No. 1 seed Diamond Heels fall, 9-5, in extra innings to No. 8 Wake Forest in ACC tournament

CHARLOTTE — In a wild, back-and-forth contest, the No. 7 Tar Heels (42-13) rallied from four runs down to take the lead but could not hold on, losing to No. 22 Wake Forest (38-19), 9-5, in extra innings Friday night at Truist Field in the ACC tournament.

In 12 innings, the Tar Heels left 17 runners on base.

Junior left-hander Shea Sprague got the ball for UNC, while righty Chase Burns started for the Demon Deacons. In the regular season, the Tar Heels put up six runs against Burns in a 6-5 victory. Redshirt sophomore left fielder Casey Cook homered twice in that game and drove in four runs.

Burns started his night with back-to-back strikeouts of junior center fielder Vance Honeycutt and Cook in the bottom of the first. The Tar Heels loaded the bases against Burns in the bottom of the second, but he caught senior shortstop Colby Wilkerson looking at strike three to end the frame.

Wake Forest broke the scoreless tie in the top of the third. Marek Houston left the yard to left center off Sprague, a solo shot to give the Demon Deacons a 1-0 lead. Adam Tellier doubled the advantage with a solo shot of his own to left field in the fourth.

Redshirt sophomore southpaw Dalton Pence relieved Sprague with two outs and two on in the top of the fifth. Pence got Jack Winnay to fly out, retiring the side. Sprague allowed the two runs on three hits, walking two and striking out four.

With a single by first-year third baseman Gavin Gallaher and a walk by Honeycutt, the Tar Heels threatened with first and second and one out against Burns in the bottom of the fifth. Like in the second, Burns bent but did not break. He got Cook to fly out and struck out senior first baseman Parks Harber to hang another zero.

In the top of the seventh, Wake Forest added two runs of insurance. Cameron Gill hit a moonshot two-run homer to left off Pence to make it 4-0.

Burns exited after six sparkling shutout innings. Of the 18 outs he recorded, 15 were via the strikeout.

Righty Blake Morningstar came on in relief to start the bottom of the seventh but was pulled after walking Gallaher and Wilkerson to start the frame. William Ray came on and got the first out via a fielder’s choice but was then lifted for lefty Zach Johnston. Cook singled to center to load the bases before Harber drove in the Tar Heels first run with a fielder’s choice to third. Graduate Outfielder Anthony Donofrio plated Honeycutt with a single to right. 

The inning looked over when first-year catcher Luke Stevenson hit a ground ball up the middle with second baseman Tellier in position to field. But the ball caromed off the bag and into the outfield grass, allowing Harber to come around and score. The inning was over when graduate second baseman Alex Madera struck out, but the Tar Heels had trimmed the lead to just one.

After making a spectacular catch that likely saved a run in the top of the eighth, Honeycutt came up with two outs and the tying run on second in the bottom half against Cole Roland. He hit a frozen rope off the wall in right center to bring UNC all the way back and tie the game at 4-4. After Cook walked, Harber singled to center to bring around Honeycutt with the go-ahead run. 

But the Demon Deacons answered in the top of the ninth. With two out and Gill on second, Nick Kurtz doubled to right on a full count off senior right-hander Matt Poston, tying the game. 

UNC went down in order in the bottom of the ninth, sending the game to extra innings.

In the bottom of the 11th, the Tar Heels loaded the bases with one out after three walks. Gallaher hit a ground ball to the shortstop Houston who threw home. Catcher Jacob Burley corralled the throw off the plate and made the tag in time on pinch runner sophomore Carter French. Wilkerson then grounded out, and the game went to the 12th.

The Demon Deacons took the lead in the top of the 12th against senior righty Ben Peterson. Kurtz homered for the second time, this one a two-run shot off the scoreboard in right center. Junior right-hander Aidan Haugh relieved Peterson with the bases loaded and was greeted with a two-RBI single by Antonio Morales that increased the Wake Forest cushion back to four runs.

UNC was unable to come back from this four-run deficit, ending its run in the ACC tournament. 

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