The ACC is one of the strongest baseball conferences this year, with a total of seven teams ranked in the top 25.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The 2024 Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Championship has come to an end as Duke takes the ACC title after defeating Florida State during Sunday's championship game.
The ACC is one of the strongest baseball conferences this year, with a total of seven teams ranked in the top 25.
We're in the bottom of the ninth, tied 5-5
- Luke Stevenson leads off for UNC and grounds out.
- Alex Madera strikes out.
- Jackson Van de Brake comes up next and strikes out.
- We're going to extra innings in Charlotte.
- Cole Roland is in the game to pitch the eighth inning for Wake Forest. The Tar Heels quickly get the tying run on base.
- It's a tie game! Vance Honeycutt's long double brings in Jackson Van de Brake for the tying run to make it 4-4 and it's a whole new ball game in the eighth inning.
- UNC may not be done yet -- the Heels have men on first and second with two outs.
- The Tar Heels have erased the 4-0 deficit and now lead 5-4 as Parks Harber drives a solid single to center, scoring Honeycutt.
- Matthew Matthijs is In to pitch for UNC, trying to close it out in the top of the ninth.
- After one out, Matthijs allows a walk, putting the tying run on first. Matt Poston comes in to pitch for the Heels.
- Poston gets the second out, via infiled pop-up. Tar Heels are one out away.
- Nick Kurtz drives a long double center field, scoring Cam Nelson. We're tied again at 5-5. Poston gets out of the inning and the Tar Heels have a chance to win it in the bottom of the ninth.
Through two innings Friday night, the game remained scoreless. Ace pitcher Chase Burns got out of a bases-loaded jam for the Deacs in the bottom of the second.
- Wake Forest strikes first, with a solo home run in the top of the third by leadoff hitter Marek Houston. 1-0 Deacs.
- The Demon Deacons lead 2-0 going into the seventh inning.
- And now it's a 4-0 Wake Forest lead. After squaring to bunt twice, Cameron Gill swings away and smashes a two-run homer to left field in the top of the seventh to double the lead.
- The Tar Heels have three innings left to make something happen. The good news? Burns is done for the night. The Wake Forest ace scattered six hits across six innings, striking out 15 while delivering just two walks
- And we've got a ball game! The Tar Heels plate three in the bottom of the seventh off the Wake Forest bullpen to make it a 4-3 game.
Top-seeded UNC is looking for a spot in the semifinals, but they'll have to get past maybe the best No. 8 seed in the land, Wake Forest.
The Demon Deacons began the baseball season as the No.1-ranked team in the country but faltered down the stretch.
Still, with Chase Burns, perhaps the nation's top pitcher, Wake Forest is a team to be reckoned with.
The winner plays Florida State in the semifinals.
