By R.L. Bynum

CHARLOTTE — Nick Kurtz wouldn’t let Wake Forest lose, much to the heartbreak of No. 7 North Carolina.

The No. 22-ranked Demon Deacons were down to their final strike in the ninth inning when Kurtz tied it with an RBI double. He hit a two-run homer in the 12th inning that broke the game open as they outlasted No. 7 North Carolina for a 9–5 12-inning victory at Truist Field in a game that ended early Saturday morning.

His blast was the 54th of the ACC tournament, tying an event record, and sent No. 8-seed Wake Forest (38–19) into Saturday’s 1 p.m. semifinals against No. 5 Florida State.

“We had some chances to get it done, and we didn’t,” UNC coach Scott Forbes said.

Kurtz’s homer off the sixth pitcher for top-seeded Carolina (42–13), senior right-hander Ben Peterson (loser 2–2), came after the Tar Heels left the bases loaded in the bottom of the 11th.

UNC junior Aidan Haugh, who would have started Saturday had the Tar Heels advanced, entered the game in the 12th, giving up a two-run single to Antonio Morales.

Vance Honeycutt led off the 12th with a double, but Wake Forest reliever Michael Massey struck out the side to end the game. Ben Shenosky (winner, 5-3) got the last two outs of the 11th to get the win.

“There’s some things that we did not do well, that was clear, especially the little things in the small ball,” said Forbes, whose team failed multiple times to lay down a bunt. “But one thing that this team always does well, is they play their tails off. I’ll tell them to flush it, move on, get ready for a great week.”

The Heels will likely be a top-eight national seed in the NCAA tournament, and Forbes noted that the program has reached the College World Series before without winning the ACC tournament.

“There’s no reason to dwell on things,” Forbes said. “That’s where the coaching comes in. You go back and say, ‘hey, this is why a bunt is so important. This is why we keep working on it, the right baserunning decisions.’ “

One notable mistake came when Anthony Donofrio doubled down the left-field line to lead off the fifth but was thrown out trying to go to third when Wake Forest second baseman Adam Tellier bobbled the ball. It was damaging because Luke Stevenson followed with a single that would have scored him from second base. ACC Pitcher of the Year Chase Burns finished his outing by striking out Alex Madera and Alberto Osuna.

“I’m gonna remind the guys the aggressiveness and going after it doesn’t need to change. That’s how you win a championship,” Forbes said. “But you also have to use your head a little bit and make some smarter decisions.”

Burns, a junior right-hander with electric stuff, handcuffed UNC for six innings. But the Heels got back into the game against the first four Wake Forest relievers before the last four held UNC to one hit in the final four innings

“Once that guy kind of gets out of the game, you’re obviously a little bit more confident,” Honeycutt said of Burns. “So, just really trying to battle and plug each at-bat.”

Burns reached 100 mph several times and had the Heels on their heels as they swung and missed 30 times. Fifteen of Burns’ 18 outs were strikeouts, and he only walked two and gave up six hits. Every Tar Heel who came to the plate struck out at least once, and two struck out three times.

Four Tar Heels had with multiple hits, led by a three-hit night from Stevenson. Honeycutt was 2-for-6 with two doubles, a walk, an RBI and two runs scored, while Donofrio was 2-for-7 with a double and an RBI.

UNC loaded the bases on Burns in the second on a pair of one-out singles from Stevenson and Madera and a two-out Gavin Gallaher walk. But nine-hole hitter Colby Wilkerson struck out looking on an 0–2 pitch.

Wake Forest took a 2–0 lead with solo home runs to left field from shortstop Marek Houston to lead off the third inning and from second baseman Adam Tellier with two outs in the fourth inning.

UNC left fielder Casey Cook missed a home run by about five feet when he hit a drive 352 feet off the left-center field wall for a one-out double in the third inning. Burns then struck out Parks Harber and Donofrio to get out of the inning.

Burns was tough enough to deal with, but he got at least a pair of called third strikes on pitches off the plate. Madera complained to plate umpire Adam Dowdy after one of them in the sixth, prompting loud complaints from Forbes about the call.

UNC starter Shea Sprague exited after the left-hander gave up only three hits, two being home runs, in 4⅔ innings. Dalton Pence relieved him with two outs in the fifth after Sprague gave up a double and a walk, eliciting a flyout to get out of the inning.

Nine-hole Wake Forest hitter Cameron Gill made it 4–0 with a two-run homer in the seventh inning. That ended Pence’s night (1⅓ innings, 2 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk), with sophomore right-hander Matthew Matthijs taking over.

With Burns gone, UNC faced three pitchers in the three-run seventh inning. Donofrio’s RBI single to right-center plated the second run before Stevenson’s grounder took a wicked hop over the second-base bag scored a third run.

Honeycutt gave UNC the lead in the eighth inning, hitting a 2–0 pitch off the right-center field wall for a two-out RBI double off Wake Forest closer Cole Roland.

Wake Forest tied it in the ninth inning on Kurtz’s big double off Matt Poston.

Poston came on after Matthijs (who gave up one hit and one run in 2⅓ innings with four strikeouts) issued a walk with one out. Poston — who pitched 1⅔ one-hit shutout innings with two strikeouts — fanned Jack Winnay to leave the potential winning run at second base.

NOTES — Seats for the game were sold out, with standing-room tickets sold and an announced attendance of 9,296. … D1 Baseball moved UNC from a No. 4 overall seed to No. 3 in its latest NCAA tournament projection, predicting that the Tar Heels will host Dallas Baptist, UNC Greensboro and Fairfield in the Chapel Hill Regional. The NCAA will announce the field at noon Monday (ESPN2). … Thursday’s win over Pittsburgh is believed to be the only time in program history that UNC hit three home runs to start a game. … Florida State will have about 22½ hours of rest since the Seminoles’ 12–7 victory in Friday’s first game, while Wake Forest will have less than 13 hours between games. … Miami and Duke, who play in the 5 p.m. semifinal, both had Friday off. … There will be no top-four seeds in the semifinals for the first time since the tournament moved to pool play in 2017.

No. 22 Wake Forest 9, No. 7 UNC 5, 12 innings

ACC tournament

At Durham Bulls Athletic Park
Buy tickets at durhambulls.com or theacc.com/tickets
Tuesday’s first round
No. 16 California 12, No. 9 Miami 2, 8 innings
No. 12 Virginia Tech 7, No. 13 Stanford 4
No. 15 Pittsburgh 13, No. 10 Louisville 11
No. 14 Boston College 5, No. 11 Notre Dame 4, 10 innings
Wednesday’s second round
California 14, No. 8 seed Wake Forest 12
No. 5 Clemson 6, Virginia Tech 1
No. 7 Duke 4, Pittsburgh 3
Boston College 12, No. 6 Virginia 8
Quarterfinals
Thursday’s results
No. 1 seed Georgia Tech 10, California 3
Clemson 7, No. 4 seed N.C. State 6
Friday’s results
No. 2 seed Florida State 14, Duke 7
No. 3 seed North Carolina 7, Boston College 2
Saturday’s semifinals
Clemson 9, Georgia Tech 4
North Carolina 7, Florida State 5
Sunday’s championship
North Carolina 14, Clemson 4

UNC scores

Date(s)	Day/ month	Scores	Opponent (current rank)	Record
	February
14–15	Fri.-Sat.	W, 5–1; W, 8–3; W, 4–2	vs. Texas Tech	3–0
18	Tuesday	W, 12–9	vs. Kansas State	4–0
22–24	Sat.-Mon.	W, 2–0; W, 11–6; W, 6–4	vs. East Carolina (DBAP, CH, G’ville)	7–0
25	Tuesday	W, 7–4	vs. VCU	8–0
26	Wednesday	W, 13–4	vs. N.C. A&T	9–0
28	Friday	W, 16–2	vs. Stony Brook	10–0
	March
1–2	Sat.-Sun.	W, 6–1; W, 9–5	vs. Stony Brook	12–0
4	Tuesday	W, 6–4 (11)	vs. No. 11 Coastal Carolina	13–0
7–9	Fri.-Sun.	L, 13–9; W, 11–1 (7); L, 7–0	vs. Stanford	14–2, 1–2 ACC
11	Tuesday	W, 7–3 (10)	at UNCW	15–2
14, 16	Fri., Sun.	L, 8–7; W, 6–4; L, 5–0	at Louisville	16–4, 2–4
19	Wednesday	L, 5–1	vs. UConn	16–5
21–23	Fri.-Sun.	W, 5–1; L, 3–2; W, 10–0 (7)	at Boston College	18–6, 4–5
25	Tuesday	W, 13–8	vs. South Carolina in Charlotte	19–7
28–30	Fri.-Sun.	W, 2–0; W, 4–2; L, 4–2	vs. Miami	21–7, 6–6
	April
1	Tuesday	W, 11–1 (7)	vs. Gardner-Webb	22–7
3–5	Thur.-Sat.	W, 4–3; L, 9–5; W, 8–7 (14)	vs. Duke	24–8, 8–7
8	Tuesday	W, 12–10	at Elon	25–8
11–13	Fri.-Sun.	W, 11–1 (7); W, 17–1 (7); W, 3–2	vs. Wake Forest	28–8, 11–7
15	Tuesday	W, 14–4 (8)	vs. Charlotte	29–8
18–20	Fri-Sun.	W, 9–6; L, 10–6: W, 7–5	at Virginia Tech	31–9, 13–8
25–27	Fri.-Sun.	W, 15–5; L, 4–2; W, 6–0	at Pittsburgh	33–10, 15–9
29	Tuesday	W, 13–4	vs. George Mason	34–10
30	Wednesday	W, 14–3	vs. Queens	35–10
	May
6	Tuesday	W, 10–1	vs. Campbell	36–10
8–9	Thurs.-Fri.	W, 8–1; L, 8–5	vs. N.C. State	37–11, 16–10
15–17	Thurs.-Sat.	W, 8–3; W, 11–1 (7); L, 5–4	at No. 7 Florida State	39–12, 18–11
		ACC tournament	Durham
23	Friday	Quarterfinal: W, 7–3	Boston College	40–12
24	Saturday	Semifinal: W, 7–5	No. 7 Florida State	41–12
25	Sunday	Final: W, 14–4	No. 14 Clemson	42–12
		Chapel Hill Regional
30	Friday	W, 4–0	Holy Cross	43–12
31	Saturday	W, 11–5	Oklahoma	44–12
	June
1	Sunday	L, 9–5	Oklahoma	44–13
2	Monday	W, 14–4	Oklahoma	45–13
		Chapel Hill Super Regional	Best-of-3 series
6	Friday	W, 18–2	No. 21 Arizona	46–13
7	Saturday	L, 10–8	No. 21 Arizona	46–14
8	Sunday	L, 4–3	No. 21 Arizona	46–15