Chase Burns, Nick Kurtz help Wake Forest end UNC baseball run at ACC Tournament
CHARLOTTE — UNC baseball ran into a Chase Burns buzzsaw before a Nick Kurtz blast ended the Tar Heels’ run at the ACC Tournament.
Burns and Kurtz, a pair of projected top-10 picks in the 2024 MLB Draft, helped the 19th-ranked Demon Deacons earn a 9-5 win in 12 innings against the sixth-ranked Tar Heels at Truist Field. The game started Friday evening and ended early Saturday morning at 12:15.
The ACC Pitcher of the Year and college baseball’s strikeout leader, Burns had 15 strikeouts in six scoreless innings and Kurtz had the go-ahead home run to power Wake Forest (38-19) into Saturday’s semifinals (1 p.m., ACC Network) against No. 8 Florida State (41-14).
Burns exited after six innings and the Tar Heels (42-13) got some new life in the seventh and eighth innings to take a 5-4 lead on a quartet of two-out hits. They had the bases loaded with one out in the 11th, but a pair of groundouts ended the threat.
UNC left 17 runners on base and finished 5-for-21 with runners in scoring position.
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Down to its final strike in the ninth, Wake Forest saw Kurtz bring the tying run across the plate with a double. Three innings later, he blasted a ball over the left-center field wall to complete the rally for the Demon Deacons.
Despite the loss, UNC is expected to be a top-8 seed in the NCAA Tournament, which would put the Tar Heels in position to host a regional and super regional.
Staff writer Rodd Baxley can be reached at rbaxley@fayobserver.com or @RoddBaxley on X/Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Chase Burns, Nick Kurtz help Wake Forest eliminate UNC
