By Steve Phillips, ACC Communications
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (theACC.com) --- With elimination of higher-seeded teams becoming a theme of the 2017 ACC Baseball Championship, North Carolina made certain it didn't join the wave of unexpected departures.
The second-seeded Tar Heels ambushed seventh-seeded rival NC State with a 10-run first inning and went on to post a 12-4 victory in Friday night's Pool B finale at Louisville Slugger Field.
UNC (46-11) moves on to face sixth-seeded Miami (32-26) in Saturday's 4 p.m. semifinal game. The winner will advance to Sunday's title game against the winner of Saturday's other semifinal matchup between eighth-seeded Florida State and ninth-seeded Duke.
The bottom of the first began on an ominous note for the Wolfpack (34-23), as Brian Miller led off with his seventh home run of the season to quickly put the Tar Heels up 1-0. By the end of the inning, UNC had sent 14 men to the plate and pounded out nine hits en route to a 10-0 lead.
Making the inning doubly agonizing for NC State was the fact it could have escaped with minimal damage. With UNC ahead just 2-0 and two outs, Tyler Lynn lofted a high foul ball near home plate that appeared destined to be out number three. But Wolfpack pitcher Brian Brown dropped the ball as he attempted to make the catch.
Given a second chance, Lynn rapped a two-run base hit to left field that opened the floodgates. Ike Freeman followed with a double, and Logan Warmoth and Brandon Riley each added two-run singles. Yet another UNC run scored on a wild pitch.
Brown (4-2) departed after yielding seven hits and eight runs in two-thirds of an inning, but only two of the runs charged to him were earned.
The Tar Heels collected 12 hits as a team, doing all of their damage in the first four innings. The Tar Heels have scored 22 runs in two ACC Championship games after blanking Boston College 10-0 on Thursday. Friday's 10-run first was the first 10-run frame for UNC since an 11-run third against Miami in 2013.
Lynn finished 3 for 4 at the plate on Friday night, while Warmoth, Riley, and Ashton McGee collected two hits apiece. Riley finished with three RBIs.
ACC Pitcher of the Year J.B. Bukauskas (9-0) worked seven innings to earn the win for the Tar Heels. Bukauskas gave up four hits and three earned runs while striking out five batters, walking a pair and hitting two.
Both of Saturday's ACC Championship semifinals will start one hour earlier than originally scheduled due to threat of inclement weather in the Louisville area. The Florida State-Duke game is now set for a noon start, while UNC versus Miami is scheduled for 4 p.m.
Each game will be televised Regional Sports Networks from across the conference footprint and across the nation will carry both games. All games will also be available on WatchESPN (subject to blackout). For a list of clearances for each game, please visit: http://theacc.co/base17rsn.
Box Score (PDF)
