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

Schedule

At Truist Park in Charlotte
Link to buy tickets
Pool play
Tuesday’s results
No. 11 Miami 8, No. 7 Louisville 5; Louisville eliminated
No. 5 Florida State 12, No. 9 Georgia Tech 9; Georgia Tech eliminated
No. 6 Duke 11, No. 10 Virginia Tech 8; Virginia Tech eliminated
Wednesday’s results
No. 4 Virginia 13, No. 9 Georgia Tech 0, 7 innings, 10-run rule
No. 8 Wake Forest 8, No. 12 Pittsburgh 1; Pittsburgh eliminated
No. 3 N.C. State 19, No. 10 Virginia Tech 9, 8 innings, 10-run rule
Thursday’s results
No. 11 Miami 8, No. 2 Clemson 7; Miami wins Pool B; Clemson eliminated
No. 1 North Carolina 12, No. 12 Pittsburgh 2
No. 6 Duke 8, No. 3 N.C. State 1; Duke wins Pool C; N.C. State eliminated
Friday’s results
No. 5 Florida State 12, No. 4 Virginia 7; Florida State wins Pool D; Virginia eliminated
No. 2 Clemson 8, No. 7 Louisville 7
No. 8 Wake Forest 9, No. 1 North Carolina 5, 12 innings; Wake Forest wins Pool A; North Carolina eliminated
Saturday’s semifinals
No. 5 Florida State 9, No. 8 Wake Forest 6
No. 6 Duke 8, No. 11 Miami 2
Sunday’s championship
No. 6 Duke 16, No. 5 Florida State 4

Pools

Pool A
No. 1 North Carolina (No. 7 ranked)	1–1
No. 8 Wake Forest (No. 22 ranked)	2–0
No. 12 Pittsburgh	0–2
Pool B
No. 2 Clemson (No. 3 ranked)	1–1
No. 11 Miami	2–0
No. 7 Louisville	0–2
Pool C
No. 3 N.C. State (No. 12 ranked)	1–1
No. 6 Duke (No. 17 ranked)	2–0
No. 10 Virginia Tech	0–2
Pool D
No. 4 Virginia (No. 16 ranked)	1–1
No. 5 Florida State (No. 10 ranked)	2–0
No. 9 Georgia Tech	0–2

Date	Day/ month	Time/ score	Opponent/event (current ranks)	TV/ record
	February
16	Friday	W, 10–3	vs. Wagner	1–0
17	Saturday	W, 16–5	vs. Wagner	2–0
18	Sunday	W, 20–6	vs. Wagner	3–0
20	Tuesday	W, 8–7	vs. Elon	4–0
23	Friday	W, 2–1	vs. No. 14 East Carolina	5–0
24	Saturday	L, 7–4	vs. No. 14 East Carolina in Fayetteville	5–1
25	Sunday	L, 10–9	at No. 14 East Carolina	5–2
27	Tuesday	W, 8–2	vs. VCU	6–2
28	Wednesday	W, 12–3	vs. Longwood	7–2
	March
1	Friday	W, 12–2	vs. Princeton	8–2
2	Saturday	W, 11–2	vs. Princeton	9–2
3	Sunday	W, 13–6	vs. Princeton	10–2
5	Tuesday	W, 7–3	at Campbell	11–2
8	Friday	W, 2–1	vs. Pittsburgh	12–2, 1–0 ACC
9	Saturday	W, 7–3	vs. Pittsburgh	13–2, 2–0 ACC
10	Sunday	W, 6–5, 10 innings	vs. Pittsburgh	14–2, 3–0 ACC
12	Tuesday	W, 13–7	vs. Rutgers	15–2
13	Wednesday	W, 9–8	vs. Rutgers	16–2
15	Friday	L, 14–1	at Miami	16–3, 3–1 ACC
16	Saturday	L, 2–1	at Miami	16–4, 3–2 ACC
17	Sunday	W, 18–6, 7 innings (10-run rule)	at Miami	17–4, 4–2 ACC
19	Tuesday	W, 11–0, 7 innings (10-run rule)	vs. UNCW	18–4
22	Friday	W, 5–4	vs. Georgia Tech	19–4, 5–2 ACC
23	Saturday	W, 11–5	vs. Georgia Tech	20–4, 6–2 ACC
24	Sunday	W, 9–2	vs. Georgia Tech	21–4, 7–2 ACC
26	Tuesday	W, 10–8	vs. N.C. A&T	22–4
29	Friday	W, 6–5	at No. 19 Wake Forest	23–4, 8–2 ACC
30	Saturday	W, 10–6	at No. 19 Wake Forest	24–4, 9–2 ACC
31	Sunday	W, 14–10	at No. 19 Wake Forest	25–4, 10–2 ACC
	April
4	Thursday	L, 14–11	at No. 18 Virginia	25–5, 10–3 ACC
5	Friday	L, 7–2	at No. 18 Virginia	25–6, 10–4 ACC
6	Saturday	W, 12–7	at No. 18 Virginia	26–6, 11–4 ACC
9	Tuesday	L, 2–1	vs. South Carolina in Charlotte	26–7
12	Friday	W, 13–0, 6½ innings (10-run rule)	vs. Notre Dame	27–7, 12–4 ACC
13	Saturday	W, 7–2	vs. Notre Dame	28–7, 13–4 ACC
14	Sunday	W, 10–3	vs. Notre Dame	29–7, 14–4 ACC
16	Tuesday	L, 5–4	vs. Coastal Carolina	29–8
18	Thursday	L, 9–8	at No. 11 N.C. State	29–9, 14–5 ACC
19	Friday	L, 5–4	at No. 11 N.C. State	29–10, 14–6 ACC
20	Saturday	W, 14–3	at No. 11 N.C. State	30–10, 15–6 ACC
23	Tuesday	W, 5–2	vs. Gardner-Webb	31–10
26	Friday	W, 8–1	vs. Virginia Tech	32–10, 16–6 ACC
27	Saturday	W, 6–3	vs. Virginia Tech	33–10, 17–6 ACC
28	Sunday	L, 4–3	vs. Virginia Tech	33–11, 17–7 ACC
30	Tuesday	W, 13–1, 6½ innings (10-run rule)	vs. Charlotte	34–11
	May
1	Wednesday	W, 19–2, 6½ innings (10-run rule)	vs. William & Mary	35–11
7	Tuesday	W, 16–10	vs. Campbell	36–11
10	Friday	W, 13–4 8 innings (10-run rule)	vs. Louisville	37–11, 18–7 ACC
11	Saturday	W, 6–4	vs. Louisville	38–11, 19–7 ACC
12	Sunday	W, 16–7	vs. Louisville	39–11, 20–7 ACC
16	Thursday	L, 5–3	at No. 12 Duke	39–12, 20–8 ACC
17	Friday	W, 6–4	at No. 12 Duke	40–12, 21–8 ACC
18	Saturday	W, 14–6	at No. 12 Duke	41–12, 22–8 ACC
		ACC tournament	in Charlotte
23	Thursday	W, 12–2	Pittsburgh	42–12
24	Friday	L, 9–5, 12 innings	No. 19 Wake Forest	42–13
			NCAA tournament
			Chapel Hill Regional
31	Friday	W, 11–8	Long Island	43–13
	June
1	Saturday	W, 6–2	No. 24 LSU	44–13
2	Sunday	L, 8–4	No. 24 LSU	44–14
3	Monday	W, 4–3, 10 innings	vs. No. 24 LSU	45–14
			Chapel Hill Super Regional
7	Friday	W, 8–6	vs. West Virginia	46–14
8	Saturday	W, 2–1	vs. West Virginia	47–14
			College World Series Omaha, Neb.
14	Friday	W, 3–2	vs. No. 18 Virginia	48–14
16	Sunday	7 p.m.	No. 1 Tennessee	ESPN
18 or 19	Tuesday or Wednesday	2 p.m. Tuesday (with loss) or 2 p.m. Wednesday (with win)	No. 1 Tennessee or No. 9 Florida State	ESPN