UNC Baseball eliminated from ACC Tournament with extra innings loss to Wake Forest

The UNC baseball program, ranked No. 7 nationally, suffered an extra innings loss to Wake Forest in the ACC Tournament on Friday night, thus ending their run at a potential ACC Tournament title.

This game had plenty of layers to it, but the first six innings belonged to Wake Forest right-hander Chase Burns. The projected top-10 pick in the upcoming MLB Draft was dominant, as he struck out 15 Diamond Heels over six innings of work.

The Demon Deacons took a 4-0 lead into the bottom half of the seventh inning, as the Tar Heels had just 9 outs to work with to overcome the deficit. Fortunately, the Tar Heels got Burns out of the game due to pitch count, as Wake Forest's bullpen wasn't able to sustain the lead.

North Carolina scored three runs in the bottom half of the seventh inning and followed with two more in the bottom of the eighth to capture their first lead of the game, and came very close to winning the game. However, Wake Forest had other plans.

Down to their final out in the top of the ninth, Nick Kurtz drilled a RBI double to right centerfield to tie the game, which eventually forced extra innings. Kurtz was not done, as his two-run homer in the 12th inning was the headliner of a four-run inning that proved to be the dagger.

The loss is a disappointing one for the UNC baseball program, especially given the rally they were able to put together to take the lead late. Sure, they struggled mightily against Burns, but there are quite a few things that you can point to as differencemakers in this game.

From costly errors to poor base running decisions, the Diamond Heels did shoot themselves in the foot on multiple occasions. When you leave 17 runners on base, that's not typically a recipe for success, as they simply weren't able to get the job done.

Now, Scott Forbes and the UNC baseball program will focus on the upcoming NCAA Tournament, as it still appears as if the Diamond Heels are in a great position to be a host site.