Deacons win thriller to advance

CHARLOTTE – Six innings of Chase Burns electricity begot Nick Kurtz late-inning heroics.

It adds up to Wake Forest moving forward in the ACC tournament after winning an instant classic.

Kurtz hit a game-tying double in the ninth inning and teed off on the go-ahead two-run home run in the 12th, leading Wake Forest to a 9-5 win over North Carolina in the final game of pool play in the ACC tournament at Truist Field.

“Big-time players make big plays in big situations,” coach Tom Walter said, noting not only Burns and Kurtz, but Marek Houston and Michael Massey in that assertion. “You know, our stars got it done tonight.”

The Deacons (38-19) have a quick turnaround to play Florida State in Saturday’s first ACC tournament semifinal; the Seminoles beat Virginia 12-7 in the early game on Friday to win Pool D.

This game delivered on a level befitting one team positioned for an Omaha run, and another hoping to capture some late-season magic and make it back there.

And it played out in three parts.

The last part was just the 12th inning, past midnight and deep into the game’s fifth hour. Houston led off the 12th with a single up the middle, his third hit of the game.

Kurtz blasted the first pitch he saw off of the “E” in the “TRUIST FIELD” letters above the scoreboard in left field.

“They were attacking me with first-pitch fastballs most of the game, they did a good job of locating them in earlier at-bats,” Kurtz said. “I (saw) that one left a bit over the middle.”

Wake Forest tacked on two more runs in the 12th with freshman Antonio Morales’ two-run single through the right side of the infield.

Massey, pitching for the second time this week, gave up a leadoff double to Vance Honeycutt before striking out the Nos. 2, 3 and 4 hitters of UNC’s (42-13) vaunted lineup.

“Michael Massey, what can you say about him pitching on short rest and coming back, really for the first time after being out for a couple of weeks and to throw the ball like that there in the 12th?” Walter said. “Was pretty special.”

The first part of this game was dominated by Burns. Wake’s junior ace was as good as ever, firing six shutout innings with 15 strikeouts. He induced 30 swings-and-miss and on a night with the section behind home plate chock-full of MLB personnel, he was suffocating.

He’s 10-1 this season and the one was to this team, when UNC swept the Deacons in Winston-Salem. Walter said earlier this week that Burns had this game circled on his calendar and if ever a coach’s words were backed up, this was that.

“Yeah, 100%,” Burns said when asked if that previous game served as motivation for Friday night. “Had that circled. They hit me pretty good, so yeah, just kind of using that in the back of my head and kind of get my revenge, a little.”

Wake’s bullpen failed him.

Three of first four relievers — there were nine total — combined to allow five runs on five hits and four walks. That’s how it went from the Deacons leading 4-0 to trailing 5-4, a shift that brought to life a capacity crowd of 9,296, the majority of which was clad in light blue.

Enter Kurtz.

Wake Forest was down its final strike when Kurtz roped a double into right-center to drive in Cameron Nelson from first base and tie the game at 5-5.

“I was just trying to battle, do whatever I can to pass the bat to the next guy,” Kurtz said. “Could have been our last out, but if I walk there, we get a whole new count.”

A defensive play by Kurtz actually wound up meaning the game was close enough for him to tie the game with that double.

To start Burns’ last inning, Anthony Donofrio beat a shift with a grounder down the left-field line. Adam Tellier couldn’t field Jack Winnay’s throw to second base and the ball squirted into short right field. Donofrio popped up and ran to third; Kurtz ran to the ball, barehanded it and gunned to third, where Seaver King was waiting for the tag.

For Kurtz’s take on the play, which shouldn’t be forgotten because of what he did with a bat later in the game:

“Just something coaches preach every day, nine-on-one baseball,” he said. “I’m probably the guy farthest away from that play and there’s still somewhere I can be, so it’s my role there to go back up second base if it’s thrown through. … Made a bad throw and I saw him take off, I threw it to the bag.”

That simple.

At that point, in a 2-0 game, that felt as important as it was impressive.

It wasn’t even the most-important runner Wake Forest cut down on the basepaths.

Before Kurtz’s bomb in the 12th, UNC loaded the bases with one out in the 11th. Gavin Gallaher, who had reached base four times, hit a grounder to Houston’s right, and the shortstop fired home to catcher Jacob Burley for the force out.

Ben Shenosky (5-3) retired Colby Wilkerson on a groundout to end the inning and send Wake Forest into the 12th with some vibes that wound up deciding the game.

“It was a great win for our program, our guys showed toughness and resilience,” Walter said.

Wake’s first hit marked the game’s first run. Houston hit his second homer in as many games this week, his one-out drive landing in the front row of the Piedmont Natural Gas picnic area.

Tellier came through in the next inning with a two-out solo shot to almost the same place. That came after the two batters in front of him were retired on second and first pitches of at-bats, and Tellier’s at-bat was stalled by one of associate head coach Bill Cilento’s slow-things-down timeouts.

As it has so often for the past three seasons, when Cilento has been coaching third base — it worked.

Catcher Cameron Gill, perhaps rewarding himself for blocking so many of Burns’ breaking balls that had the Tar Heels flailing, lifted a two-run homer in the seventh for insurance.

Wake Forest scored the game’s first four runs; UNC scored the next five; and Wake Forest scored the game’s last five.

EXTRA BASES: None of the tournament's top four seeds advanced. Wake Forest is the No. 8 seed; the other seeds are 5th (FSU), 6th (Duke) and Miami (11th). … Burns’ 15 strikeouts ties him with former N.C. State pitcher Carlos Rodon for the fourth-most in ACC single-season history (184). … Walter said every pitcher other than Burns and Massey will be available for the Deacons against FSU. None of the nine relievers who pitched Friday night threw more than 25 pitches. … Saturday’s game will be started by junior lefty Josh Hartle. He pitched 6 2/3 innings against FSU in the regular season, allowing five runs (two earned) on nine hits and one walk. … Wake Forest won two of three against the Seminoles in that series. … The game was scheduled for a 7 p.m. start but started at 7:35 because the earlier games — FSU beating Virginia and Clemson beating Louisville — took longer than three hours.