat of Marek Houston that put Wake Forest in front 1-0.
A second solo shot from the Demon Deacons, this one from Adam Tellier in the top of the fourth frame, doubled the visiting team’s lead at 2-0.
The Tar Heels loaded the bases in the second inning, left a runner on second base in the third, put two runners on in the fifth, and stranded another runner in the sixth, as Burns struck out 15 hitters over six innings.
Wake Forest again went to the long ball, as Gill launched a two-run home run over the wall in left field in the top of the seventh inning to double the Demon Deacons’ lead at 4-0.
The Tar Heels, who have not been shut out all season, spoiled the Wake Forest shutout bid by scoring three runs against the Deamon Deacons’ bullpen in the bottom of the seventh inning. Harber started the scoring with an RBI fielder’s choice, followed by a two-out RBI single to right-center field from Donofrio to cut the Demon Deacons’ lead in half at 4-2.
Stevenson immediately followed with a hard-hit ground ball up the middle that hit the second base bag and sprung up into the air for an RBI single to close the gap to one at 4-3 with two innings to play.
Wake Forest (38-19) will turn around to take on No. 5 seed Florida State (41-14) in the first semifinal on Saturday, May 25, at 1 p.m. on ACC Network.