Ranked second in the country–with a squad hell bent on righting some of the wrongs of the past two seasons–the UNC baseball team ran roughshod through the regular season and all three of its tournament opponents on the way to Sunday’s ACC Championship Game in Louisville.
The Florida State Seminoles, on the other hand, failed to live up to high expectations for most of the year as they fell all the way from one of the nation’s top five teams to an eighth place finish in the league.
With the teams matched up on Sunday, however, it was the Seminoles (39-20) who took home the conference crown at Louisville Slugger Stadium–defeating the Tar Heels 7-3.
UNC (47-12) had averaged nearly 13 runs per game in its first three ACC Tournament outings, but Florida State managed to keep the Tar Heels off the scoreboard over the final seven innings.
First Baseman Drew Mendoza hit two home runs for Florida State, including a three-run blast which spearheaded a five-run eighth frame for the underdog Seminoles.
The inning capped a furious rally for Florida State–which allowed UNC to pull out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second.
Tyler Lynn hit a solo home run for the Tar Heels in the frame, while freshman Michael Busch followed up shortly after with an RBI double.
A pair of Mendoza errors on a groundball hit by Brian Miller then allowed Busch to come around and score the third run.
It was the Seminoles, though, that came up with the big hits in the clutch.
UNC failed to record a hit for five straight innings after scoring its only runs of the day, while Florida State got hot when it mattered most.
As a result, the Tar Heels failed to claim the league crown they desperately coveted after a regular season spent proving many doubters wrong about the state of the program.
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Both teams will now await their NCAA Tournament fate, which will officially be announced on Monday at noon.
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