UNC Baseball Uses Late Rally to Beat Florida State in ACC Semifinals

The Diamond Heels scored two runs in the top of the ninth inning on their way to a 7-5 victory against No. 2 seed Florida State in the ACC Tournament semifinals Saturday in Durham. UNC will face No. 5 Clemson in the championship game Sunday at 12 p.m.

𝐇𝐄𝐄𝐋𝐒 𝐆𝐎 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆

We're on to the ACC Championship game!#GoHeels x @WellsFargo pic.twitter.com/eaDCc2or0v

— Carolina Baseball (@DiamondHeels) May 25, 2025

“That’s two really, really good teams,” head coach Scott Forbes said afterward. “Both teams fought. At the end of the day, our guys did what they’ve been doing all season.”

The two-run ninth capped off what had been a back-and-forth game. The two teams played to a scoreless tie through three innings, then each scored in the fourth, fifth and sixth. Carolina led 1-0, only for Florida State to tie the game on a solo home run. In the fifth, UNC scored twice on RBI hits from Alex Madera and Carter French. The Seminoles followed that up with a three-run burst in the fifth which knocked out starting pitcher Jason DeCaro and brought in Aidan Haugh – who likely would have started Sunday otherwise – from the bullpen.

“We made a decision. We had a plan,” Forbes said. “We felt like this was the best plan… we want to have Aidan Haugh prepared for the [NCAA] regional, and the only way to make sure he pitched was to get him in that game today.”

With the score 4-3, Luke Stevenson answered in a big way for UNC, blasting a two-run home run – his second of the tournament – to right field to give the Diamond Heels the lead back. ACC Player of the Year Alex Lodise responded with an RBI double in the bottom of the sixth, tying the game at 5-5.

The scoring stopped as quickly as it had started, with both teams posting zeroes in the seventh and eighth. UNC stranded men in scoring position in each inning.

Carolina’s game-winning rally in the ninth started after Madera reached on a fielding error and Hargett bunted his way on, putting runners on first and second with nobody out. Carter French bunted the runners over to second and third, setting the stage for Kane Kepley. He delivered with a ringing single up the middle, scoring both runners and putting Carolina ahead for good.

Walker McDuffie entered for the bottom of the ninth and earned his sixth save. Haugh earned his fifth win of the season with 3.2 innings of one-hit relief. It was his first win since April 12.

“I thought he got better as he went,” Forbes said of Haugh. “I thought he threw really, really well. I’m gonna have to fight him and DeCaro off tomorrow, because they’ve already told me they’re gonna be available.”

“You love playing in close games,” Madera said. “I think this one meant a little bit more to us. Obviously, we lost Game 3 [at Florida State to end the regular season] and we really wanted to sweep. So being able to pull that through was awesome.”

The Diamond Heels are now 41-12 this season and are 3-1 against Florida State. UNC will aim for its first ACC Tournament title since 2022 when it faces Clemson Sunday.

Featured image via UNC Baseball on Twitter

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UNC Baseball Uses Late Rally to Beat Florida State in ACC Semifinals

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